HISTORY 


OF    THE 


( '  fi 


a  * 


BY 


H  B,  CUSHMAN, 


Copyright,  1899,  by  H.  B.  Cushman 

(All  rights  reserved.) 


GREENVILLK,  TEXAS: 

HEADLIGHT  PRINTING  HOUSE 

1899. 


To  the  memory  of  my  parents,  Calvin  and  Laura  Cush- 
man,  as  Heralds  of  the  Cross  of  Christ,  they,  with  a  few 
other  congenial  spirits,  left  their  homes  in  Massachusetts, 
A.  D.  1820,  as  missionaries,  and  went  to  the  Choctaw  Indian*, 
then  living-  in  their  Ancient  Domains  east  of  the  Missisipr.i 
River.  'Devoted  their  lives  to  the  moral  and  intellectual 
improvement  and  spiritual  interests  of  that  peculiar  and  in 
teresting  race  of  mankind,  living-  and  dying-  the  sincere  and 
abiding  friends  of. the  Red  Man  of  the  North  American  Con 
tinent. 

.i1 

ALSO 

To  the  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  people,  each  the  novv- 
feeble  remnant  of  a  once  numerous,  independent,  contented 
and  happy  people,  whose  long  line  of  ancestry  dates  back  to 
the  pre-historic  ages  of  the  remote  past,  it  is  ascribed  in 
loving  remembrance  of  the  writer's  earliest  and  most  faith 
ful  friends,  whom  he  has  a  just  cause  to  cherish  for  their 
many  long  known  and  tested  virtues. 


£<? 
Cs 


Iii  compliance  with  current  copyright 

law,  U.  C.  Library  Bindery  produced 

this  replacement  volume  on  paper 

that  meets  the  ANSI  Standard  Z39.48- 

1984  to  replace  the  irreparably 

deteriorated  original. 

1993 


INTRODUCTION. 

To  bring  one's  material  to  a  strictly  historical  and  clas 
sified  order  is  almost  an  impossibility  when  dealing"  with  a 
.subject  so  diversified  as  that  of  the  Red  Race  of  the  North 
American  Continent.  But  I  have  sought,  found  and  brought 
together  an  amount  of  information  concerning  that  pecu 
liar  people  that  has  never  before  been  published;  having 
been  born  of  parents  who  were  missionaries  to  the  Choc- 
taws  in  1820,  and  having  been  reared  among  them  and  in 
timately  acquainted  with  them  during  the  vicissitudes  of  a 
life  extending  to  nearly  four  score  of  years.  I  well  know 
ihat  the  Indian  race  has  oft  been  the  subject  of  the  pen,  and 
still  continues  to  be,  but  only  in  short  details,  thus  leaying 
vthe  reader  in  bewilderment,  though  historical  truths  were  to 
be  found  in  abundance  among  them  wherever  one  turned  — 
truths  one  can  never  forget;  scenes  and  events  which  have  an 
imperishable  memory. 

Then  come  awhile  with  me,  reader,  from  what  you  have 
hitherto  learned  about  the  Red  Man  of  this  continent,  to  that 
which  may  be  entirely  ;new  to  you  no  matter  how  old  it  may. 
be  to  others;  'since  you  might  learn  something  more  of  the 
primitive  influences  which  shaped  the  career  of  the  North 
American  Indians  in  their  dealings  with  the  White  Race  from 
their  first  acquaintance  to  the  present  day;  as  I  have  endeav 
ored  to  present  many  based  upon  knowledge  acquired  by  a 
personal  acquaintance  with  two  tribes  (closely  allied)  dur 
ing  a  protracted  life  of  many  years,  seeing  and  learning  the 
romance  and  poetry  of  their  natures,  a  people  of  interest, 
moral  worth  and  individuality  of  character.  I  know  that  to 
all  my  race,  the  Indian  (comparatively  speaking)  lives  only  in 
the  vague  memory  of  the  legendary  past  —  that  period  made 
vivid  by  the  wrongs  of  the  White  Race  perpetrated  upon  the 
Red  —  all  a  series  of  struggles  terminating  in  sanguinary 
executions  when  no  services  rendered  by  the  tribe  in  their 
vain  struggle  to  be  free,  availed  to  save  the  defeated  Chieftain 
from  a  felon's  grave;  while  the  feeble  remnant  that  still  sur 
vives  stands  as  the  best  commentary  of  their  wrongs,  while 
they  despairingly  cry  ''kill  us  also,  and  thus  complete  your 
cruelty  by  taking  our  lives  as  you  began  with  our  liberties." 

Truly,  wrhat  a  sad  and  melancholy  record  is  their  his 
tory;  undervalued  by  the  civilized  world,  though  in  op 
position  to  the  declarations  of  all  who  knew  them  as  justice 
demanded  they  should  be  known.  Alas,  broken-hearted  for 


INTRODUCTON. 


two  centuries,  yet  having  their  souls  pierced  and  lacerated 
by  the  poisonous  shafts  of  unj.ust  defamation  and  cruel  false 
hood,  while  they  sadly  ask  in  lamentations  of  woe:  "Where 
is  to 'be  the  end!'?  Only  to  hear  echo's  fearful  response, 
"Thegrave."  Therefore  they  seem  indifferentnowasto  what 
the  world  is  doing-  around  them,  since  none  extend  the  hand 
of  friendship  to  them  but  to  defraud;  none  smile  on  their  dejec 
ted  faces  but  to  deride;  none  sympathize  with  them  in  their 
poverty  but  to  mock;  and  now  when  you  meet  them,  they 
neither  look  to  the  right  nor  left,  but  straight  forward  walking 
with  slow  and  measured  steps  that  betoken  the  thoughts  of 
a  helpless  and  hopeless  people— hopeless,  at  least,  of  all  that 
life  may  bring-  them  of  freedom  and  prosperity.  Few  even 
speak  to  them  in  tones  of  kindness,  yet  all  momentarily  stop 
to  gaze  on  them  with  wondering-  stare  as  if  they  were  cum- 
berers  of  the  ground,  though  there  is  still  upon  their  faces 
of  despair  a  visible  touch  of  lingering  chivalry  worthy  of  a 
better  fate'.  \ 

With  many  of  their  illustrious  men  (long-  deceased) 
whom  I  have  broug-ht  into  this  history,  I  \vas  personally  ac 
quainted  throug-h  the  vicissitudes  of  many  years;  \vith  others, 
though  not  personally,  yet  I  knew  their  minds  and  the 
motives  of  their  actions,  and  these  truly  constitute  the  man. 
.And  they  were  men  whose  hig-h  endowments  (nature's  gift) 
could  not  be  misled  into  selfish  ambition;  nor  prosperity  in 
flate;  nor  disappointment  depress  from  holy  trust  and  honor 
able  action  known  by  the  veritable  touch-stone,  "Ye  shall 
know  a  tree  by  its  fruits."  Nor  have  I  sketched  a  virtue 
that  I  have  not  seen,  nor  painted  a  folly  from  imagination; 
but  have  endeavored  to  be  faithful  to  reality,  in  all  thing's  as 
touching-  that  peculiar  yet  noble  race  of  the  human  family, 
who  sought  resignation  in  all  their  misfortunes  and  woes, 
and  found  it  only  in  the  decrees  of  the  "Great  Spirit"  who 
had  given  to  their  race  so  many  centuries  of  uninterrupted 
bliss,  truly  a  noble  people  who  taught  misfortune  dignity. 
They  had  never  left  their  secluded  and  quiet  homes  amid 
nature's  forest  groves  to  expose  themselves  to  the  contami 
nations  of  the  vices  (to  them  unknown)  of  the  civilized  (so- 
called)  world  of  traffic  and  trade. 

Sequestered  from  its  view,  neither  its  pageants  nor  its 
follies  had  ever  reached  them  there.  It  was  then  and 
there  I  studied  their  unsophisticated  natures  with  an  enthu 
siasm  which  is  the  fragrance  .of  the  flower  that  lives  after 
the  bloom  is  withered.  Nor  am  I  ashamed  to  confess  my 
profound  admiration  of  the  North  American  Indian,  to  whom 
there  was  nothing  so  dear  as  Kis  freedom  unrestrained, 
which  he  proved  beyond  all  dispute  by  fearlessly  resisting 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

the  hand  of  tyrannical  oppressions  from  the  Atlantic  coast  to 
the  Pacific,  against  odds  in  point  of  numbers,  munitions  of 
war,  skill  and  means,  as  one  to  ten  thousand,  and  yielded 
not  until  the  last  warrior  had  fallen,  the  last  bow  broken  and 
his  race  reduced  to  absolute  poverty,  want  and  woe.  Still, 
though  poor  and  lowly  as  he  seemed  to  his  venal  destroyers, 
yet  his  whole  heart  and  life  were  wrapt  up  in  the  remem 
brance  of  his  freedom.  He  worshipped  the  thought  as  his 
most  precious  property,  the  dear  treasure  of  his  secret  and 
highest  bliss.  It  was  the  constant  companion  of  his  thoughts 
the  monitor  of  his  actions  and  the  true  key  to  his  life. 

But  alas,  when  memory  now  turns  to  the  past  of  his 
early  life  and  its  unexpected  blighting,  and  raises  before  his 
mind  every  hope  connected  with  it,  and  his  seeming  present 
doom  stares  him  in  the  face,  what  can  rid  him  of  those  suc 
cessive  images  that  seem  to  glide  around  him  like  mournful 
apparitions  of  the  long  lamented  dead,  since  grief  long  since 
has  looked  up  the  avenues  of  complaint,  and  he  stands  as  one 
petrified  to  stone.  But  how  wonderful,  amid  all  their  adver 
sities,  has  been  their  'power  to  rally  and  to  recover  their 
waning  resolution  and  courage;  verily,  they  oft  seemed  to 
experience  a  kind  gf  determined  pleasure  in  resolutely  con 
fronting  the  worst  aspect  of  their  innumerable  reverses; 
yea,  in  standing  in  the  breech  that  has  long  since  overthrown 
their  future,  and  hurling  back  in  defiant  despair,  "Here  we 
stand,  at  least  an  honest  and  chivalrous  people;"  but  alas, 
only  to  seek  solitude  by  retiring  within  themselves  pleading 
"Jailor,  lock  the  door."  Truly  their  lives,  though  not  with 
out  their  efforts  of  strong  exertion,  have  been  during  the 
last  two  centuries,  and  still  are,  a  dream  spent  in  chewing 
the  cud  of  sweet  and  bitter  fancy,  while  they  have  worn  the 
garb  of  hope  which  has  diverted  their  past  and  present  woes 
by  a  touch  of  the  wand  of  imagination  and  gilded  over  the 
future  by  prospects  fairer  than  were  ever  realized.  But  it  is 
impossible  to  deny  and  yet  not  to  admire  and  praise  the 
strong  sense  of  solidity  and  fraternity  which,  through  all 
their  lives,  still  unite  the  members  of  the  same  tribe,  and  the 
feelings  which  have  not  been  dimmed  by  modern  changes  but 
still  exist  as  warm  and  active  as-  ever;  yet  the  White  Race  has 
ever  looked  upon  the  Red  from  the  Ishmaelitish  standpoint, 
and  in  all  its  intercourse,  from  first  to  last,  began  and  so 
continued  by  treating  them  as  inferior  beings,  too  low  in  the 
scale  of  humanity  to  be  reached  by  the  hand  of  Christianity 
and  civilization;  inveterate  and  uncompromising  enemies  to 
be  circumvented  and  overreached  under  an  exhibition  of 
smiling  and  artful  hypocrisy  and  base  venality  unknown  to 
the  Red  Man  and  unsurpassed  in  the  annals  of  the  White. 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

But  long*  since  cut  loose  from  their  ancient  moorings,  they 
have  felt  for  more  than  a  century  that  they  were  slowly  but 
surely  drifting-  toward  an  unknown  destiny  foreshadowing- 
extermination.  What  other  people  that  wrould  not  have  had 
recourse  to  war  or  the  suicide's  rifle?  yet,  after  despair  had 
usurped  the  place  of  hope  in  longer  resistance,  they  had 
principle  to  resist  the  one,  and  resolution  to  combat  the 
other.  But  they  were  to  tread  the  lowest  paths  of  sorrow, 
poverty  and  humiliating-  depressions;  whose  circumstances 
were  too  humble  to  expect  redress  and  whose  sufferings 
(mental  and  physical)  were  too  great  even  for  pity^  and 
whose  wrong's,  at  the  hands  of  inside  white  intruders  and 
outside  defamers,  have  long-  since  destroyed  that  streng-th  of 
mind  with  which  mankind  can  meet  distress;  therefore  they 
prepare  to  suffer  in  silence  rather  than  openly  complain. 
What  else  could  they  do?  The  world  disclaims  them. 
Christianity  even  seems  to  have  turned  its  back  upon  their 
distress,  given^  them  up  to  spiritual  nakedness  and  hunger, 
and  left  them  to  plead  to  white  wretches  whose  hearts  are 
stone,  or  to  debauchees  who  may  curse  but  will  not  give  re 
lief,  while  every  devilish  trick  is  played  upon  them,  and  their 
every  action  made  a  fund  for  eternal  ridioule. 

Truly,  instead  of  wondering  that  so  little  of  their  true 
history  has  been  preserved,  it  is  a  matter  of  much  gre;  ter 
wonder  that  so  much  of  truth  has  escaped  the  waste  of  <  two- 
centuries  through  which  they  have  been  dragged  from  p\ace 
to  place,  while  all  narratives  concerning  them  have  l»een 
written,  with  few  exceptions,  in  shameful  derogation  of  their 
true  characters,  all  exaggerated  and  still  continuing  to  be 
exaggerated,  evincing  a  strange  love  of  defamation  only  to 
gratify  the  morbid  fondness  of  their  readers  for  the  marve 
lous,  and  their  own  manifested  inability  to  tell  the  truth; 
therefore  the  most  absurd  and  ridiculous  falsehoods  are  fabri 
cated  and  published  about  this  people  and  joyfully  read  and 
believed  by  all  who  are  in  harmony  with  their  traducers,  a 
truth  that  remains,  in  essential  points  at  least,  from  one  end 
of  the  scale  to  the  other. 

True,  the  ways  of  the  Indians  are  not  the  ways  of  the 
civilized  world  of  which  they  knew. nothing;  nor  were  they, 
being  without  its  ways,  versed  in  its  revolting  vices,  aiid 
their  so-called  love  of  war  and  carnage  existed  but  in  the 
imagination  of  the  White  Race,  one  of  its  beliefs  which  may 
be  traced  hither  and  thither  but  never  to  the  propitiation  of 
truth  concerning  anything  about  the  Red;  since,  having  its 
origin  alone  in  the  impatience  of  its  venality  while  drifting 
amid  zones  of  ignorance  and  prejudice;  and  when  I  contem 
plate  such,  I  am  taught  to  look  upon  their  errors  more  in  sor- 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

row  than  anger.  True  the  Indians  were  cruel  to  their  ene 
mies  in  war,  and  so  are  we  together  with  all  the  nations  of 
earth.  • 

But  when  I  take  up  dhe  North  American  Indian  who  has 
suffered  and  represent  to  myself  the  struggles  he  has  passed 
through  for  centuries  past,  to  defend  his  just  rights  and 
sustain  the  freedom  of  his  country  from  exotic  vandals,  and 
reflect  upon  his  brief  pulsations  of  joy;  the  tears  of  woe;  the 
feebleness  of  purpose;  the  scorn  of  the  world  that  has,  with 
out  just  reason,  no  charity  for  him;  the  desolation  of  his 
soul's  sanctuary,  his  freedom  buried  in  the  memory  of  the 
past;  happiness  gone;  hope  fled;  I  fain  would  leave  his  blight 
ed  soul  with  Him  from  whose  hands  it  came,  for  how  diffi 
cult  it  is  to  roll  away  the  black  and  huge  stone  of  prejudice 
from  off  the  white  man's  heart,  to  whom  ignorance  is  bliss 
in  regard  to  all  Indians;  thousands,  therefore,  hate  the  In 
dian  because  they  do  not  know  him  and  desire  not  to  know 
him  because  they  hate  him. 

Truly,  the  North  American  Indians  constitute  as  grand 
a  record  of  human  courage,  patriotic  endurance,  and  as  har 
rowing  a  history  of  human  suffering  as  has  ever  been  told; 
while  their  oppressors  and  destroyers,  who  have  figured  in 
their  nefarious  designs  against  them  from  the  alpha  to  omega 
as  the  beau-ideal  of  cruel  injustice,  are  still  laboring  with  a 
zeal  never  manifested  before  to  intensify  the  public  feeling 
against  the  helpless  people,  that  they  may  the  more  effect 
ually  accomplish  their  infamous  schemes  to  rob  and  plunder 
them;  and  whose  consciences  seem  so  elastic  that,  at  one 
time  it  seems  difficult  for  them  to  stretch  them  over  a  mole 
hill;  at  another,  with  ease,  they  stretch  them  over  a  moun 
tain.  Yet  the  influence,  power  and  grip  these  characters 
exert  and  impress  upon  the  public  mind  are  truths  both  hu 
miliating  and  disgraceful,  and  the  strange  liberties  that  are, 
by  our  seemingly  defective  systems  of  jurisprudence,  legal 
ly  permitted  to  such  plunderers  in  highxplaces  who  have  the 
audacity  and  impertinence  to  appeal  to  law,  and  misuse  its 
machinery  for  selfish  and  covetous  purposes,  are  everywhere 
illustrated  at  the  expense  of  the  misguided  and  alike  help 
less  and  unfortunate  Indians,  upon  whom  they  have  descend 
ed  in  countless  thousands  as  blow-flies  on  a  decomposing 
body,  to  rob  and  plunder  them  of  the  last  acre  of  their  terri 
tories.  Truly  our  sensibilities  in  the  light  of  humanity,  and 
our  judgment  in  the  light  of  truth  and  justice,  are  abso 
lutely  dead  in  regard  to  this  people;  therefore,  thousands 
have  supinely  yielded  to  the  false  assertions  of  thieves  and 
robbers,  the  reverence  due  to  a  Divine  decree,  without  any 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

investigation  whatever,  which  has    been  done  in  all  cases  of 
dealing-  with  Indians  from -first  to  last. 

Truly  it  may  be  written  as  an  epitaph  for  their  history,, 
"unutterably  sad,  because  so  disastrously  true."  Alas!  mul 
tiplied  thousands  to-day  look  with  horror  on  the  wrong's  and 
suffering's  of  the  feeble  and  helpless  Indians  still  hovering-  in 
our  midst,  yet  are  content  to  hide  themselves  from  their 
woes;  yea,  they  openly  acknowledge  their  shameful  reality 
yet  do  nothing  to  alleviate  their  condition.  They  well  know 
of  the  thousand  wrong's  continually  being  heaped  upon  them, 
yet  only  shrug-  their  shoulders  and  fold  their  arms  in  callous 
acquiescence  in  that  which  they  falsely  and. cowardly  declare 
to  be  inevitable;  while  they,  at  the  same  time,  acknowledge  a 
sense  of  shame  and  personal  guilt  in  permitting  such  infa 
mous  cruelty  and  oppression  to  be  heaped  upon  that  help 
less  race  in  their  midst  and  under  their  own  eyes,  without 
being  actuated  to  noble  efforts  to  stop  it.  No  wonder  the 
Indian's  countenance  seems  prematurely  marked  by  deep 
furrows,  and  his  long  hair  waves  over  his  brow  on  which  is 
fixed  a  deep  gloom  that  no  smile  from  the  lips  can  chase 
away!  Alas,  through  what  direful  changes  have  they  been 
forced  to  pass!  througli  what  cycles  of  hope  and  fear  have 
their  generations  been  coerced  while  the  world  about  them 
seemed  like  a  vision  hurrying  by  as  they  stood  still  in 
silence,  helplessness  and  woe!  Therefore,  in  their  entire 
history,  how  little  there  is  to  ,  contemplate  but  the  most 
agonizing  struggles  followed  by  the  deepest  and  most  osten 
sible  decay  through  their  long  and  continued  attempts  at 
redress  and  the  recovery  of  their  God-inherited  rights 
which  expired  with  their  liberty. 


HISTORY 


OF  THE 


Choctaw,  Chickasaw  and  Natchez 

INDIANS. 


GENERAL    CHARACTERISTICS    OF     THE     NORTH 
AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

There  has  been,  and  is  to-day,  as  great  a  proportion  of 
of  those  characteristics  that  elevate  and  adorn  mankind 
found  among"  the  North  American  Indian  race  as  ever  were 
found  upon  earth.  Men  and  women  in  whose  breasts  were 
seats  of  virtues  as  pure  as  ever  found  in  man  or  woman. 
This  may  seem  as  shadows  to  many,  incontrovertible  truths 
to  those  who  truly  know  them,  not  as  enemies  but  as  friends. 
Through  a  long  life  of  personal  acquaintance  with  and  ex 
perience  among-  them,  I  can  and  do  here  testify  to  the 
same  when  living-  in  their  ancient  domains,  and  still  find 
them  in  the  present  years  as  in  those  of  the  long-  past, 
though  my  opinions  then  may  have  been  formed  to  some  ex 
tent  as  shadows  in  the  back-ground  of  imagination,  yet  they 
took  substantial  form  and  substance  with  time,  in  perfect 
harmony  with  the  positive  assertions  of  all  the  early  ex 
plorers,  as  far  back  as  anything  is  known  of  their  history. 
Truly,  prolific  fancies  of  the  larger  portion  of  modern 
writers  seem  to  have  been  governed  by  the  many  false  des 
criptions  of  the  ancient;  and  poetic  license  has  extended  the 
peculiarities  of  the  ancestors  with  all  their  imaginary  faults 
and  none  of  their  virtues  to  their  descendants,  this  too  in  the 
absence  of  all  authentic  history;  while  our  own  traditions 
have  dealt  no  less  unjustly  with  the  remnant  whom  we  are 
following  down  to  their  seemingly  inevitable  destiny  (exter 
mination)  so  unjustly  and  cruelly  decreed  through  the  insti 
gation  of  our  insatiable  venality,  whose  merciless  sword  is 
still  drawn  and  stretched  athwart  the  gate  of  the  Indian's 
highest  ambition,  his  freedom;  allowing  him  no  place  in  that 


10  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

higher  civilization  concerning  which  heaven  and  earth  are 
amazed  at  our  continued  vociferations,  and  stupified  in  our 
inconsistency  that  denies  to  them  their, natural  and  individ 
ual' rights,  since  it  does  but  establish  our  inability  to  compre 
hend  the  eternal  principles  of  human  development,  as  we 
assume  to  fear  to  trust  them  with  the  choice  of  their  own 
destiny,  and  that  of  their  souls,  moved  and  actuated  by  the 
divine  principles  therein  implanted.  It  could  not  justly  be 
expected  that  they  would  at  once  adopt  our  principles  and 
institutions,  to  them  a  chaos  of  contradictions.  Yet  we 
charge  them  with  the  utter  want  of  those  virtues  that  dis 
tinguish  man  from  the  brute,  though  well  knowing  the 
falsity  of  the  accusation  by  the  undeniable  testimony  mani 
fest  among  them  every  where  to  the  contrary. 

We  also  charge  them  with  every  crime,  but  how  greatly 
inconsistent  and  unjust  when  being  so  deeply  stained  our 
selves!  Alas,  when  hope  of  longer  freedom  had  given  place 
to  hopeless  despair,  and  they  as  a  forlorn  hope,  threw  them 
selves  upon  our  boasted  humanity,  they  awoke  but  to  find  a 
myth;  for  we  then  displayed  our  so-called  Christian  virtues 
and  high  sounding  hallelujahs  of  .freedom  to  all  mankind  by 
cooping  them  up  in  isolated  reservations,  but  more  properly 
vestibules  of  the  cemetery,  the  ante-rooms  where  the  re 
cruiting  agents  of  death  (woe  and  despair)  assemble  their 
conscripts  to  prepare  them  for  the  ranks  whence  there  is 
neither  desertion  or  discharge;  and  having  thus  and  there 
caged  them,  now  perform  the  honorable  (?)  and  humane  (?) 
task  of  watching  them  at  the  doors  of  their  prisons,  while 
our  parasites  keep  a  faithful  record  of  the  complaints  of  the 
unfortunate,  helpless,  hapless  and  hopeless  sufferers, 
whose  dire  misfortunes  few  have  the  magnanimity  to 
respect,  while  thousands  scoff  and  mock  and  which  they 
seem  determined  shall  only  cease  in  the  silence  of  the  last 
Indian's  grave. 

Can  the  Indians  of  to-day  but  cherish  the  greatest  ab 
horrence  toward  those  who  forced  them  into  those  lazar- 
prisons  where  curses  reply  to  their  just  complaints  and 
blows  and  kicks  to  their  dying  groans,  as  each  is  tortured  in 
his  separate  hell  where  all  can  hear  but  none  will  heed?  Can 
they  but  shun,  in  their  limited  inch  of  freedom,  as  a  blighting 
pestilence,  those  who  still  seek  to  debase  them  in  the  estima 
tion  of  the  world  by  falsely  branding  them  as  creatures  to 
be  feared  and  shunned,  with  no  power  to  resent  but  only  to 
weep  in  silence  and  hopeless  despair,  while  their  blighted 
spirits  are  being  proved  in  this  furnace  like  steel  in  temper 
ing  fire  ? 

Once  they  were  quick  in  feeling  and  fearless  in  resent- 


HISTORY  OF  THK  INDIANS.  11 

nent — that  is  o'er.  They  are  now  the  sons  of  silence;  their 
Abounds  of  mind  and  body  are  now  callous,  or  long-  since 
they  would  have  dashed  their  brains  against  their  pris 
on  bars,  as  the  rays  of  the  sun  of  their  re 
membered  freedom  and  happiness  flashed  through  them  in 
seeming  mockery  of  their  woes.  Neither  are  their  slumbers 
sleep  but  only  a  continuance  of  enduring  woes,  a  lingering 
despair  whose  envenomed  tooth  preventing  truth,  justice  and 
humanity  would  still  mangle  the  dead.  Their  hair  is  gray, 
but  not  from  years;  'tis  the  impatient  thirst  for  freedom  par 
ching  the  heart,  and  abhorred  slavery  maddening  the  soul 
with  heaviness  and  woe  as  it  battles  v^ith  its  agony  under  the 
knowledge  that  to  them  earth  and  air  are  banned  and  barred 
— a  living  grave  of  long  years  of  oppression,  abuse,  calumny 
and  outrage;  yet  they  live,  endure  and  bear  the  likeness  of 
breathing  men,  while  they  bear  the  innate  tortures  of  a  living 
despair,  becoming  ol(^  in  their  youth,  and  dying  ere  middle 
age,  some  of  weariness,  some  of  disease,  (the  legacy  of 
their  destroyers)  but  more  of  withered  hopes  and  broken 
hearts.  Alas,  that  they  should  have  found  so  few  among  the 
White  Race  with  whom  they  could  safely  wear  the  chain  of 
unassumed  friendship  and  confidence;  therefore  have  shunned 
their  companionship  and  sadly  sought  as  long  as  they  could 
the  solitude  of  the  remote  wilderness  and  there  with  its  more 
congenial  spirit  divided  the  homage  of  their  hearts,  but  alas, 
only  to  find  even  there  no  secure  retreat  from  their  restless 
foes.  This  fatalism,  the  assured  certainly  that  nothing  good 
can  now  be  expected;  the  full  conviction  that  even  the  United 
States  government  seems  indifferent  to  protect  them  from 
the  venality  of  its  own  unprincipled  and  seemingly  law  defy 
ing  white  subjects,  is  now  deeply  rooted  in  the  minds  of  the 
aged  Indians;  while  the  younger  receive  their  education  in  the 
high  (so-called)  schools  of  the  States  in  learning  by  heart 
Herbert  Spencer,  John  Stuart  Mill,.  Darwin,  and  noted  exotic 
philosophers,  thus  losing  much  of  their  respect  for  their 
own  religion  as  taught  them  by  the  true  missionaries  of  the 
gospel  of  the  world's  Redeemer,  rendering  their  present  a 
gloomy  back-ground,  a  black  shadow  of  a  once  bright  picture; 
therefore  the}'  have  become  decrepit  and  have  fallen  down 
like  a  huge  memorial  of  antiquity  prostrate  and  broken  to 
pieces,  while  the  fragments  only  remain  as  a  treasure  belong 
ing  alone  to  the  modern  archieologist.  Yet,  a  noble  people 
whose  memorials  have  long  since  been  swept  away  by  the  hand 
of  usurpation,  and  whose  relics  of  their  former  greatness 
have  alike  crumbled  to  dust  leaving  no  trace  of  their  former 
existence,  save  here  and  there  names  of  a  few  rivers  and 
little  streams,  touching  for  their  simplicity,  but  for  whom 


12  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

justice  has  long-  but  vainly  demanded  an  honorable  plact 
among1  Christian  people,  and  for  whom  the  time  has  surely 
(yea,  years  ago)  arrived  to  be  redeemed  from  the  cruel  and 
unjust  bondage  of  that  long-,  dark  nig-ht  of  misrepresentation 
to  which  they  have  been  so  mercilessly  subjected  for  so  many 
long-  and  weary  years — a  people  g-ood  without  a  pretense  and 
blest  with  plain  reason  and  sober  sense;  whose  traditional 
history,  connected  as  it  is  with  the  Eastern  Continent,  abound 
ed  with  many  of  those  striking-  events  which  furnish  modern 
history  with  its  richest  materials;  as  every  tribe  had  its 
Thermopylae,  and  every  village  had  produced  its  Leonidas. 
But  the  veil  of  centuries  past  now  hides  those  events*  that 
might  have  been  bequeathed  to  the  admiration  of  the  present 
age  of  the  world.  The  opportunity  was  offered  by  the  Red  Man 
to  the  White  two  centuries  ago  but  was  rejected,  though 
advancing  years  proved  their  merit.  But  too  late  was  dis 
covered  the  error .  Our  many  unfortunate  misunderstandings 
and  contests  with  the  ancient  and  modern  Native  Americans  of 
this  continent  are  as  fertile  as  any  of  similar  character  that 
have  afflicted  man-kind;  while  many  characters  and  scenes 
have  been  brought  upon  the  theatre  by  the  sanguine  hand  of  war 
which  history  has  not  recorded.  Many  of  such  have  been 
obtained  and  are  recorded  in  this  book;  as  it  was  my  fate 
(whether  good  or  bad,  fortunate  or  unfortunate  yet  without 
cause  for  regret)  to  be  born  and  •  reared  among  the  Choc- 
taws;  and  having  spent  the  bright  morn  of  life  to  man-hood 
among  that  excellent  people  and  sister-tribe,  the  Chickasaws, 
as  well  as  my  long  and  well  known  friendship  and  admiration 
entertained  for  them  and  their  entire  race,  have  influenced 
them  to  give  me  a  hearing  (not  boasting  but  unvarnished 
truth)  upon  any  and  all  subjects  above  that  which  generally 
falls  to  the  lot  of  the  White  Man  to  obtain. 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THIS  CONTINENT.     IT'S  RE 
SULTS  TO  THE  NATIVES. 

In  the  year  1470,  there  lived  in  Lisbon,  a  town  in  Portu 
gal,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Christopher  Columbus,  who  there 
married  Dona  Felipa,  the  daughter  of  Bartolome  oMonis  de 
Palestrello,  an  Italian  (then  deceased),  who  had  arisen  to 
great  celebrity  as  a  navigator.  Dona  Felipa  was  the  idol  of 
her  doting  father,  and  often  accompanied  him  in  his  many 
voyages,  in  which  she  soon  equally  shared  with  him  his  love 
of  adventure,  and  thus  became  to  him  a  treasure  indeed  not 
only  as  a  companion  but  as  a  helper;  for  she  drew  his  maps 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  13 

and  geographical  charts,  and  also  wrote,  at  his  dictation,  his 
journals  concerning  his  vovages.  Shortly  after  the  marriage 
of  Columbus  and  Felipa  at  Lisbon,  thev  moved  to  the  island 
of  Porto  Santo  which  her  father  had  colonized  and  was  gov 
ernor  at  the  itime  of  his  death,  and  settled  on  a  large  landed 
estate  which  belonged  to  Palestrello,  and  which  he  had  be 
queathed  to  Felipa  together  with  all  his  journals  and  papers. 
In  that  home  of  retirement  and  peace  the  young  husband  and 
wife  lived  in  connubial  bliss  for  manv  years.  'How  could  it 
be  otherwise,  since  each  had  found  in  the  other  a  congenial 
spirit,  full  of  adventurous  explorations,  but  which  all  others 
regarded  as  yisionary  follies.  They  read  together  and  talked 
over  the  journals  and  papers  of  Bartolomeo,  during  which 
Felipa  also  entertained  Columbus  with  accounts  of  her  own 
voyages  with  her  father,  together  with  his  opinions  ajid  those 
of  other  navigators  of  that  age — his  friends  and  companions 
— of  a  possible  country  that  might  be  discovered  in  the  dis 
tant  West,  and  the  future  fame  of  the  fortunate  discoverer. 
Thus  they  read,  studied,  thought  and  talked  together 'con 
cerning  that  which  they  believed  the  future  would  proye? a 
reality,  but  of  which  no  other  had  a  thought.  .;This  opinion, 
had  found  a  permanent  lodgment  in  the  mind  of  Columbus 
and  awakened  an  enthusiasm  therein  never  experienced  -be 
fore  in  the  breast  of  man  upon  alike  subject,  and  which 
aroused  him  to  that  energy  of  determination  which  .rebuked 
all  fear  and  recognized  no  thought  of  failure.  But  alas,  the 
noble  Felipa,  who  alone  had  stood  by  him  in  their  mutual 
opinions  and  shared  with  him  the  storm  of  thoughtless  ridi 
cule,  lived  not  to  learn  of  the  fulfillment  of  their  hopes,  and 
the  undying  fame  of  her  adored  husband,  even  as  he  lived  not 
to  learn*  the  extent  of  his  discovery.  But  alas,  for  human 
justice  and  consistency.  Instead  of  naming  the  "New 
World11  in  honor  of  his  equally  meritorious  wife,  the  heroic 
Dona  Felipa,  or  in  honor  of  both,  it  was  wrested  from  them 
by  one  Amerigo  Vespucci,  a  pilot  on  a  vessel  of  an  obscure 
navigator  named  Hojeda,  and  the  world  acquiesced  in  the 
robbery.  But  such  are  its  rewards! 

But  more  than  four-hundred  years  have  been  numbered 
with  the  ages  of  the  past,  since  a  little  fleet  of  three  ships, 
respectively  named  Santa  Maria,  Pinta  and  Nina,  under  the 
command  of  Christopher  Columbus,  were  nearing  the  coast  of 
that  country  that  lay  in  its  primitive  grandeur  and  loveliness, 
even  as  when  pronounced  "good11  by  its- -Divine  Creator, 
beyond  the  unknown  waters  that  stretched  away  in  the 
illimitable  distance-to  the  West  where  sky  and  sea,  though 
ever  receding,  seemed  still  to  meet  in  loving  embrace,  but 
whose  existence  was  first  in  the  contemplations  of  Columbus 


14  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

and  Felipa,and  its  reality, first  in  the  knowledge  of  Columbus. 
At  10. o'clock,  p.m.,  as  it-is  recorded,  Columbus    discovered 
the  feeble  glimmerings  of   a    distant   light,'   to  which    he   at 
once  directed  the  attention  of  Pedro  Gutierrez,  who  also  saw 
it.      On  the  next   day,  at  2  a.    m.,  the  distant  boom  of  a    gun 
was  heard  rolling  along  on  the  smooth  surface  of  the  tranquil 
waters,  the  first   that  ever  broke    the   solitude   of   the    night 
in    those     unknown   regions    of     the   deep.     It   came   from 
the    Pinta,    and  bore     the    joyful     intelligence      that    land 
was   found.     But   how  little   did    these   daring    adventurers 
iiriagine  the  magnitude  of  their  discovery;  or.  that  that  mid 
night  signal  also  heralded  the  extermination  of  old  notions 
and  the  birth  of  new;  the  prelude  to  war  and  bloodshed  with 
a  people  whose  types. were  unknown  to  the  civilized  world!. 
For  man  was  there — man  in  his  primitive  state.     Fiercely- 
energetic,  yet  never  demonstrative  or  openly  expressing  his 
emotions;  uncultured,  yet  slow  and  deliberate  in  his  speech; 
congenial,  vet  ever  exhibiting  a  reserve  and  diffidence  among 
strangers;  hospitable,  yet  knowing  his  rights,  knew  no  fear 
in  maintaining  them;  trusting,  yet  welcomed  death   rather 
than  endure  wrong.     Yet,  in  most  of  his  characteristics  and. 
peculiarities '  seemingly   to  have   a   foreign  origin   from  the  ~ 
known  races  of' mankind;    still  indisputably  of  the  human' 
ralce— he,  too,  was  man;  though  with  no  regular  or  consistent'- 
ideas  of  the  Deity,  religion  or  civil  government,  yet  possessing' 
correct  views  of  a  distinction  between  right  and  wrong,  on_ 
wHich  were  founded  very  correct  maxims  orx  codes  of  moral-'/; 
ity;  but  whose   penal  code  was  a  definite  and' fixed  rule ^oifii 
personal  retaliation — "An  eye  ior  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a- 
tpbtn;"  thus  they  were  gliding  smoothly  along  on  the  tide  of. 
tirrie,  nor  had  a  troubled  wave  ever  risen  to  disturb  the  tran- 
quility  of  their  voyage,  or  shadows  darkened  their  sky,  and 
to  whom  the  past  had  been  so  bright  that  the  future   held 
only  fair  promises  for  them.     But,  alas,  how  little  did  they  . 
realize  how  dark  a  future  was  in  store  for  them!     That  mid 
night  gun,  as  it  momentarily  flashed  upon  the  deck  of  the 
Pinta  and  then  sent  its  welcomed  boom  to  the  listening  ears 
and  watching  eyes  upon  the  decks  of  the  Santa  Maria  and 
Nina  proclaiming  that  their  languishing  hopes  were  realized 
and  their  declining  expectations  verified,  was  also  the  death 
signal,  first  to  the  distant  Peruvians  by  the  hand  of  Pizarro  ; 
next,  to  the  Aztecs  by  the  hand  of  Cortez;  then  last,  but  not 
least,  to  the   North   American  Indians   by   the   hand   of   De 
Soto — as  an  introduction  of  what  would  be — but  the  Old  died 
hard  to  make  way  for  the  New. 

Once    the  dominant  power    of  this  continent;  but  alas, 
through     unequal    wars:     through     altered     circumstances, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  15 

through  usurpation  and  frauds;  through  oppressions  and 
trials;  through  misfortunes  and  hardships,  sorrows  and  suf 
ferings,  of  which  none  can  know  but  themselves,  they  have 
been  coerced  by  arbitrary  power  exerted,  through  treaty  and 
cessions  by  open-handed  tyranny  and  wrong,  to  surrender 
their  country,  their  all,  to  make  way  for  white  civilization  and 
that  liberty  that  only  seemed  to  prosper  and  rejoice  in  pro 
portion  to  "the  destruction  of  their  own;  while  they  long  but 
vainly  looked  for  the  expected  day  when  the  White  Man's 
avarice  would  be  satiated,  and  then  the  red  and  white  races 
could  walk  together  in  harmony  and  peace  each  aiding  the 
other  in  the  development  of  the  resources  of  their  respective 
portions  of  the  vast  continent  that  lay  between  them,  extend 
ing  from  ocean  to  ocean,  to  the  mutual  advantages  of  each  in 
the  noble  and  humane  endeavors  to  attain  the  chief  end  of 
man — the  glory  of  God  and  the  enjoyment  of  Him  in  this  world 
and  the  one  to  come — but  the  White  Race  would  not. 

But  whence  the  origin  of  this  peculiarly  interesting  and 
wonderful  people?  From  what  nation  of  people  descended? 
Whence  and  at  what  date,  how  and  by  what  route  came  they 
to  this  continent?  Language  has  contributed  its  mite  and  the 
archaeologist  handed  in  his  little,  concerning  the  infancy  of 
this  peculiar  people,  yet  the  veil  of  mystery  still  hangs  around 
them  shutting  out  all  knowlege  of  the  primitive  past.  Who 
shall  rend  the  veil  and  tell  whence  they  came  to  possess  this 
continent  in  that  distant  long-ago  before  the  dawn  of  history's 
morn?  Alas,  even  the  feeble  glimmerings  of  vague  traditions 
have  not  furnished  a  ray  of  light  to  penetrate  the  darkness  of 
the  long  night  that  enshrouds  their  origin.  It  is  a  sealed 
book. 

Such  has  been  for  two  centuries  past,  and  still  is,  the 
long  drawn  and  doleful  wail  concerning  the  North  American 
Indians'  primitive  land;  romantic  in  affording  an  unlimited 
field  over  which  the  wild,  dreamy  speculations  of  the  imagina 
tive  minds,  of  which  the  present  age  is  so  prolific  in  every 
thing  read  or  heard  about  the  Red  Race,  may  find  abundant 
space  to  indulge  in  their  visionary  delights  unrestrained,  un 
disturbed,  undismayed;  the  alpha  and  the  omega  of  their 
knowledge  of  the  North  American  Indian  race  in  toto;  since 
the  causes  that  induced  them  to  forsake  and  how  they  drifted 
from  the  shores  of  the  eastern  to  the  western  continent,  are 
today  treasured  in  their  ancient  traditions  still  remembered 
by  the  few  remaining  of  their  aged  and  also  written  upon  a 
few  wampum  — the  archives  of  their  historic  past  —  that  has 
escaped  the  white  vandals'  devilish  delight  in  destroying  all 
that  is  Indian,  now  forever  buried  in  that  night  of  darkness 
which  precedes  their  known  history. 


16  HISTORY  OF  THK  INDIANS. 

But  to  those  who  knew  them  in  their  native  freedom,  when 
uncontaminated  by  the  demoralizing"  influences  of  unprincip 
led  whites,  they  were  truly  a  peculiar  and  interesting-  people 
whose  external  habits,  strange  opinions,  peculiar  dispositions 
and  customs,  seemed  to  belong  alone  to  themselves  and  to 
distinguish  .them  from  all  known  people  of  the  human  race; 
yet,  wholly  susceptible  to  as  high  moral  and  intellectual  im 
provements  as  any  other  race  of  man-kind;  while  their  distinct 
identity  with  the  human  race  is  a  fact  which  has  never  yet 
been  successfully  disproved.  Though  severed  by  climate, 
language  and  a  thousand  external  conditions,  there  is  still 
one  deep  underlying  identity,  which  makes  all  man-kind 
brothers;  an  instructive  and  interesting  subject  worthy 
the  attention  and  consideration  of  all  man-kind.  It  is 
neither  new  nor  novel  but  is  as  ancient  as  the  creation  of 
Adam  and  Eve. 

Though  the  Indians  were  without  letters,  chronology,  or 
any  thing  by  which  correctly  to  denote  their  dynasties  but 
that  which  may  be  inferred  from  their  monumental  remains, 
yet  there  is  much  in  their  recitals  of  ancient  epochs  to  give 
great  consistency  to  their  legends  and  traditions,  and  fully 
sufficient  to  reunite  the  assumed  broken  link  in  the  chain  of 
their  history,  which,  in  the  ages  of  the  past,  connected  them 
with  the  Old  World;  and  their  history, antiquities  and  mytho 
logy  are  still  preserved  by  many  striking  allegories,  here 
and  there,  or  in  wild  yet  consistent  romance.  And  we  can 
but  admit  that  there  are  many  evident  truths  which  we  must 
acknowledge;  for  when  viewed  by  the  light  of  facts,  we  see 
in  the  North  American  Indians  a  peculiar  variety  of  the 
human  race  with  traits  of  character  plainly  oriental,  but 
who  long  since  have  been  lost  to  all  ancient  and  modern 
history. 

But  the  time  and  manner  of  their  migration  to  the 
western  continent,  as  before  stated,  are  wrapt  in  impenetra 
ble  mystery.  Those  who  have  studied  the  physiology,  lan 
guage,  antiquities,  and  traditions  of  this  peculiar  people, 
have  alike  concluded  that  their  migration  to  this  continent, 
judging  from  .the  ancient  ruins  found,  probably  extends 
back  to  within  five  hundred  years  of  the  building  of  Babylon. 
Dating  from  the  discoverv  of  Columbus,  the  western  con 
tinent  has  been  known  to  the  European  world  upwards  of 
four  hundred  years;  yet  it  is  now  generally  conceded  (if  not 
universally  admitted)  that  the  Scandinavians  (or  Northmen) 
discovered  it  long  before  Columbus,  and  had  sailed  along  the 
Atlantic  coast  from  Greenland  early  in  the  10th  century. 
Those  ancient  and  daring  sea-rovers  of  Norway,  who  ventured 
upon  the  pathless  ocean  without  chart  or  compass  guided 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  17 

alone  by  the  planetary  worlds  above,  discovered  Iceland^ in  the 
year  850,  upon  which  they  established  a  settlement;  and  in 
the  following-  century,  stumbled  upon  the  bleak  and  inhospi 
table  shores  of  Greenland  upon  which  was  also  founded  a 
colony.  But  it  has  been  awarded  to  Leif,  the  son  of  Eric  the 
Red,  as  the  first  discoverer  of  the  North  American  continent 
in  the  10th  century.  He  named  the,  new  country  (now 
believed  to  be  the  coast  of  Massachusetts)  Vinland,  or  Vine- 
land,  from  the  abundance  of  wild  grapes  that  were  there 
found  .  It  is  said  the  records  of  this  expedition  state:  "And 
when  spring  came  they  sailed  away,  and  Leif  g-ave  to  the  land 
a  name  after  its  sort,  and  called  it  Vinland.  They  sailed 
then  until  they  reached  Greenland;  and  ever  afterward,  Leif 
was  called  'Leif  the  Lucky." 

The  traditions  of  the  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  Creek, 
Cherokees,  Seminoles,  Delawares,  Shawnese,  as  learned  by 
the  early  missionaries,  and,  in  fact,  of  all  the  tribes  who 
formerly  dwelt  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  state  that  the 
White  Race  come  to  this  continent  from  the  East,  but  that 
their  fore-fathers  came  from  the  North  West. 

It  is  also  said,  that  a  Mexican  historian  makes  a  new 
attempt  to  show  that  America  was  discovered  in  the  fifth 
century,  A.  D.,  by  a  party  of  Buddhist  monks  from  Afg-hanis- 
tan,  of  whom  one,  Hwai  Shan,  returned  to  Asia  after  an 
absence  of  forty  one  years.  A  short  account  of  the  land 
which  he  visited,  supposed  to  be  Mexico,  was  included  in  the 
official  history  of  China.  It  is  said,  there  is  proof  that  Hwai 
Shan  actually  visited  some  unknown  eastern  regions,  and  the 
traditions  of  Mexico  contain  an  acqount  of  the  arrival  of 
monks.  But  whenever  seen  or  found,  whether  in  the  fifth, 
tenth,  fifteenth,  or  eig-hteenth  centuries,  the  North  American 
Indians  have  possessed  nearly  all  the  leading-  traits  that  they 
now  possess.  And  all  admit,  that  of  all  the  races  of  man 
kind  upon  earth  that  wandered  from  the  native  countries  and 
have  been  thrown  back  into  intellectual  darkness,  the  North 
American  Indians  have  undergone  the  least  chang-e,  preserv 
ing1  their  physical  and  mental  type  nearly  the  same,  seemingly 
as  if  bound  by  the  irresistible  power  of  an  unchanging- 
decree;  and  who,  in  their  unvarying  individuality  and  univer 
sal  idiosyncracy,  point  back  to  no  known  race  of  the  human 
family  except  the  Jews.  When  regarded  as  a  whole,  they 
appear  to  have  been  composed  of  fragments  of  different 
tribes  of  the  races  of  man,  yet  having  a  general  affinity  to 
each  other,  and,  with  here  and  there  an  exception,  appearing 
to  be  parts  of  a  whole.  The  majority  of  their  languages  are 
evidently  derivative,  and  of  a  style  of  synthesis  more  ancient 


18  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

than  those  even  of  Greece  and   Rome,   but    exhibiting-  no 
analogies  to  those  of  northern  and  western  Europe.   N 

Though  Bancroft  affirms  "that  their  ancestors  were, 
like  themselves,  not  yet  disenthralled  from  nature,"  yet  the 
traditions  of  many  of  the  tribes  pointed  back  to  an  era  in  the 
distant  past  in  which  they  lived  in  a  better  and  happier  con 
dition,  but  that  was  all,  nor  have  ever  the  fragmentary 
writings  of  the  ancients  thrown  any  light  upon  their  history. 
The  Nilotic  inscriptions,  the  oldest  known,  are  alike  silent 
concerning  them,  but  that  they  may  be  still  more  ancient, 
their  language,  strange  idiosyncracies,  and  all  that  render 
them  so  peculiar  and  seemingly  different  from  all  the  known 
human  race,  evidently  denote  and  sustain  the  probability,  if 
nothing  nore.  Be  this  as  it  may,  all  evidence,  yet  obtained 
'  proves  them  to  be  of  very  ancient  origin;  and  no  known  book 
goes  far  enough  back  into  the  past  to  date  the  period  of  their 
origin,  unless  it  be  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  If  we  refer  to 
them  a  proto-type  may  possibly  be  traced  in  the  Eberites,  a 
branch  of  the  house  of  Almodad,  the  son  of  Joktan,  of  whom 
it  is  said,  during  all  periods  of  their  history,  that  they  were 
reckless,  heedless,  impatient  of  restraint  or  reproof.  Yet, 
this  but  adds  to  the  affirmation,  that  history  will  ever  vainly 
inquire,  "whence  their  origin." 

But  that  many  of  their  traditions  were  based  on  facts  is 
unquestionably  true.  Many  tribes  possess  traditions  of  the 
first  appearance  of  the  White  Race  among  them.  The 
Mohicans  and  Lenni  Lenapes  have  a  tradition  of  the  voyage, 
in  1609,  of  the  great  navigator  and  explorer,  Hudson,  up  the 
river  now  bearing  his  name.  Cartier's  visit  to  the  St.  Law 
rence  in  1534,  is  remembered  by  tradition  among  the 
Algonquins,  who  still  call  the  French,  "People  of  the  Wooden 
vessel."  The  Chippewas  declared  (1824)  according  to  their 
traditions  that  seven  generations  of  people  had  lived  and  died 
since  the  French  first  sailed  upon  the  Lakes.  Taking  1608 
as  the  year  of  the  settlement  of  Canada  by  the  French,  and 
allow  thirty  years  to  a  generation,  the  accuracy  of  their 
tradition  is  certainly  praiseworthy,  to  say  the  least  of  it. 
That  their  ancestors  came  from  the  Eastern  continent  there 
are  many  traditional  evidences  that  seem  founded  on  truth. 
In  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie's  travels  among  the  most 
.northern  tribes,  he  says  the  Chippewas  had  a  tradition  that 
they  originally  came  from  another  country,  which  was 
inhabited  by  a  very  wicked  people,  that  in  their  travels  they 
suffered  greatly  in  passing  over  a  great  lake,  which  was 
always  frozen  and  covered  with  snow.  McKe'rizie,  page  387, 
says:  "Their  progress  (the  great Athapasca  family)  was 
easterly,  and  acc'orq jng  to  to  their  own  tradition,  they  came 


HISTORY  OF  THK  INDIANS.  19 

from  Siberia  ;  agreeing-  in  dress  and  manners  with  the  people 
now  found   upon  the   coast    of  Asia."     John  Johnston,   for 
many  years   an  agent  among-   the   Shawnees,   an  Algonquin 
tribe,  states  that   these  Indians   had  a  tradition  of   a  foreign 
origin.     In  a  letter  of  July   7th,    1819,  (American  Archaeolo 
gist,  p.  273)   he   says  :     "The  people  of  this  nation   have   a 
tradition  that  their  ancestors  crossed  the   sea  ;  and  that  they 
migrated  from  Florida  to   Ohio  and   Indiana;"   where   they 
were  located  at  the  time  of  his  agency  among  them.     "They 
were  the  only  tribe,"  he  writes,  "with  which  I  am  acquainted, 
who  admit  a  foreign  origin."     The  Cherokees  also  admit  it. 
Oconostata,  or  the  Big  warrior,   chief  of   the   ancient   Chero 
kees,  claimed  that  his   people's  ancestors   came   from    Asia, 
landing  far  to  the  north-west  of  this  continent;   thence  to 
Mexico  ;  thence  to  this  country.     (Milfort,  p.  269.)     Johnston 
further  states  respecting  the  Shawnees.     "Until  lately,  they 
kept  yearly  sacrifices  for  their  safe   arrival  in   this   country. 
Whence    they     came,     or   at    what   period   they   arrived   in 
America,  they  do  not  know.     It  is  a  prevailing  opinion  among 
them,  that  Florida  had  been   inhabited  by  white   people,  who 
had  the   use  of  iron  tools.     Blackhoof,   a   celebrated   Chief, 
affirms  that  he  has  often  heard  it  spoken  of  by  old  people, 
that  stumps  of  trees,  covered  with  earth,  were  frequently 
found,  which  had  been  cut    down  with   edged  tools."     But 
this,  no  doubt,  was  the  work  of  De  Soto  and  his  army  in  1541. 
Many  attribute  to  the  Indians  a  Jewish   origin,   and   not 
without  some  seemingly  plausible  reason.     James  Adair,  a 
man,  it  is  recorded,  of  fine  erudition,  and  who  lived   more 
than     thirty    years    among    the   ancestors    of   the   present 
Chickasaws,    and   was  often  among  the    ancient    Choctaws, 
Cherokees  and  Muscogees,  and  thus  became  familiar  with 
the  customs  and  habits  of  these  Southern  Indians.     Tradition 
states  that  Adair  commenced  living  among  the   Chickasaws 
in  1844.     He  wrote  and  published  a  work;     "The  American 
Indians,"   in    1775.     He    was   well  versed    in   the    Hebrew 
language,  and  in  his  long  residence  with  the  Indians  acquired 
an  accurate  knowledge  of  their  tongue,  and   he  devoted   the 
larger  portion  of  his  work  to  prove  that  the  Indians   were 
originally   Hebrews,   and  were  a  portion  of   the  lost  tribes  of 
Israel.     He  asserts  that  at  the  "Boos-Ketous"  (the  ceremony 
of  initiating  youth  to  manhood)   "among  the  ancient  Musco 
gees  and  other  tribes,  the  warriors  danced  around   the  holy- 
fire,  during  which  the  elder  priest  invoked  the  Great  Spirit, 
while    they    responded     Halelu!    Halelu!     then    Haleluiah! 
Haleluiah!"     He  based  his   belief  that  they  were  originally 
Jews,    upon  their   division  into  tribes,  worship  of   Jehovah, 
notions  of  theocracy,  belief  in  the  ministrations  of  angels, 


20  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

language  and  .dialects,  manner  of  computing  time,  their 
Prophets  and  High  Priests,  festivals,  fasts  and  religious 
rites,  daily  sacrifices,  ablutions  and  anointings,  laws  of 
uncleanlinless,  abstinence  from' unclean  things,  marriages,, 
divorces,  and  punishments  for  adultery,  other  punishments, 
their. towns  of  refuge,  purification  and  ceremony  preparatory 
to  war,  their  ornaments,  manner  of  curing  the  sick,  burial 
of  the  dead,  mourning  for  the  dead,  choice  of  names  adapted 
to  their  circumstances  and  times,  their  own  traditions,  and 
the  accounts  of  our  English  writers,  and  the  testimony  which 
the  Spanish  and  other  authors  have  given  concerning  the 
primitive  inhabitants  of  Peru  and  Mexico.  He  insists  that 
in  nothing  do  they  differ  from  the  Jews  except  in  the  rite  of 
circumcision.  The  difference  In  food,  mode  of  living  and 
climate  are  relied  on  by  Adair,  to  account  for  the  difference 
in  the  color,  between  the  Jew  and  the  Indian.  Abram 
Mordecai,  an  intelligent  Jew,  who  dwelt  fifty  years  in  the 
the  ancient  Creek  nation,  confidently  believed  that  the 
Indians  were  originally  of  his  people,  and  he  asserted  that  in 
their  Green  Corn  Dances  he  had  heard  them  often  utter  in 
graceful  tones,  the  word  Yavoyaha!  Yavoyaha!  He  was 
always  informed  by  the  Indians  that  this  meant  Jehovah,  or 
the  Great  Spirit,  and  that  they  were  then  returning  thanks 
for  the  abund'ant  harvest  with  which  they  were  blest. 

I  often  heard  the  Choctaws,  when  engaged  in  their 
,  ancient  dances  at  their  former  homes  east  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  utter  in  concert  and  in  solemn  tone  of  voice  Yar-vo-hah, 
Yar-vo-yar-hah!  and  when  asked  its  signification,  replied  : 
"It  is  the  name  of  the  Great  Spirit  we  worship."  According 
to  an  ancient  tradition  of  the  Choctaws,  as  before  stated,  the 
ancient  Choctaws,  Chickasaws  and  Muscogees  (ndw  Creeks) 
were  once  the  same  people,  and  today  the  Creeks  have  many 
pure  Choctaw  words  in  their  language. 

Other  writers,  who  have  lived  among  the  ancient  Indians, 
are  of  the  same  opinion  with  Adair  and  Abram  Mordecai, 
forming  this  conclusion  solely  on  the  fact  that  many  of  the 
religious  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  various  tribes  they 
regarded  as  truly  Jewish,  to  that  extent  as  to  induce  them 
to  believe  that  the  North  American  Indians  are  originally 
from  the  Jews. 

Even  the  renowned  Quaker,  Wm.  Penn,  in  expressing 
his  views  upon  this  subject,  says:  "For  the  original,  I  am 
ready  to  believe  them  the  Jewish  race,  I  mean  of  the  stock  of 
the  ten  tribes,  and  that  for  the  following  reasons: 

"First.  They  were  to  go  to  a  land  not  planted  or  known,, 
which,  to  be  sure,  Asia  and  Africa  were,  if  not  Europe,  and 
He  that  intended  that  extraordinary  judgment  upon  them, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  21 

might  make  the  passage  not  uneasy  to  them,  and  it  is  not  im 
possible  in  itself,  from  the  easternmost  part  of  Asia  to'  the 
westernmost  part  of  America.  In  the  next  place,  I  find  them 
of  like  countenance,  and  their  children  of  so  lively  resemb 
lance  that  a  man  would  think  himself  in  Duke's  place  or 
Berry  street  in  London,  when  he  seeth  them.  But  this  is  not 
all.  They  agree  in'  rites;  they  reckon  by  moons;  they  offer 
their  first  fruits;  they  have  a  kind  of  feast  of  tabernacles;  they 
are  said  to  lay  their  altar  upon  twelve  stones;  their  mourning 
a  year;  customs  of  women;  with  many  other  things. " 

There  was  a  belief  among  many  of  the  ancient  tribes  of 
the  North  American  Indians,  that  their  earliest  ancestors 
were  created  within  or  at  least. once  lived  within,  the  interior 
of  the  earth.  The  Lenni  Lenape,  now  known  as  the  Delaware 
Indians,  "considered,''  says  Heckewelder,  in  his  "Manners 
and  Customs,  of  the  Indians,"  page  249,  "the  earth  as  their 
universal  mother.  They  believed  that  they  were  created 
within  its  bosom,  where  for  a  long  time  they  had  their  abode 
before  they  came  to  live  on  its  surface.  But  as  to  the  form 
under  which  they  lived  in  the  interior  of  the  'earth,  their 
mythologists  differ.  Some'assert  that  they 'lived 'there  in 
human  shape,  while  others,  with  much  more  consistency, 
declare  that  their  existence  was' in  the  form  of '  :  certain* 
terrestrial  animals,  such  as  the  ground:hog,  rabbit  and  the 
tortoise."  Similar  views  respecting  their  origin  were  held 
by  the  Iroquois.  The  Rev.  Christopher  Pyrloeus,  who 
formerly  lived  among  the  Iroquois  and  spoke  their  language, 
was  told,  (according  to  Heckewelder)  by  a  respectable 
Mohawk  chief,  "a  tradition  of  the  Iroquois  which  was  as 
follows:  That  they  had  dwelt  in  the  earth  when' it  was  dark 
and  where  no  sun  ever  shone.  That,  though  they  engaged 
in  hunting  for  a  living,  they  ate  mice.  That  one  of  their 
tribe  called  Ganawayahhah  having  accidentally  found  a  hole 
at  which  to  g*et  out  of  the  earth,  went  out,  and  after  look 
ing  around  a  while  saw  a  deer,  which  he  killed, and  took  back 
with  him  to  his  home  in  the  earthj  and  that,  '  on  account  both 
'-of  the  flesh  of  the  deer  proving  such  excellent  food,  and  the 
favorable  description1  he  gave  of  the  appearances  above,  they 
concluded  it  best  to  change  their  homes  from  the  inside  to 
the. outside  of  the  earth,  and  accordingly  did  so,  and  im 
mediately  engaged  in  raising  corn,  beans,  etc."  Hecke 
welder  does  not  state  whether  these  traditions  of  the  Lenni 
Lenape  and  Iroquois  were  associated  by  them  with  any- 
particular  localities.  However,  the  place  of  origin  was 
generally  located  in  some  suitable  spot  within  the  territory 
of  the  tribes,  and  which  was  regarded  with  much  veneration 
by  all.  "We  are  told  by  Cussac,  a  later  authority  for  the  Iro- 


22  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

qois  tradition,"  says  Schoolcraft  (in  his  Indian  Tribes,  part 
5,  pag-e  636)  "that  the  place  at  which  the  first  small  band  of 
Indians  was  believe  to  have  issued  from  the  earth  was  a 
certain  eminence  near  the  Oswego  Falls.  Also,  -(part  5,  p* 
682)  "that  the  Caddos,  lonies,  and  Amaudakas  believe  that 
their  original  ancestors  came  out  of  the  Hot  Springs  of  Ark 
ansas."  Mercy,  in  his  Exploration  of  the  Red  River,  p.  69, 
states  that  the  Wichitas,  on  the  Red  River,  believed  that 
their  fore-fathers  came  out  of  the  mountains  which  bear 
their  name.  Jones,  in  his  Traditions  of  the  Nosth  American 
Indians,  v.  3.  p..  187,.  says:  The  Minetories,  on  the  Upper 
Missouri,  pointed  out  two  hills  as  marking-  the  spot  of  of  the 
tribe's  origin.  Side  by  side  with  these  of  the  "earth  born" 
ancestry  is  another  group  of  origin  traditions,  which  repre 
sent  the  first  of  the  human  race  as  having  their  origin  in 
and  coming  out  of  some  body  of  water,  a  river,  spring  or 
lake,  instead  of  the  ground.  Long,  in  his  expedition  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  v.  1.  p.  336,  said:  One  branch  of  the 
Omahas  asserted  that  their  founder  arose  out  of  the  waterr 
bearing  in  his  hand  an  ear  of  red  maize,  for  which  reason 
the  red  maize  was  never  used  by  them  for  food."  De  Smet, 
in  his  Oregon  Missions,  p.  178,  states  that,  in  the  country  of 
the  Blackfoot  tribe  there  are  two  lakes;  one  of  them  is  known 
as  the  lake  of  men,  and  the  other,  as  the  lake  of  women. 
Out  of  the  former  came  the  father  of  the  tribe  and  of  the 
latter,  the  mother, 

These  two  traditions  of  man'sorigin, the  one  thathe  came 
out  of  the  ground,  the  other,  that  he  came  out  of  the  water, 
have  been  regarded  by  some  as  distinct  from  one  another 
both  in  origin  and  meaning;  while  by  others,  as  identical,  and 
both  being  the  mutilated  interpretations  of  a  myth  into 
which  a  cave  and  a  body  of  water  enter  as  prominent  and 
essential  features. 

Very  similar,  says  Schoolcraft,  in  his  Indian  Traditions, 
4,  pp.  89  and  90,  is  the  tradition  of  the  Navajoes,  of  New 
Mexico.  According  to  their  tradition  as  recorded  by  Dr. 
Ten  Brock,  all  mankind  and  all  the  animals  once  lived  in  a 
gloomy  cavern  in  the  heart  of  the  Cerro  Naztarny  mountains, 
on  the  river  San  Juan.  A  lucky  accident  led  them  to  suspect 
that  the  walls  of  their  prison-house  were  quite  thin,  and  the 
raccoon  was  set  to  dig  a  way  out.  .As  he  did  not  succeed  the 
moth  worm  took  his  place  and  after  much  hard  labor  effected 
an  opening.  But  when  he  reached  the  outside  of  the  moun 
tain,  he  found  all  things  submerged  under  the  sea,  so  he 
threw  up  a  little  mound  of  earth  and  sat  down  to  ponder  on 
the  situation.  Presently  the  water  receded  in  four  great 
rivers  and  left  in  their  place  a  mass  of  soft  mud.  Four 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  23 

winds  arose  and  dried  up  the  mud  and  then  the  men  and  ani 
mals  came  up,  occupying"  in  their  passage  several  days.  As 
yet  there  was  no  sun,  moon  nor  stars;  so  the  old  men  held  a 
council  and  resolved  to  manufacture  these  luminaries. 
There  were  among  them  two  flute  players,  who,  while  they 
had  dwelt  within  the  mountain,  had  been  wont  to  enliven  them 
with  music;  and  when  the  sun  and  moon  were  finished,  they 
were  given  into  the  charge  of  these  musicians,  who  have  been 
carrying  them  ever  since.  These  are  the  main  points  of  the 
Navajo  legend  as  recorded  by  Dr.  Ten  Brock.  It  will  be 
observed  that  the  sea,  which  is  nothing  else  than  the  prime 
val  sea  that  forms  so  common  a  feature  in  cosmogonies,  holds 
quite  as  prominent  a  place  in  the  story  as  does  the  cavern 
itself,  and  the  two  might  easily  become  separated  in  an  incom 
plete  version.  Either  the  cave  or  the  water  might  be  dropped. 
In  fact,  there  is  another  version  of  this  legend,  given  by 
Col.  J.  A.  Eaton,  in  which  there  is  no  mention  of  a  cave.  The 
Navajoes,  according  to  Eaton's  version  of  the  story,  came  out 
of  the  earth  in  the  middle  of  a  certain  lake  in  the' valley  of 
Montezuma,  at  some  distance  from  their  present  location., 
The  question  which  occurs  first,  upon  surveying  this  group 
of  legends  so  alike  in  their  general  tenor,  is,  are  they  histor 
ically  connected  with  one  another  in  the  sense  that  they  are 
the  fragments  of  some  primeval  tale  current  among  the  In 
dians  at  a  time  when  they  were  less  widely  scattered  over 
the  continent  than  at  pr'esent,  or  have  thfey  sprung  up  at  sev 
eral  centers  .independently  of  each  other?  This  question  is 
of  great  interest  to  American  ethnologists,  but  one  to  which, 
in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  respecting  the  mode  of 
growth  and  diffusion  of  popular  tales,  it  would,  perhaps,  be 
rash  to  attempt  an  answer.  It  may  be  said,  however,  in  fa 
vor  of  the  former  hypothesis  that  the  account  of  man's  ori 
gin — at  least,  however,  the  story  is  circumstantially  related 
— is, so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  discover,  peculiar  to  Ameri 
ca.  It  is  true  it  has  sometimes  been  classed  with  those  old 
World  legends  which  represent  man  as  of  an  earthly  nature, 
either  as  having  been  fashioned  out  of  clay  by  the  hand  of 
some  Promethean  potter,  or  as  having  sprung  from  a  seed  of 
stones  or  of  dragon's  teeth  scattered  over  the  soil,  but  a 
close  inspection  of  any  of  its  detailed  versions  will  show  that 
the  story  teller  has  in  mind  a  thought  essentially  different 
from  those  embodied  in  these  classic  legends.  The  first 
men,  according  to  the  Indians'  account,  did  not  spring  up  as 
vegetable  life  from  the  surface  of  the  earth;  they  came  out  of 
its  interior  in  the  human  shape  and  afterward  accompanied 
by  the  animals  of  the  chase.  Indeed,  when  closely  scanned, 
the  story  is  seen  to  be  an  account,  not  of  man's  origin,  but 


24  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

simply  of  a  change  in  the  scene  of  his  existence.  Except  in 
a  few  cases  in  which  we  are  told  that  the  original  men  were 
created  by  the  gods  before  being-  brought^  above  ground,  we 
receive  no  hint  as  to  how  their  life  began.  We  are  merely 
told  that  the}r;  came  a  long-  time  ago  out  of  a  cave  or 
out  of  a  lake,  within  which  they  have  lived  from  the  begin 
ning-.  This  is  a  characteristic  feature  which  I  have  not  met 
with  distinctly  portrayed  in  any  legends  outside  of  America. 
But  whether  or  not  these  tales  have  any  true  kinship  with 
one  another  ,  it  hardly  admits  of  doubt  that  they  have  a  com 
mon  basis,  either  of  facts  or  of  logic,  and  that  they  may' "bet 
regarded  as  practically,  if  not  actually,  different  versions  of 
a  single  original  tale.,  What  is  this  basis,  and  what  is  the 
meaning  of  .the  story?  This  question  has  often  been  asked, 
and  has  been  answered  variously.  From  a  number  of  pro 
posed  "interpretations,"  It  select  two,  which  seem  the 
most  worthy  of.  consideration',  as. well  from  theirinherent 
plausibility,  as  from  the  names  by  which  they  are  endorsed. 
Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  speaking,  in  a /recent  work,  with  .ex 
press  reference  to  the  Navajo  tradition,  of  which  an  outline 
has  been  given  above;  says:  "Either  the  early  progenitors 
of  a  tribe  were  dwellers  in  caves  or  the  mountains;  or  the 
mountains  making  most  conspicuously  the  elevated  region 
whence  they  came  is  identified  with  the  object  whence  they 
sprung." — (Spencer  Principles  of  Sociology,  Vol.  i,.p.  393.) 
And  again:  \"W/here  caves  are  used  for  interments,  t.hey 
became  the  supposed  places  of  abode  for  the  dead;  and 
hence  develops  the  notion  of  a  subterranean  World." — (Ibid, 
p.  219.)  Underlying  the  tradition  of  the  Delawares  and  Iro- 
quois,  Heckewelder  saw  an  admirable  philosophical  meaning 
— a  curious  analogy  between  the  general  and  the  individual 
creation.  This  view  has  been  adopted  by  Dr.  D.  G.  Brinton 
who  presents  it  as  follow:  "Out  of  the  earth  rises  life,  to  it 
all  returns.  She  it  is  who.  guards  all  germs,  nourishes  all 
beings.  T]  e  Aztecs  painted  her  a  woman  with  countless 
breasts;  the  Peruvians  called  her  Mama  Alpha,  mother 
earth;  in  the  Algonquin  tongue  the  word  for  earth,  mother, 
father,  are  from  the  same  root  Home,  Adam,  Chomaigenes, 
what  do  all  these  words  mean  but  earth — born,  the  son  of  the 
soil,  repeated  in  the  poetic  language  of  Attica  in  anthropos, 
he  who  springs  up  like — a  flower?  As  in  Oriental  legends 
the  origin  of  man  from  the  earth  was  veiled  under  the  story 
that  he  was  the  progeny  of  some  mountain  fecundated  by  the 
embrace  of  Mithras  or  Jupiter,  so  the  Indians  often  pointed 
to  some  height  or  some  cavern,  as  the  spot  whence  the  first 
men  issued,  adult  and  armed  from  womb  of  All — mother 
earth  .  This  cavern,  which  thus  dimly  lingered  in  the  mem- 


HISTORY    OF    THK    INDIANS  25 

ory  of  nations,  occasionally  expanded  to  a  mother- wo  rid, 
imagined  to  underlie  this  of  ours,  and  still  inhabited  by  be 
ing's  of  our  kind,  who  have  never  been  lucky  enough  to  dis 
cover  its  exit.  Such  tales  of  an  under-world  are  very  fre 
quent  among  the  Indians,  and  are  a  very  natural  out-growth 
of  the  literal  belief  that  the  race  is  earth-born."— (The 
Myths  of  the  New  World,  2nd.  ed.,  pp.  238  to  245.)  The  fol 
lowing  is  the  version  given  by  Lewis  and  Clark  of  the  tradi 
tion  of  the  Mandans,  on  the  upper  Mississippi: 

"The  whole  nation  resided  in  one  large  village  under 
ground  near  a  subterraneous  lake.  A  grapevine  extended 
its  roots  down  to  their  habitation  and  give  them  a  view  of  the 
light,  ^ome  of  the  most  adventurous  climbed  up  the  vine, 
and  were  delighted  with  the  sight  of  the  earth,  which  they 
found  covered  with  buffalo,  and  rich  with  every  kind  of  fruit. 
Returning  with  the  grapes  they  had  gathered,  their  country 
men  were  so  pleased  with  the  taste  of  them,  that  the  whole 
nation  resolved  to  leave  their  dull  residence  for  the  charms 
of  the  upper  region.  Men,  women  and  children  ascended  by 
means  of  the  vine;  and  when  about  half  the  nation  had 
reached  the  surface  of  the^ earth,  a  corpulent  woman,  who 
was  clambering  up  the  vine,  broke  it  with  her  weight  and 
closed  upon  herself  and  the  rest  of  the  nation  the  light  of  the 
sun. 

When  the  Mandans  die,  -they  .expect  to  return  to  the 
original  seats  of  their  forefathers,  the  good  reaching  the 
ancient  village  by  means  of  the  lake,  which  the  burden  of 
sins  of  the  wicked  will  not  enable  them  to  pass.  We  might 
conjecture  upon1  general  grounds*  that  the  idea  of  an  under 
world  found  among  the  Mandans,  and  many  other  American 
tribes  sprang  from  the  same  sort  of  reasoning  as  has  .evi 
dently  given  rise  to  it  among  other  nations." 

Prince  Maximilian  of  New  Wied,  who  visited  the  Man- 
dans  subsequently  to  Lewis  and:  Clark,  and  learned  addit 
ional  particulars  respecting  their  belief  in  an  under-ground 
origin  tells  us  that  the  Mandans,  like  so  many  other  nations, 
supposed  the  world  to  be  divided  into  stages  and  stories.1 
These  were  '  eight  in  number,  four  of  them  v/erzabove  the 
earth,  and  four  below,  the  earth  itself  forming  the  fourth 
stage  from  the  bottom.  (Maximilian,  Travels  in  North 
America,  London  ed.  p.  336.)  There  seems,  therefore,  to 
be  very  little  room  for  doubt  as  to  the  original  character  of 
the  cave  of  the  Mandan  legend.  Among  the  Navajoes  we 
obtain  equally  satisfactory  evidence  touching  the  original  of 
this  legendary  cave.  Dr  Ten  Brock  tells  us  that  he  often 
conversed  with  the  Navajoes  on  the  subject  of  their  beliefs, 
and  he  gives  us,  among  other  particulars,  this  very  impor- 


26  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

tant  item:  ."The  old  men  say  that  the  world  (i.  e.  the  earth) 
is,  as  it  were,  suspended,  and  that  when  the  sun  disappears 
in  the  evening",  he  passes  under  and  lights  up  our  former 
place  of  abode,  until  he  again  reappears  at  morning  in  the 
east.  There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  location  and  the 
real  character  of  the  cave  into  which  the  sun  descends  at 
evening,  and  from  which  at  morning"  he  comes  forth.  Under 
one  disguise  or  another,  this  cavern  occurs  in  legends  the 
world  over.  It  is  the  cave  which  the  Polynesian  Mani 
descends  to  visit  his  deserting  mother,  and  into  which 
Orpheus  descends  in  search  of  Eurydiee;  it  is  the  L/atinian 
cave,  in  which  Selene,  the  Moon,  wooes  Endymion,  the 
Setting  Sun.  Nor  need  we  be  disconcerted  because  the 
Navajoes  have  located  it  within  a  particular  mountain.  "  It 
would  seem  that  these  Indian  leg-ends  have  been  handed 
down  by  tradition  through  cycles  of  ages,  founded  upon  the 
declaration  of  the  Bible,  that  man  is  a  child  of  the  soil— that 
he  is  earth  born.  Professor  Campbell,  of  the  Presbyterian 
College,  Montreal,  believes  that  he  'has  found  the  key  to  the 
Hittite  inscriptions,  and  has  sent  ,^ie  result  of  his  investiga- 
jtions  to  the  Society  of  Biblical' Archaeology.  The  most 
•striking  and  important  feature  of  this  work  is  the  identity 
established  by  Professor  Campbell,  as  he  believes,  between 
the  Aztecs  and  the  Hittites.  He  concludes  a  statement  of 
his  discovery  in  the  "Montreal  Witness"  as  follows:  "It  is 
interesting  to  know  that  we  have  on  this  continent  the  re 
mains  of  a  people  who  played  a  great  part  in  ancient  history. 
It  is  also  gratifying  to  learn  that  by  the  .establishment  of  the 
Hittite  origin  of  the  Aztecs,  evolutionism  in  philology  and 
ethnology  will  receive  its  death  blow." 

There  is  a  clan  of  Choctaws  now  living  among  the 
Creeks  in  the  Creek  Nation,-  who  did  not  move  in  1832  with 
the  Choctaws  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  until  the  exodus 
of  the  Creeks  and  then  came  with  them  to  the  present  Creek 
nation  where  they  have  remained  to  this  day.  They  were 
known  when  living  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  "as.  the 
Hitchiti  or  Hichitichi  clan,  both  words  (as  given  above)  are 
corruptions  of  the  two  Choctaw  words  Hish-i  (hair)  It-ih 
(mouth.) 

Now  if  the  Aztecs  be  of  Hittite  origin,  and  the  Choctaws 
of  Aztec  origin,  of  which  there  is  great  probability  (if  /their 
ancient  traditions  may  be  relied  on)  may  not  the  Choctaw 
words  Hishi  Itih,  the  name  of  one  of  their  ancient  Iksas 
(clans)  be  itself  a  corruption  of  the  word  Hittite,  and  point 
ing  back  to  their  ancient  origin  in  the  eastern  world? 

A  few  of  the  Iksas  of  the  Choctaws,  at  the  advent  of  the 
missionaries  in  1818-20,  claimed  the  earth  to  be  their  mother, 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  27 

and  connected  a  tradition  of  their  origin  with  a  certain 
artifical  mound  erected  by  their  ancestors  as  a  memorial  of 
their  arrival  in  Mississippi  from  the  West  (Mexico)  of  which 
I  will  more  definitely  speak  elsewhere. 

But  though  the  remote  history  of  this  peculiar  people  is 
forever  hidden  in  the  darkness  of  by-gone  ages,  yet  they  had 
a  true  history,  which,  if  only  known,  would  have  presented 
as  many  interesting  and  romantic  features,  as  that  of  any 
of  the  races  of  mankind.  Truly,  would  there  not  be  found 
much  in  that  distant  period  of  their  existence  that  precedes 
their  introduction  to  the  White  Race,  which,  when  placed  in 
contrast  to  their  now  seemingly  inevitable  destiny  (extermi 
nation)  would  loudly  appeal  to  the  hearts  of  the  philanthro 
pists  and  Christians  of  these  United  States.  And  even  after 
their  introduction  to  the  Whites,  had  they  possessed  the 
same  desire. to  learn  their  history,  and  also  to  elevate  them 
in  the  scale  of  intelligence  and  morality,  as  they  did  in  get 
ting  possession  of  their  country  and  destroying  them,  in 
what  a  different  condition  would  that  race  of  people  be  to 
day,  and  what  interesting  and  instructive  narratives  would 
have  been  given  to  the  world?  What  interesting  narratives 
could  have  been  written  even  of  the  Natchez  in  the  days  of 
their  prosperity  and  power — those  worshippers  of  the  sun 
with  Eastern  rites!  What  too,  of  the  Grecian  fignres,  the 
letters  and  the  hieroglyphics,  which  have  been  found  repre 
sented  on  the  earthen  pottery  of  so  many  tribes  of  this  pe 
culiar  people's  work — a  people  which  might  have  been  better 
understood  and  more  comprehended,  but  for  shameful  mis 
representation  and  calumnious  falsehood  !  What,  also,  of 
the  once  powerful  Choctaw;  the  invincible  Chickasaw;  the 
intrepid  Muscogee  and  the  peerless  Seminole,  when  in  the 
pride  and  strength  of  their  respective  nationalities!  But  it 
is  to  be  greatly  regretted  that,  of  that  history  nothing  will 
ever  be  learned — not  even  its  alphabet,  as  the  mists  of  ages, 
have  drawn  their  impenetrable  curtain  over  all;  and  though 
the  remote  past  has  been  questioned,  still  no  response  ever 
comes,  except  through  the  vague  and  unsatisfactory  evi 
dence  of  an  ancient  people,  long  antedating  all  historical  in 
formation.  But  tribe  after  tribe  have  appeared  upon  the 
theater  of  life,  acted  their  part  in  its  drama,  and  then  passed 
off  into  the  silence  of  forgetfulness;  and  their  ancient  do 
mains  have  passed  from  the  hands  of  their,  long  line  of 
descendants  into  those  of  stranger  of  whom  they  never  knew 
or  even  heard;  and  who  have  left  behind  no  memorials  but 
embankments  of  earth  in  the  form  of  mounds  and  fortifica 
tions,  separate  and  in  combination,  scattered  all  over  the  land 
Li  numbers  an<3  magnitude  that  "awaken  and  exctte  the  curi- 


28  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

osity  of  the  beholder,  but  fail  to  satisfy;  yet  giving-  numer 
ous  and  satisfactory  evidences  of  the  foot-prints  of  a  long- 
vanished  people  and  the  prolonged  occupancy  of  the  North  N 
American  continent  by  the  Indian  risce  wliose  few  and  feeble 
descendants  still  ling-er  upon  the  stageof  life,  as  the  wretched 
and  miserable  words  ol  oppression  and  cruelty — a.  living-, 
breathing-  allegory  of  poverty  and  want;  since,  by  the  law  of 
force  we  extended  our.possessions  and  made  the  irrestiveness 
our  excuse  for  conquering  them,  and  then  plundering  them 
of  their  lands  and  homes,  and  as  each'territory  was  added,  a 
new  tribe  was'  encountered;  and  its  fears  and  res'.iveness  ,in 
like  manner  taken  advantage  of  as  our  avarice  dictated  that  it 
could  be  made  profitable  to  pur  pecuniary  interests.  And 
th'at  we  may  alike  bury  the '  remainirig-  few  in  the  grave  of  ig 
nominy,  every  thing  that  is"spok'en,  written,  or  publistied, 
concerning  that.  nb\y  conquered,  oppressed,  .impoverished,' 
hopeless  and  unhappy  people.  Is  but  a  reiterated  and  pro 
longed  mass  of  exaggerations,  misrepresentations  and  false 
hoods,  sent  broadcast  over  the  land  by-  government  officials, 
landed  experts,  and,. in  fact,  every  other  kind  of  unprincipled 
white  skins;  from  constable  to  congressmen,  and  from  land- 
sharks  to  governors,  who 'ride  across  the  Indians'  country 
on  railroads  and  gather  their  "wisdom"  upon  Indian  matters 
from  the  car  windows,  or  a  moments  chat  upon  the  platforms 
with  the  white  scums  which  infest  every  depot  in  their  coun 
try—thus  keeping  the  Indian  between  the  devil  and  his  imps 
—then  return  each  to  his  retreat,  there,  to  disgorge  their 
foul^souls  of  the  putrid  mass. 

Yet,  that  this  noble  but  wrongfully  abused  peo'ple,  to 
whom  Christopher  Columbus  gave  the  name  Indian,  from 
their  fancied  resemblance  to  the  people  of  India,  but  whose 
habits,  customs  and  characteristics  differed  so  widely  that 
it  may  be  truthfully  affirmed,  that  no  people  could  be  more 
dissimilar,  are  one  of  the  primitive  races  of  man-kind,  cannot 
be  questioned;  though  it  is  admitted  by  all  who  are  truly 
acquainted  with  them,  that  among  all  the  races  of  man-kind, 
few  have  exhibited  a  greater  diversity,  or,  if  it  may  be  so 
expressed,  greater  antithesis  of  character,  than  the  native 
North  American  Indian  warrior  before  humiliated  by  the 
merciless  hands  of  his  white  conquerors.  The  office  of  the 
chief  was  not  hereditary,  but  depended  upon  the  confidence 
entertained  in  him  by  his  warriors.  His  power  also  de 
pended  upon  his  personal  merit  and  the  confidence  reposed 
in  him  as  a  skillful  war-leader.  His  prerogative  consisted  in 
conducting  negotiations  of  peace  and  war;  in  leading  his 
warriors  against  the  enemies  of  their  country,  in  selecting 
the  place  of  encampment,  and  in  receiving  and  entertaining; 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  29 

strangers  of  note.  Yet,  even  in  those  he  was  controlled  to  a 
great  extent  by  the  views  and  inclinations  of  his  warriors. 
The  Indian  warrior  was  indeed  well  fitted  for  the  destiny  to 
which  nature  seemingly  had  adapted  him.  He  was  light  in 
form,  yet  sinewy  and  active,  and  unsurpassed  in  the  endur 
ance  of  protracted  fatigue  and  hardship;  strictly  temperate 
even  to  abstemiousness  requiring  but  little  food  when  upon 
the  war-path,  and  that  of  the  simplest  kind.  He  was  en 
dowed  with  a  penetrating  sagacity,  subtle  wit,  quick  con 
ception,  and  brilliant  imagination,  with  quick  and  acute 
sensibilities;  a  proud  and  fearless  spirit  was  stamped  upon 
his  face  and  flashed  from  his  black  and  piercing  eye;  easily 
aroused  by  the  appeals  of  eloquence;  his  language,  whose 
words  might  well  be  compared  to  gems  and  flowers  made  him 
truly  nature's  orator;  and  though  a  restless  warrior,  yet,  he 
was  generous  and  hospitable,  and  the  door  of  his  cabin  was 
always  open  to  the  wayfarer;  and  his  most  inveterate  enemy, 
having-  broken  bread  with  him,  could  repose  unharmed 
beneath  the  inviolable  sanctity  of  his  home.  In  war  he  was 
daring,  cunning,  reckless,  self-denying,  and  self-devoted;  in 
peace,  strictly  just,  generous,  proverbially  hospitable  to 
strangers  as  well  as  acquaintances,  modest,  revengeful, 
superstitious,  and  truthful  to  the  greatest  degree— ever  faith 
ful  to  the  last  to  his  promised  word.  Justly  could  the  North 
American  Indian  claim  as  having  no  lineal  descendant  of 
Ananias  and  Sapphira  among  his  race. 

Such  were  some  of  the  traits  of  this  peculiar  people. 
And  even  to  day  many  tribes  are  the  same  as  they  were 
centuries  ago,  still  clinging  to  their  ancient  habits  and 
customs  and  adhering  to  the  belief  of  their  ancient  theories, 
seeing  and  recognizing  alone  their  Great  Spirit  both  in 
animate  and  inanimate  nature,  And  why?  Because,  in  so 
few  instsnces,  have  the  renovating  principles  of  the  Bible 
been  presented  to  them  as  they  should  and  could  have  been. 

True  the  arts  of  civilization  as  possessed  by  ns  were 
unknown  by  the  Indians  prior  to  the  discovery  of  the  conti 
nent  by  the  White  Race,  still  its  seemingly  illimitable  forests 
were  alive  with  a  free,  independent  and  happy  people,  a  war 
like  race,  jealous  of  their  rights;  and  its  shades  and  glens 
rang  with  the  wild  hoyopa-tussaha  (Choctaw-warcry),  and 
the  echoes  of  its  hills  and  .mountains  threw  back  the"  defiant 
shout  of  many  a  gallant  warrior,  as  he  huried  along  the  war 
path  in  the  noon-tide  of  his  joyous  man-hood,  but  soon  to 
slumber  in  the  long  night  of  oblivion,  as  the  fatal  result  of 
his  unrestrained  zeal;  while  the  more  experienced  veteran 
made  his  movements  with  that  calm  deliberation  that  scorned 
every  appearance  of  haste.  Though  war-like,  yet,  they 


30  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

were  a  devotional  people,  to  their  beliefs,  founded  alone  upon 
the    teaching's      of  nature  —  their    only    light.     They  had 
their    good    "Great  Spirit"   and     their   evil.  "Great  Spirit" 
between    which    there    was   continual  strife  for    the    mas 
tery    and     possession    of    the    human    mind.       What     less 
or  more    have  we?      They  acknowledged    the    mysterious 
power    of    these    two    antagonistic     spirits,    and     that    in 
numerable    numbers    of  subordinate    spirits  waited    upon 
both.     In    what  do    they    differ    from    us   in    this?     They 
believed   a  spirit  governed    the  winds,  guided    the   clouds, 
and    ruled    in  all  things  that  inspired   fear;  thus   they   re- 
garded'the  elements,  and  all  nature,  as  spirits,  whose  images 
were  seen  and  whose  voices  were  heard  above,  beneath,  every 
where.     Little  differing  from  the  mythology  of  the   ancients 
Witchcraft  swayed  its  sceptre .  over  the  mind  of  the  poor. 
Indian,  whose  intellectual  light  emanated  alone  from  nature; 
yet  he  was  not  so  much  the  object  of  just  censure,  as    those 
who  had  the  Bible  and  yet  advocated   the  doctrine.     Remem 
ber   Cotton  Mather,  a    licensed    expounder    of  the    Sacred 
Scriptures,  and  his  numerous  adherents,  who  advocate^  and 
taught  the  doctrine  of  Witchcraft,    and    persecuted    their 
opposers,   even  to  the  burning  of  them  at  the  stake.     But  for 
the  delusive  beliefs  and  fears,  which  seemed  to  the  Indian 
as  truth,  that  encompassed  him  on  every  side  rendering  him 
the  ready  victim  of  the  wildest  superstition  and  dread,  he  has 
been  called  "The  Wild  Man  of  the  Woods,"  and  though  his 
religion  involved  the  varying  and  confused  belief  in  good  and 
evil  spirits  in  every  imaginary  creation  of  air,  earth,  and  sky 
conceivable  to  the  human  mind,  existing  with    not  a  ray  of 
intellectual  light  shedding  its  healing  beams  through  his  soul, 
is  it  just  that  he  should  be  reviled  for   his  seeming  apathy  in 
moral  and  intellectual  advancement  by  those  who  have  ever 
lived  within  the  circle  of  ever  good  and  truthful   influence, 
but  who  closed  nearly  every  avenue  by  which  the  hapless 
Indian   might   return   to   the  ,first  principles   of    truth   and 
intellectual  light?     Were  not  their  traditions   concerning  the 
creation  of  the  world,  and  those  of  their  own    origin;   and 
their  views  and  opinions  of  man,  more  worthy  of  praise  than 
contempt?     Was  not  their  belief  in  the  Great  Good  Spirit  by 
whom  all  things  were  made;  also  in  a  Great  Evil   Spirit,    who 
ever  plans  and  labors  to  counteract  all  the  good  and  benevolent 
designs  of  the  Great  and  Good  Spirit,  so  universal  among  all 
the  North  American  Indians,  and  their  great  respect  for,  and 
undeviating  and  unwearied  devotion  to,  the  Great  and  Good 
Spirit,  and  hate,  fear,  and  dread  of  the  Great  and  Evil  Spirit, 
a  silent  but  pungent  rebuke  to    their    white    scoffers  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  31 

defamers,  who  profess  so  much  concerning-  the  Deity, 
yet  exercise  so  little  of  a  devotional  spirit? 

But  whence  their  universal  belief  in  a  future  state  of  ex 
istence  after  death,  though  vague  their  ideas  in  regard  to 
future  rewards  and  punishments?  Whence  also  their  uni 
versal  belief  in  a  deluge  at  an  ancient  epoch,  which  destroyed 
all  mankind^  but  a  few?  Whence  their  belief  that  the  earth 
was  their  mother,  who  sent  them  forth  from  caves,  ravines, 
mounds  and  mountains?  Whence  the  belief  in  fatality — that 
the  fate  of  man  is  irrevocably  fixed?  to  which,  perhaps,  may 
be  attributed  their  stability  and  indifference  to  danger 
and  death?  Whence  their  belief  in  transmigration  and  thus 
claiming  relationship  with  the  beasts  of  the  field  and  the 
birds  of  the  air — '-expressive  of  an  idea,  it  seems,  of  a  foreign 
origin?  Whence  their  belief  that  the  race  of  animals  was 
first  created,  then  followed  the  creation  of  man?  From 
what  ancient  fountain  of  knowledge  obtained  they  these  va 
rious  views?  Was  it  intuitive?  How  manifest  their  pride 
also,  and  great  their  delight  in  having  their  traditions  and  le 
gends  point  back  to  local  origin,  even  to  that  of  mysterious 
revelation  with  all  the  quadrupeds  that  burrow  in  the  hidden 
recesses  of  the  earth,  differing  in  this  but  little  from  the 
mythology  of  the  ancients. 

Their  opinions  concerning  the  departure  of  the  spirit  at 
death  were  various.  Some  believed  that  it  lingered  for  a 
time  near  those  earthly  precincts  which  it  had  just  left,  and 
it  continued  still  to  be,  in  a  certain  manner,  akin  to  the 
earth.  For  this  reason,  provisions  were  placed  at  the  feet 
of  the  corpse  during  the  time  it  lay  on  its  elevated  scaffold, 
exposed  to  the  influence  of  light  or 'air.  The  deceased  had 
not  as  yet  entered  into  the  realm  of  spirits;  but  when  the 
flesh  had'  withered  away  from  the  bones,  these  were  buried 
with  songs  and  cries,  terminating  in  feasts  and  dances  pecu 
liar  to  the  ceremonies  of  disposing  of  the  dead.  Others  be 
lieve  that  when  the  spirit  leaves  the  body,  it  lingers  for  some 
time  before  it  can  be  wholly  separated  from  its  former  con 
ditions;  after  which  it  wanders  off  traversing  vast  plains  in 
the -moonlight.  At  length,  it  arrives  at  a  great  chasm  in  the 
earth,  on  the  other  side  of  which  is  the  land  of  the  blessed, 
where  there  is  eternal  spring  and  hunting  grounds  supplied 
with  great  varieties  of  game.  But  there  is  no  other  way  of 
crossing  this  fearful  gulf  l)ut  by  means  of  a  barked  pine  log 
that  lay  across  the  chasm,  which  is  round,  smooth  and  slip 
pery.  Over  this  the  disembodied  spirits  must  pass  if  they 
would  reach  the  land  of  a  blissful  immortality.  Such  as 
have  lived  purely  and  honestly  upon  earth  are  enabled  to  pass 
safely  over  the  terrific  abyss  on  the  narrow  bridge  to  the 


32  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

'land  of  eternal  happiness.  But  such  as  have  lived  wickedly. 
in  their  attempt  to  pass  over  on  the  log-,  are  sure  to  lose  then- 
Acting  and  fall  into  the  mighty  abyss  yawning-  below. 
Surely  this  is  not  a  very  objectionable,  idea  of  retribution  af 
ter  death.  However,  their  estimate  of  good  and  evil,  in 
'many  respects,  was  imperfect  and  circumscribed;  and  their 
ideas  of  future  rewards  and  punishments  after  death  seemed 
merely  the  the  reflex  of  their  earthly  joys  and  sorrows,  the 
natural  consequence  of  minds  not  enlightened  by  the  teach 
ings  of  the  Bible.  Therefore,  they  beheld  a  transformed  di 
vinity  in  animate  and  inanimate  nature,  in  every  thing  which 
lives  or  evinces  an  in-dwelling  power,  whom  they  sought  to 
propitiate  by  gifts  and  sacrifices.  Their  ".Medicine  Men" 
were  the  mediators  between  themselves  and  their  imagined 
deity;  these  "Medicine  Men"  were  believed,  by  means  of 
their  knowledge  of  the  mysteries  of  nature  and  the  power  of 
magic,  to  be  able  to  invoke  spirits,,  to  avert  evil,  to  heal  sick 
ness,  and  to  obtain  the  fulfillment  of  human  wishes.  These 
men  were  held  in  high  esteem  among  all  Indians  every 
where,  and  acted  in  the  capacity  of  both  priests  and  physi 
cians.  Their  medical  knowledge,  even  if  classed  -with  su 
perstitious  usages,  is  not  to  be  despised,  as  they  have  large 
acquaintance  with  healing  herbs  and  the  power  of  nature. 
The  virtues  of  the  Indian  race  are  well  known  to  those  who 
truly  know  them;  and  their  fidelity  in  keeping  a  promise, 
their  true  hospitality,  and  their  strength  of  mind  under  sor 
row  and  suffering,  merits  the  highest  praise.  They  had  no 
other  government  nor  governors  but  through  their  chiefs 
and  medicine  men.  The  former  had  but  little  power  and  re 
spect,  only  in  their  own  individual  character,  and  they 
dreaded  the  loss  of  their  popularity  in  their  tribe.  Thus 
the  Indian  warrior  was  truly  his  own  man,  free  and  inde 
pendent  loathing  all  restraints. 

What  but  sad  forebodings  can  fill  the  souls  of  the  feeble 
few,  when  contemplating  the  past  and  looking  to  the  future 
walled  up  before  them  to  that  extent,  that  all  action  and 
energy  of  their  lives  seem  at  an  end  and  their  only  hope  of 
refuge  in  the  grave? 

But  the  peagant  has  fled,  and  the  majority  of  those  who 
gave  it  such  depth  of  interest  to  their  destroyers  have  long 
since  passed  away  into  humble  and  nameless  yet  honorable 
graves,  into  which  the  living  few,  in  vacant  desolation,  are 
fast  falling,  bewildered  and  counfounded  amid  the  toils  that 
have  been  skillfully  and  successfully  spread  for  them;  and 
into  which  when  fallen  and  hopelessly  entangled,  they  ap 
pealed  to  our  mercy  but  to  find  it  amy,th.  Alas,  whatacruel 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  33' 

and  inconsistent  system  has  been  practiced  toward  the  Red 
Race  from  the  time  we  enticed  them  under  our  jurisdiction, 
as  wards,  to  the  present  day  —  a  system,  calculated  in  its 
very  nature  to  uncivilize  rather  than  to  civilize  them, — de 
stroying  all  confidence,  all  love  and  all  respect;  yea,  stifling- 
all  the  social  affections  of  the  heart  and  the  generosity  of 
every  noble  sentiment;  spreading  devastation  and  desolation 
among  them — then  to  be  cursed  and  pronounced  a  blotch 
upon  the  fair  face  of  nature,  while  we,  influenced  alone  by" 
that  degrading  venality,  that  acknowledges  no^criterion  but 
success,  closed  the  heart  and  hand  of  our  charity  against 
them  and  shut  our  eyes  on  their  woes — hearts,  hands  and 
eyes  never  to  be  opened  until  the  last  of  the  race  is  extermi 
nated,  and  there  will  be  left  no  Indian  possessions  to  excite 
our  avarice;  and  we  be  left  to  boast  our  achievements  in  ex 
terminating  a  helpless  people  whom  to  conquer  was  coward 
ice — the  checkered  features  of  whose  prehistoric  history  are 
vStill  dimly  shadowed  in  the  memorials  scattered  around. 

Yet  their  history,  shorn  as  it  is  of  its  antique  and  ro 
mantic  features  by  the  march  of  civilization  of  the  White 
Race  with  its  accompanying  vices  and  follies,  which  were  pre 
sented  before  them  in  proportion  to  its  virtues  as  ten  to  one, 
and  thus  rendered  sad  and  mournful,  is  still  interesting  ; 
and,  I  might  justly  add,  instructive.  But  passing  as  theyr 
have  through  many  changes  of  a  long  pre-historic  age,  as 
well  as  that  of  an  imperfectly  known  history,  the  events  of 
their  fortunes  seem  like  the  incidents  of  a  fairy  tale  ;  and 
while  we  regard  with  admiration  the  many  known  traits  of 
their  character,  yet  we  can  but  be  astonished  that  to  so 
many  of  them  natural  refinement  supplied  the  external  defi 
ciencies  of  accomplished  instruction  denied  by  their  situa- 
.  tion,  while  a  sense  of  the  proper,  under  every  variety  of  cir— 
1  cumstances,  appeared  intuitive  ;  and  many  of  their  names 
and  ^patriotic  deeds  are  worthy  of  being  transmitted  to  the 
remotest  posterity,  accompanied  by  those  honorable  and 
considerate  epithets  which  flattery  can  never  invest,  and  are 
never  deceitful ;  and  had  they  have  had  a  written  language,, 
their  native  historians  would  have  presented  many  things  as 
interesting  and  dramatic  asxany  of  those  of  ancient  or  mod 
ern  renown.  But  as  it  is,  they  may  be  justly  styled  mar 
tyrs — uncrowned  .and  uncanonized ;  since  they  are  still 
known  to-day  to  millions  of  the  people  of  these  United  States  un 
der  stereotyped  appellation  of  "savages,  "and  to  an  equal  num 
ber  of  others,  as  "Heathen  Barbarians  ;"  though  the  Indians 
belong  not  to  either  department  of  that  scientific  knowledge 
in  which  they  have  been  enrolled  by  those  whose  extreme  ig 
norance  is  thus  made  manifest ;  and  who  feel  it  an  impera- 


.34  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

tive  duty  to  assume  a  countenance  indicative  of  a  holy  horror 
•  and  puerile  fear  at  the  very  mention  of  the  word  Indian  ;  and 
should  they  chance  to  meet  one  upon  the  high-way  serious 
convulsions  would  inevitably  be  the  result ;  while. others,  of 
.somewhat  greater  intrepidity,  have  beenknown  to  venture  even 
.into  the  presence  of  an  Indian,  their  so-called  devil  incar 
nate  ;  and,  to  display  their  imagined  heroic  daring,  they 
ipoint  the  finger  of  scorn  at  him  and  question  concerning 
him  and  his  race  in  the  language  of  ridicule  and  contempt 
v(to  which  I  have  oft  been  an  eye  witness  when  passing 
.through  the  Irfdian  Territory)  with  that  apparent  instinct 
^which  makes  one  feel  that  humanity,  at  least  that  much  of  it 
as  professed  by  such  ignorant  and  imbecile  yet  highly  self- 
conceited  specimens  of  mortality,  must  be  closly  allied  to 
Darwin's  progenitor  of  man  ;  and  to  whom  the  words  of 
Schiller  are  justly  applicable — "Heaven  and  Earth  was  in 
vain  against  a  dunce." 

Liberty,  equality,  and  fraterntiy  have  ever  been  found 
to  be  cardinal  principles  among  the  North  American  Indians, 
from  their  first  acquaintance  with  the  White  Race  even  to 
the  present  day.  All  stood,  and  still  stand  upon  the 
same  social  level.  No  one  regarded  himself  better,  i'n  any 
manner  whatever,  than  his  neighbor;  none  turned  up  the  lip 
of  scorn,  or  sneered  at  the  misfortunes  of  one  of  his  tribe. 
The  members  of  each  tribe  lived  in  perfect  harmony  to 
gether,  constituting,  in  every  particular,  one  great,  loving, 
confiding  brother-hood.  The  clan  was  the  unit  of  political 
and  social  life  with  all  tribes.  The  individual  was  never  con 
sidered.  Hence  to  insult,  wrong  or  injure  a  member  of  a 
tribe  was  actually  to  insult,  wrong  and  injure  the  whole  tribe; 
thus  each  tribe  held  the  other  responsible  for  the  actions  of 
its  individual  members  according  to  the  nature  of  the  offence. 
In  like  manner  were  also  construed  all  favors.  Hence  when 
a  favor  was  bestowed  upon  any  individual  of  a  tribe,  it  was 
accepted  as  bestowed  upon  each  member  of  the  tribe.  (He 
.who  was  a  friend  to  one  was  regarded  as  equally  a  friend  to 
all,  and  as  such  was  received  into  the  confidence  and  friend 
ship  of  the  entire  tribe.  What  feature  in  the  characteristics 
of  any  nation  of  people  more  commendable  than  this?  Yet 
they  are  charged  as  being  in  want  of  a  single  redeeming 
trait  of  character. 

Despotism,  oppression, '  avarice,  fraud,  misrepresenta 
tion  in  trade,  were  things  absolutely  unknown  in  all  their 
own  tribal" relations,  and  in  their  dealings  with  neighboring 
tribes.  Therefore  were  they,  at  first,  so  easily  swindled  in 
trade  by  unprincipled  white  men;  since  the  white  man  hid  the 
defects  of  his  article  of  trade  tinder  falsehoods,  and  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  35 

Indian  openly  exposed  the  defects  of  his  in  truth.  Though  it 
was  easy  to  cheat  an  Indian  once,  to  accomplish  it  the  second 
time  was  a  more  difficult  task.  His  confidence  was  gone 
never  again  to  be  secured.  I  recollect  a  little  incident  of  this 
nature  among  the  Choctaws  when  living  east  of  the  Mississip 
pi  river.  A  young  Choctaw  was  cheated  in  a  trade  with  a 
white  man,  and  when  censured  for  making  the  trade,  he 
calmly  replied:  "Pale-face  cheat  me,  me  sorry;  pale-face 
cheat  me  twice,  me  big  fool."  After  that  as  a  matter  of 
course,  he  would  never  believe  a  word  that  a  white  man  would 
say. 

Their  tradition,  always  based  on  facts  though  abound 
ing  perhaps  with  many  errors  by  misinterpretations  and 
corruptions,  in  the  cycles  of  ages  through  which  they  have 
passed,  were  no  less  dear  to  him,  making  a  stainless  history 
such  as  few  nations  had,  save  in  those  pure  days  of  yore 
when  men  love  truth,  justice  and  honor  more  than  gold;  but 
while  all  those  ancient  places  are  still  thronged  with  tradi 
tions,  they  are  over  grown  with  the  weeds  of  popular  fancy 
like  ruins  of  ancient  castles  covered  with  ivy;  yet,  the  names 
of  some  of  them  are  still  remembered  by  the  aged  Indians 
and  sometimes  mentioned  in  their  ancient  traditions,  but  the 
namesof  theirpredecessors  have  completely  disappeared  from 
their  memories,  and  the  time  will  never  come  in  which  these 
secrets  of  the  centuries  will  be  remembered  or  ever  known 
again. 

As  aids  to  memory  they  used  various  devices,  among 
which  belts  of  wampum  were  the  chief.  Wampum  was  truly 
the  archives  of  the  tribe  among  all  North  American  Indians. 
It  was  made  of  dressed  deer  skin,  soft  and  pliable  as  cloth, 
and  interwoven  with  various  shells  cut  into  uniform  siz.e, 
carefully  polished,  strung  together  and  painted  in  different 
colors,  all  of  which  were  significant;  white  being  the  emblem 
of  peace  and  friendship;  red,  the  symbol  of  hostility  and  war. 
As  the  colors  of  the  wampum  were  significant,  so  also  were 
the  length  and  breadth  of  these  belts,  and  also  .the*  peculiar 
arrangements  of  the  differently  painted  strings  attached, 
each  and  all  fully  understood  by  the  Indians  alone.  A  belt  of 
wampum  was  presented  to  one  tribe  by  another  as  a  remem 
brance  token  of  any  important  event  that  was  communicated. 
They  had  many  and  various  kinds  of  wampum;  some  in  the 
form  of  belts  of  different  breadth  and  length;  some  in  strings 
of  various  width  and  length,  all  reaching  back  in  regular  order 
to  centuries  of  the  remote  past,  with  an  accuracy  incredible 
to  the  White  Race. 

The  wampum  was  the  Indians'  history  the  chronicles  of 
the  past;  and  the  readers  of  each  clan  of  the  tribe,  from  one 


36  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 


\ 


generation  to  another,  were  carefully  and  thoroughly  instruc 
ted  by  their  predecessors  for  that  particular  business  and 
were  held  in  the  highest  esteem  by  all  Indians  everywhere. 

Bundles  of  small  round  sticks  were  also  used  to  assist 
them  in  accurately  keeping-  the  number  of  days  that  would 
intervene  between  the  day  agreed  upon  that  anything  should 
be  done,  and  the  day  upon  which  the  bundle  had  been  pre 
sented,  one  stick  being  drawn  from  the  bundle  at  the  termi 
nation  of  each  day  and  thrown  away;  which  duty  was  never 
forgotten  nor  neglected  to  be  done  by  him  to  whom  it  was  en 
trusted.  A  long  string  was  also  used,  having  as  many  knots 
tied  in  it  as  the  number  of  days  that  were  desired  to  be  re 
membered;  at  the  close  of  each  day,  as  the  withdrawing  of  a 
stick  from  the  bundle,  so  a  knot  was  untied.  This  custom 
of  using  a  string  was  also^practiced,  it  is  said,  by. 'the  ancient 
Persians,  which  is  confirmed  by  Herodotus  in  his  statement, 
that  "Darius  gave  to  his  allies  a  string  with  sixty  knots  tied 
in  it,  and  told  them  to  untie  one  knot  at  the  close  of  each  day; 
and,  if  he  had  not  returned  by  the  time  the  last  one  was  un 
tied,  they  could  go  home." 

Pictures,  rudely  carved  on  rocks  and  trees,  were  used  to 
convey  information,  each  figure  being  a  true  symbol  under 
stood  and  fully  comprehended  by  the  Indians  wherever 
seen. 

,  The  Indians  regarded  their  majestic  forest  trees  with 
emotional  pride  ;  and,  as  they  reclined  under  their  broad  ex 
panding  shades,  they  listened  to  their  solemn  whispers  as 
possessing  a  mysterious  connection  with  themselves,  and  as 
sharing  with  them  their  hopes  and  fears,  their  joys  and  sor 
rows,  and  they  grieved  to  see  them  fall  before  the  ax  of  civil 
ization  ;  since,  between  the  Native  American  and  the  White 
Race,  who  only  saw  lumber  in  the  forest  tree  and  money  in 
the  lumber,  there  is  the  same  difference  existing  that  there 
is  between  the  man  who  hears  the  most  refined  music  only 
as  a  senseless  noise-and  him  who  hears  it  in  messages  of  di 
vine  import  to  his  soul  ;  thus  it  is  that  Nature  bestows  on 
man  only  that  which  he  is  able  to  receive  from  her  ;  to  one 
lumber  and  the  jingle  of  money  ;  to  the  other  beauty  and 
harmony.  Oft  have  I  been  an  eye  witness  to  the  sensibility  of 
this  people  to  the  charms  of  natural  objects,  though  accused 
of  its  utter  want :  and  with  emotions  of  pleasure  listened  to 
their  expressive  words  of  delight  in  admiration  of  the  grand 
and  beautiful  in  nature,  as  they  pointed  the  finger  of  unas- 
sumed  pride  to  their  magnificent  forests,  and  the  majestic 
appearance  of  the  old  patriarchs  of  their  woods — seeming-  to 
be  charmed  with  their  grand  forests,  the  beauty  of  their 
flower  bedecked  prairies,  the  purity  of  their  streams,  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  37 

Brightness  of  their  skies  and  the  salubrity"  of  their  climate. 
To  the  peculiarly  fascinating1  eharms  of  which,  as  they  ap 
peared  to  my  admiring  gaze  seventy  years  ago  in  the  ancient 
domains  of  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  east  of  the  Mis- 
.sissippi  river,  I  can  testify  from  personal  observation,  as  it 
.also  was  the  home  of  my  birth  ;  nor  can  time  nor  distance 
-ever  erase  from  memory  their  grandeur  and  beauty  ;  and, 
to-day,  their  seeming  power  is  exercised  over  me  in  calling 
up  the  reveries  and  picturings  of  the  past  clothing  reality 
with  the  illusions  of  the  memory  and  imagination.  But  to 
many,  nature,  in  her  primitive  grandeur,  is  but  an  indiffer 
ent  beauty,  though  she  stops  to  smile,  to  caress  and  enter 
tain  with  exhaustless  diversion  her  admiring  and  loving 
wooer. 

So  to  the  Indian  also,  the  grandeur  and  beauty  of  his 
ancient  forests  left  a  memory  which  abides  as  a  constant 
source  of  gratification,  as  he  reflects  upon  their  natural 
beauty  upon  which  his  eyes  so  oft  had  rested,  and  from 
which  his  soul  had  gathered  a  noble  conception  of  the  sym 
phonies  from  which  it  drew  its  pure  aspirations  ;  .and  truly, 
no  one  who  has  any  conception  of  the  grand  and  beautiful, 
-could  have  gazed  upon  the  outstretched  panorama  of  their 
forests  as  presented  in  their  ancient  domains,  without  being 
lastingly  impressed  with  the  marvelous  picture,  in  which 
there  stood  forth  most  striking  beauties  in  the  form  of  ma 
jestic  trees  and  green  swards,  on  whose  bosoms  rested,  in 
gentle  touch,  most  inviting  shades  free  of  all  under-growth 
of  bushes  but  covered  with  luxuriant  grass  interspersed 
with  innumerable  flowers  of  great  variety,  rivaling  the  most 
beautiful  flower  garden  of  art.  Never  have  I  witnessed 
any  thing  more  grand  and  impressive  than  the  Mississippi 
forests  presented  when  left  by  the  Choctaws  and  Chicka 
saws  as  an  inheritance  .to  the  Whites.  Then  and  there  na 
ture,  in  all% her  diversified  phases,  from  the  finite  to  the  in 
finite,  and  from  the  infinitessimal  to  the  grand  aggregate  of 
knowledge,  was  full  of  instruction  ;  by  which  she  would 
teach  man  his  duty  to  his  God,  to  his  fellow  man  and  to  him 
self.  But  alas,  how  few  ever  heed  the  symbolic  whispers  of 
her  low,  sweet  voice  ! 

It  was  truly  a  vast  wilderness  of  trees  entirely  free  of 
all  undergrowth  except  grass  with  that  peculiar  stillness 
that  attested  the  absence  of  man,  and  possessing  a  vastness 
and  boundless  extent,  '  and  uninterrupted  contiguity  of 
shade,  which  prevented  the  attention  from  being  distracted, 
.and  allowed  the  mind  to  the  solitude  of  itself,  and  the  imagi 
nation  to  realize  the  actual  presence  and  true  character  of 
that  which  burst  upon  it  like  a  vivid  dream.  Truly  that  is 


38  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

*. 

happiness  that  breaks  not  the  link  between  man  and  nature. 
The  Indians  of  this  continent  openly  acknowledged  and 
sincerely  believed  in  the  One  Great  and  Good  Spirit,  and  also 
in  the  One  Great  and  Evil  Spirit;   to  the  former  they   gave 
divine  homage  with  a  devotion   that  well  might  put  to  shame 
many  of  those  who  have   lived,  a  life  time   under  the  light   of 
the  Gospel  dispensation,  with  scarcely   a  devotional  emotion. 
Towards  the  latter  they  cherished  the  greatest  fear  and  dread 
and  sought  continually  the  aid  of  the  Good  Spirit  in  averting 
the  dreaded  machinations  of  the  Evil  Spirit,  therefore  every 
warrior  had   his  totem;  i.  e.  a  little  sack  filled   with  various 
ingredients,  the    peculiarities    of  which    were   a    profound 
secret  to  all  but  himself;  nor  did  any  Indian  ever   seek  or  de 
sire  to  know  the  contents  of  another's  totem,  it  was  sacred  to 
its    possessor    alone.     I  have   more   than   once    asked  some 
particular    warrior   friend   concerning  the   contents   of   his 
totem  but  was  promptly  refused- with  the  reply:  "You  would 
not  be   any   the   wiser  thereby."     Every   warrior   kept   his 
Totem  or  "Medicine"  about  his  person,  by  which  he  sincere 
ly  believed  he  would  be  enabled  to  secure  the  aid  of  the  Good 
Spirit  in  warding  off  the  evil  designs  of  the  Evil  Spirit,  in  the 
existence  of  which  they  as  sincerely  believed,  and  to   whom 
they  attributed  the  cause  of  all  their  misfortunes,  when   fail 
ing  to  secure  the  aid  of  the  Good   Spirit.     Therefore,   each 
and  every  warrior  of  the  tribe.,  with  eager  zeal,  endeavored  to 
put  himself   in   direct   communication   with  the   Great  and 
Good   Spirit.     There   was  but  little    difference   between   the 
"Indian   Magician"   and   the     Indian   "Medicine   Man,"   but 
when  a.  warrior  had  attained  to  that  high  and  great!}'  desired 
point  of    direct   communication   with   the   Great  and   Good 
Spirit,  and  had  impressed  that  belief  upon  his  tribe  as  well  as 
himself,  he  at  once  became  an  object  of  great  veneration, 'and 
was   henceforth    regarded    by   all   his    tribe,    regardless  of 
age     or    sex,    as    a  '  great    "Medicine  Man,"    upon    whom 
had    been     conferred      supernatural     powers     to     foretell 
coming  events,  to    exorcise  evil    spirits,     and    to    perform 
all    kinds    of   marvelous     works.      But     few    attained     the 
coveted   eminence;   yet   he   who  was   so   fortunate,   at   once 
reached  the  pinnacle  of   his  earthly  aspirations.     But  before 
entering  upon  his  high  and  responsible  duties,  and  assuming 
the  authority  of  a    diviner — a  graduated    Medicine  Man,    in 
other   words,  with   a    recognized   and   accepted    diploma,    he 
must  also  have  enlisted  in  his  service  one  or  more    lesser 
spirits,  servants  of  the  Great  and  Good  Spirit,  as  his  allies  or 
mediators,  and  to  secure  these  important  and    indispensable 
auxiliaries,  he   must  subject  himself  to  a  severe  and   testing 
ordeal.     He  now  retires   alone  into  the   deep  solitudes   of  his 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  39' 

native  forest  and  there  engages  in  meditation,  self  examina 
tion,  fasting-  and  prayer  during  the  coming  and  going  of 
many  long  and  weary  days,  and  even  weeks.  And  all  that  for 
what  end?  That  he  might,  by  his  supernatural  power  thus 
attained,  be  enabled  to  gratify  his  ambition  in  playing  the 
tyrant  over  his  people  through  fear  of  him?  Or  that  he  might 
be  enabled  the  better  to  gratify  the  spirit  of  avarice  that 
rankled  in  his  heart?  Neither,  for  both  tyrant  and  avarice 
were  utterly  unknown  among,  all  Indians. 

What  then?  First,  that  he  might  ever  be  enabled,  by 
his  influence  attained  with  the  great  and  Good  Spirit,  toward 
off  the  shafts  of  the  Evil  Spirit,  and  thus  protect  himself  from 
seen  and  unseen  dangers,  and  also  be  successful  in  the  ac 
complishment  of  all  his»  earthly  hopes  and  wishes.  * 

Second.  That  he  might  be  a  benefactor  to  his  tribe,  by 
being  enabled  to  divine  future  events,  and  thus  forewarn 
them  of  approaching  danger  and  the  proper  steps  to  take  to. 
successfully  avoid  it;  also  to  heal  the  sick, , etc.  True,  the 
fearful  ordeal  of  hunger,  thirst,  fatigue  wrought  their  part 
in  causing  his  imagination  to  usurp  the  place  of  reason,  fill 
ing  his  fevered  mind  with  the  wildest  hallucinations  and 
rendering  him  a  fit  subject  to  believe  anything  and  every 
thing.  Yet,  no  doubt,  when  he  left  his  place  of  prayer  and 
self-examination  and  returned  to  his  people,  he  sincerely  be 
lieved  that  he  had  been  admitted  to  the  special  favor  of  the 
great  and  Good  Spirit  and  was  fully  prepared  to  exercise  his- 
newly  acquired  supernatural  attainments  for  his  own  bene 
fit  and  to  the  interest  of  his  tribe.  Smile  not  at  this,  per 
haps,  to  you,  seeming  folly  of  one  who  thought,  reasoned  and 
acted  as  taught  by  the  feeble  light  of  nature  alone  ;  with 
•such  a  devotional  spirit,  what  would  he  have  been  if  enlight 
ened  by  the  renovating  influences  of  the  precepts  of  the  Son 
of  God  ?  But  I  ask,  if  this  doctrine  of  the  spiritual  world,  the-, 
disembodied  spirits  of  our  departed  loved  ones  everywhere 
about  us,  and  the  power  of  communication  with  them,  has 
not  sprung  into  new  life  among  us  in  this  boasted  enlightened 
age  illumined,  by  the  glorious  light  of  the  Bible  shining 
around  us  for  centuries  past  ?  though  the  doctrine  was  dis 
carded  by  the  Indians  at  once  and  forever,  so  soon  as  the 
light  of  the  Bible  shone  into  their  untutored  minds.  But 
alas,  we  still  speak  of  them  as  savages  and  barbarians  ;  yet 
should  not  emotions  of  shame  fill  our  hearts,  when  the  simi 
larity  of  belief  between  the  unlettered"  Indians  of  seventy- 
five  years  ago,  and  the  boasted  intelligence  and  Christian 
civilization  of  the  "Anglo  Saxon"  of  the  present  day,  is  so 
manifest?  Need  we  try  to  deny  that  modern  Spiritualism 


-40  HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS. 


its  counterpart  in  the  philosophy  'of  the  ^North  Ani'erican 
Jndians  of  three-quarters  of  a  century  ^ag-p?;;  .:  ;•  . 

May  we  justly  scorn  the  Indian  wtie&'iiot  free  ourselves 
of  his  ,  ancient  superstitious  follies,  ;  btit^tilf  hz£v$  :  so  large 
4  portion,  thoug-h  long-  discarded  by  the  civilized  tribes,  se 
cretly  -hidden  away  in  the  strata  of  our  boasted  common 
,sense,  besides  being  greatly  tinctured  with  the  fashionable 
skepticism  (unknown  to  all  Indians)  of  the  present  civilized 
but  fearfully  corrupt  age  ? 

The  Indians  reasoned  from  the  known  to  the  unknown 
-differing  from  us  only  in  that  they  had  no  accumulated 
knowledge  to  guide  them  but  their  traditions.  And  when 
we  take  into  consideration  the  great  difficulties  with  which 
Ihey  had  to  contend  and  overcome  in  the  struggle  up  the 
nigged  hill  of  civilization  and  Christianity,  as  presented  to 
vthem  with  all  their  manifested  contradictions  and  enigmas 
by  the  ''Pale-faces,"  it  is.  a  matter  of  profound  astonishment 
that  they  have  achieved  as  much  as  they  have. 

Alas,  that  our  universal  error,  in  all  our  dealings  with 
that  people,  should  consist  in  the  deplorable  yet  inexcusable 
failure  to  perceive  how  greatly  their  ideas  differed  from  our 
own  in  regard  to  every  thing  appertaining  to  our  civilization, 
Christianity  and  love  of  gain  ;  and  at  the  same  time  forget 
ting  that  the  idea  of  civil  government  was  with  us  of  long  and 
slow  growth,  takin'g  many  ages  to  develop  us  from  our  own 
ignorant  and  savage  ancestry  to  our  present  enlightened 
state  ;  and  how  greatly  to  be  regretted  is  the  fact,  that  our 
feelings  and  actions  are  still  so  influenced  and  governed  by 
deplorable  ignorance  of  the  true  nature  and  characteristics 
of  the  Indian,  and  so  swayed  by  a  foolish  prejudice  against 
him,  and  so  led  captive  by  self-conceit  and  imagined  superi 
ority  over  him  by  nature,  that  we  do  not  and  will  not  justly 
and  impartially  weigh  the  evidence  before  us  ;  through  fear, 
it  truly  seems,  that  our  preconceived  opinions  may  be  proved 
to  be  formed  in  error,  if  tested  by  the  knowledge  of  the  truth 
that  would  be  gained  by  investigation. 

The'  Indian  is  accused  of  stolidity.  Wherefore?  Is  it 
because  he  can  and  does  control  his  tongue  when  the  white 
man  would  fly  into  a  violent  passion?  Is  it  because  the  Indian 
.never  speaks  evil  of  any  one,  not  even  of  a  personal  enemy, 
.but  keeps  his  thoughts  and  opinions  of  others  in  the  secret 
recesses  of  his  own  breast,  while  the  reverse  is  an  innate 
•characteristic  of  the  White  Race?  Is  it  because  the  Indian 
has  learned  never  to  talk  to  the  purpose  of  what  is  not  the 
purpose  to  talk  of,  but  in  which  the  white  man  has  long  since 
proved  himself  an  adept  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  himself 
and  all  man-kind?  If  all  this,  seemingly  so  mysterious  to  his 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  41 

•defamers  who' would  search  earth  and  heaven  to  find  an 
.accusation/against  an  Indian,  merits-  the  title  Stolidity,  then 
indeed  is  the  Indian  meritorious,  and  that  is/the  whole  of  it 
in-  a'li'u't  "shell. 

He  has  also  been  ridiculed  as  being"  an  idiot  for  carrying" 
with  him  his  mystic  Medicine-pouch,  and  relying-  on  it  for 
safety  both  in  seen  and  unseen  dangers.  Yet  in  this  how 
little  did  he^  differ  from  thousands  of  the  White  Race  of  even 
today  with  all  their  professed  culture,  among  whom  there 
can  still  be  detected  a  foolish  superstition,  a  lingering1  sur 
vival  of  Fetchism,  for  it  can  be  nothing-  else.  See  the  still 
lingering  belief  in  Witchcraft  and  magic  charms;  behold  the 
horse  shoe  still  nailed  over  the  door  as  a  guarantee  to  "good 
luck"  and  the  prevention  of  injury  from  the  >jnidnight  ca 
rousals  of  witches;  view  the  stig-ma  placed  upon  the  *good 
names  of  one  of  the  days  of  the  week — unfortunate  Friday! 
Contemplate  the  Charm-string-  composed  of  various  childish 
g-ew-gaws  dangling  from  the  watch-chain  of  the  empty  and 
unbalanced  head  of  the  "pale-face"  dude,  and  also  its  counter 
part  around  the  neck  of  the  empty-headed  little  Miss  of 
"sweet  sixteen"!  Think  of  the  harmless  little  bug  snugly 
ensconced  in  a  crack  of  the  wall  humming  its  lulla-by  in  token 
of  its  happiness  yet  is  stigmatized  with  the  appellation  of 
"Death-watch,"  the  fore-runner  of  the  grim  monster  so 
much  feared  and  dreaded  by  frail  humanity,  and  many  more 
that  might  be  mentioned!  What  are  all  these  but  a  lingering 
spirit  of  superstition,  legitimate  offsprings  Fetishism,  and 
differing  in  nothing  from  the  Indian's  totem.  Yet.  the 
Indian  is  regarded  as  meriting  condemnation  in  this  world 
.and  damnation  in  the  next  because  he  still  adheres,  in.  some 
few  instances  where  the  truths  of  the  Bible  have  never 
reached  him,  to  his  ancient  superstitious  belief  and  so-called 
.savage  folly,  but  the  white  man,, cradled  in  the.  lap  of  Chris 
tianity  and  yet  carrying  secretly  in  his -breast  his  totems, 
verily,  might  not  the  reproving  language  of  Saul  to  Bar  Jesus 
be  justly  applied  to  us  in  all  our  dealing  with  the  Red  .Race 
from  the  Alpha  to  the  Omega? — ,"O,  full  of  .all  subtlety,  and 
all  mischief,  thou  child  of  the  devil,  tftou  enemy  of  all 
righteousness,  wilt  thou  not  cease  to  pervert  the  right  ways 
•of  the  Lord?"  /  ,  '.,'*, 

^  Again:  The  Indians'  passion  for  war,  so  erroneously 
proverbial  among  us,  has  ever  been  shamefully  exaggerated. 
True,  their  passion  for  war,  when  engaged  in  it  for  the  re 
dress  of  real  or  imaginary  wrongs,  was  unequalled  :  and,  in 
defense  of  their  country  has  few  parallels  in  the  history  of 
nations,  of  which  we  have  the  full  attestation  of  experience  ; 
though  we  fought. them,  taking  all  things  into  consideration, 


42  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

the  advantages  of  fifty  to  one.     But  they  seldom  made  war 
upon  each  other  actuated  alone  by  the  motives  of  ambitious 
conquests  for  national  or  personal  aggrandizement,  as  far  as 
has  been  ascertained  from  actual  proof.     They  had  no'  mo 
tive  for  such  a  war,  as  it  is  well  known  to  all  who  have  at 
tained  any  true  knowledge  of  the  North  American  Indians 
worthy  of  notice,  since  avarice,  in  a  national  or  personal  point 
of  view  with  all  its  baneful   consequences,   was   utterly   un 
known  to  the  ancient  Indians  of  this  continent,  as  it  is  to  this 
day  to  their  pnre  blooded  descendants.     Their  desperation 
in  resisting-  our  encroachments  upon  their  rights  gave  birth 
to  the   false   charge   that  "they  are  a  blood-thirsty  race  de 
lighting  in  human  gore  ;"  but  there  is  no  proof  basedv  upon 
truth  that  they  are  meritorious  to  a  greater  extent  than  any 
other  race  of  mankind   to   bear   such   reproach.     Nor   were 
their  tactics  of  war,  so  loudly  condemned  by  us,  any  more 
irreconcilable  to  justice  and  humanity,  than  our  own.     We 
stigmatize  them  writh  the   name   of   "cowards"   for   limiting- 
their  fighting  to  ambuscade  and  surprise  ;  and  which  we,  if 
out-witted  and  defeated  in  a  battle  wTith  them,   pronounced, 
with  assumed  horror,  a  "cruel  massacre  ;"  yet,  truth  posi 
tively  declares  that  we  too  have  adopted   equally   with   them 
the  ambuscacle,  the  surprise,  and  every  art  of  war  known  to 
us  to  out-general  them  in  cunning,  in  treachery,  and  in  de 
ceit;  but  call  it,  if  we  succeed,   "a  glorious  military  strate 
gy,"  as   if   that   would^make   it  appear  more  honorable  or 
justifiable  in  the  sight  of  truth,  justice  and  humanity  or  that 
of  a  just  God.     Absolute  necessity  compelled  the  Indians  to 
resort  to  ambuscade  and  surprise  in  their  wars  with   us-,  on 
account  of  our  vast  superiority  over  them  in  numbers,  skill, 
and  instruments  of  warfare.     What  hope   of   success   could 
they   entertain   by   coming  out   in   the  open  field  with  ^en 
feeble  bows  and  arrows  and    few   worthless   old   guns,,   and 
stand  up  before  our  deadly  rifles  and  destructive  batteries  £ 
They  would  simply  have  acted  the  part  of  fools  in   so   doing. 
They  fought  as  best  they  could,  and  just  as  we,  or  any  other 
people,  would  have  fought  under  similar  circumstances. 

We  charge  them  with  deception  and  being  full  of  all  man 
ner  of  hypocrisy  in  all  places  and  at  all  times,  even  in  the 
social  and  business  relations  of  life.  A  more  false  charge 
was  never  made  against  anyone;  and  it  is  but  one  among  the 
thousands  that  have  been  unjustly  used  in  justification  of 
robbing  them  of  their  country  and  wiping  them  out  as  cum- 
berers  of  the  ground,  wrholly  unfit  any  longer  to  inhabit  the 
earth.  • 

Who   ever  heard   of   the   Indians    adulterating  their   food 
with  poisonous  ingredients  to  add  a  dime  more-to  their  gains? 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  43- 

Who  ever  heard  of  them  adulterating-  their  medicines,  thus 
endangering-  life  to  make  a  nickel  more?  Who  ever  heard  of 
them  banding  tog-ether  to  oppress  the  poor  of  their  own  race 
by  buying- up  certain  articles  of  food  or  medicine  and  hold 
ing  it  to  extort  a  higher  price  from  the  needy,  and  thus  add 
a  few  more  cents  to  their  own  coffers?  And  yet  we  see  fit 
to  falsely  charge  the  Indians  with  deception  and  hypocrisy. 
But  to  misrepresent  in  all  that  is  said  or  written  about'the 
Red  Race  is  an  axiom  of  long  standing.  As  an  illustration^ 
Ridpath,  in  his  ''History  of  the  United  States" — page  45, 
says: 

"But  the  Red  Man  was,  at  his  best  estate,  an  unsocial,  sol 
itary  and  gloomy  spirit.     He  was  a  man  of  the  woods.     He 
sat  apart.     Tfre   forest  was  better   than  the  village."     Let 
others  speak  that  it  may  be  known  how  near  the  above    de 
lineation  of  the   Red  Man's  characteristics,  as  exhibited  by 
the  glare  of  imagined  erudition,  throws  its  light  to  the  line 
of  truth  according  to  the  positive  declarations  of  the  -early 
writers  who  visited  the  Indians;  and  the  missionaries  who- 
first  preached  the  Gospel  of  the  world's  Redeemer  to  them. 
All,  everywhere,  and  among  all  Indians  back  to  the  Pilgrims 
oi  1620,  affirm  that  the  tribes  everywhere  lived  in  separate 
districts,  in  which  each  had  numerous  large  and  permanent 
towns  and  villages,  and  were  the  most  social,  contented    and 
happy    people   they   ever   knew.      La     Salle,  the   renowned 
French  explorer,  states  that  he  found  numerous  towns  and 
villages     everywhere.     He  affirms  that  the  Indians  lived  in 
comfortable  cabins  of  great  proportions,  in  some  cases,  forty 
feet  square  with  dome-shaped  roofs,  in  which  several  fami 
lies  lived.     De  Soto,  in  his  memorable  raid  through  the  ter 
ritories  of  the  Southern  Indians  in  1541-42,  found  towns  and 
villages    containing    "from  fifty  to  three   hundred    houses, 
protected  by  palisades,  walls  and  ditches  filled  with  water;" 
it  is  also  stated,  "every  few  miles  he  found  flourishing  towns 
and    villages."     So    also,   the   early   explorers   of   the   head 
waters   of  the   Mississippi   river   found   the   Indians   every 
where  dwelling  in  towns  and  villages:     "The  houses    being- 
framed  wfth  poles  and  covered  with  bark." 

Lewis  and  Clark,  when  exploring  the  waters  of  the  Col 
umbia  River  in  1805, under  the  auspices  of  the  United  Sates 
Government,  found  the  Indians  in  the  valley  of  the  Columbia 
living  in  villages  in  which  there  were  many  large  houses. 
They  mention  some  capable  of  "furnishing  habitations  for 
five  hundred  people."  The  Iroquois,  whose  territories  lay 
along  the  southern  border's  of  the  Great  Lakes,  Erie  and 
Ontario,  when  visited  by  the  Jesuit  priests  and  French 
traders  in  1771,  were  found  dwelling  in  large  towns  and 


44  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  . 

,     .   •  ••'  .v.-  .   .•  .  .  ..  , 

'/villages^  some  of  which- are  described  as  having-  "120  houses, 
•  many  of  them  from  50  to ^60  feet  in  length,  and  affording  am 
ple  room  and' shelter  for  twelve  or  fifteen- families."  ,  The 
Indians 'of  the  Atlantic  Stages  were  settled  in  permanent 
towns  and  villages.  The  Pokanokets,  Narragansets,  Pe- 
quods,  and  others,  as  stated  by  early  writers,  lived  in  towns- 
and,  villages.  The  missionaries,  when  they  established 
,Ghirstain  missions  among  the  Cherokees  in  1815,  the  Choc- 
taws  in  1818,  and  Chickasaws  in  1821,  found  them  living  in 
prosperous  towns  and  villages  scattered  from  two  to  six  miles 
apart  all  over  their  then  vast  territories,  and  to  which  I  testify 
from  actual,  personal  knowledge;  and.  no  people  with  whom  I 
was  ever  acquainted,  or  of  whom  I  ever  read,  exhibited  more 
real  social  virtues,  true  contentment  and  genuine  social 
happiness  than  they;  yet  Ridpath's  doleful  and  stereotyped 
edition  of  misrepresentation  and  ignorance  says:  "But  the 
Red  Man  was,  at  his  best  estate,  an  unsocial,  solitary,  and 
gloomy  spirit.  He  communed  only  with  himself  and  the 
genius  of  solitude.  He  sat  apart;  the  forest  was  better  than 
the  village."  •#  . 

The  six  nations,  to  whom  the  French  gave  the  name  Iro- 
quois(Longhouses)  were  composed  of  the  Senecas,  Cayugas, 
Onandagas,  Oneidas,  Mohawks  and  Tuscaroras,  inhabiting 
the  northern  part  of  the  continent,  and  the  Choctaws;  Chick- 
saws,  Cherokees,  Muscogees,  Semiiioles,  Natchez  and  Ya- 
masas,  living  in  the  southern  part  and  known  at  an  early  day 
as  the  Mobela  Nations,  presented,  no  doubt,  the  highest 
type  of  the  North  American  Indians,  and  were  unsurpassed 
in, point  of  native  eloquence,  unalloyed  patriotism,  and  heroic 
bravery,  by  any  ancient  or  modern  race  of  people,  civilized 
or  uncivilized ;  in  friendship  faithful  and  true,  in  war  not 
safe  or  comfortable  to  encounter  ;  and  whose  highest  bliss 
was  found  in  national  independence  and  absolute  personal 
freedom  from  all  restraint  whatever  ;'  and  of  whose  ancient 
history,  if  only  known,  it  might  truthfully  be  said,  would  be 
stranger  and  more  interesting  than  the  "most  thrilling  fic 
tion  ;  abounding  with  hidden  romances  of  which  the  civilized 
•\vorkl  never  conjectured  or  even  dreamed,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  little  that  has  escaped  oblivion.  The  Iroquois,  and 
the  six  Nations  of  the  North  have  long  since  disappeared  be 
fore  the  White  Race  as  autumnal  leaves  before  the  wintry 
winds,  except  with  here  and  there  a  few  lonely  wanderers 
who,  like  ghosts,  still  hover  around  the  graves  of  their  ances 
tors,  feeblesparksyetlingeringiiitheashesof  an  exterminated 
race.  The  Natchez  and  Yamases  of  the  Mobela  Nations 
have  also  long  since  passed  through  the  same  ordeal,  and 
Ichabod  is  written  upon  their  urns  with  thousands  of  others 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  45 

of.  their  unhappy  race  ;  ;while  a  few  still  linger  to  justly  re 
buke  our  cruelty  and  avarice. 

They  know  that  they  only  can  learn  the;  present  through 
the  memory  of  the  blood-stained  past;  that  temple  from 
which  posterity  draws  its  lessons  of.  human  life;  yet  they  are 
not  ashamedxof  their  past;  or  do  they  undervalue  it,  but 
advocate,  as  they  have  many,  long  years  before,  the  great 
brotherhood  of  man;  and  still  hope  and  expect,  as  in  the  years 
of  the  long  past,  great  things  from  Christianity  and  intellect 
ual  culture;. though  oft  have  been  doomed  to  that  ^bitter  dis 
appointment  which  so  loudly  and  justly  rebukes  and  con 
demns  that  prejudice  still  cherished  so  bitterly  but  unjustly 
against  them  by  the  White  Race,  ,and  so  difficult  to  be 
reconciled  to  its  published  professions  of  Christian  attain 
ments,  too  deep  for  them  or  any  other  people,  to  understand 
or  even  : rightly  conjecture.  But  the  question  naturally 
arises,  Why  are  they  still  distrusted  by  us?  Is  it  because 
they  still  honor  their  past  which  they  can  never  renounce  nor 
forget  as  a  brave  and  patriotic  people?  Must  we  forever  hate 
them  and  eternally  make  them  the  subjects  of  our  ridicule 
and  contempt  because,  forsooth,  they  will  not  repudiate  the 
memory  of  their  ancient  line  of  ancestry  to  them  as  honor 
able  as  to  us  is  our  own?  And  though  self  respect  is  all  that 
we  have  left  to  them,  except  a  few  acres  of  begrudged  land, 
do  we  now  demand  and  expect  them  to  so  far  forget  them 
selves  and  to  stoop  so  lowr  in  the  scale  of  humanity  as  to 
adopt  voluntarily,  the  impious  and  degrading  estimate  put 
upon  them  by  the  unprincipled  of  our  own  race,  who  through 
ignorance  and  prejudice  have  misjudged  them?  Then  know 
we  not  the  North  American  Indian;  nor  will  our  demand  or 
expectation  ever  be  realized. 

We  may  exterminate  them  as  we  have  millions  of  their 
race,  for  we  have  the  power  to  do  so  ;  but  we  never  can  co 
erce  them  to  voluntarily  place  a  degrading  estimate  upon 
themselves.  Never.  I  have  heard  the  charge  over  and  over 
again  ^made  against  them,  that  they  would  stop  the  progress 
of  the  white  man's  civilization  and  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ  among  them  if  they  could.  Without  fear  or  favor,  Ix 
here  denounce  the  charge  as  a  falsehood,  begat  by  the  devil, 
born  in  the  regions  of  eternal  night,  thence  escaped  to  find 
lodgement  in  the  hearts  of  its  miserably  degraded  author, 
and  his  congenial  spirits,  the  foul  mouthed  promulgators  ; 
and  into  their  teeth  I  fearlessly  hurl  it  back.  But  I  freely 
admit,  if  the  "white  man's  civilization  and  the  white  man's 
Christianity"  is  meant  the  grim  visage  of  infidelity  with  its 
abominable  train  of  liberalism,  socialism,  secularism,  nihi 
lism,  spiritualism,  and  whiskeyism  with  their  legitimate 


46  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

children,  saloonism  and  baudy-houseism,  and  all  other  devil 
ish  isms  presented  in  the  white  man's  Christian  civilization 
(so-called),  they  want  none  of  it ;  anp  in  proof  of  which  they 
have  warred,  and  still  war  and  will  ever  continue  to  war 
ag-ainst  the  foul  brood,  be  they  ever  so  protective  to  the 
white  man's  "Personal  Liberty  ;"  or  ever  so  dearly  cher 
ished  by  him,  as  among-  the  brig-htest  lig-hts  along-  the  horizon 
of  his  modern  and  advanced  civilization.  But  let  Christ's 
glorious  Christianity  and  civilization,  as  it  was  presented  to 
them  eighty  years  ago  in  their  ancient  domains  east  of  the 
Mississippi  river  by  the  pure  minded,  devoted,  self-sacrific 
ing1,  God  approved  missionaries,  whose  God-like  teaching's, 
both  by  precept  arid  example,  have  been  handed  down  by 
that  g-eneration  to  this,  (of  whom  many  old  Choctaws  of  that 
day  have  frequently  spoken  to  me  during  my  sojourn  among- 
them,  during-  the  last  five  or  six  years,  and  as  often  drew  the 
contrast  between  the  white  mail's  religion  of  those  days  and 
the  white  man's  religion  of  to-day,  the  g-enuine  fruits  of 
which  are  so  manifest)  be  rudely  assailed  or  imperilled,  and 
every  warrior,  old  and  young-,  would  at  once  rise  as  one  man 
in  its  defense,  and  freely  give  their  lives  as  sacrificial  offer 
ings  upon  the  altar  of  its  protection.  They  had  long-  walked 
in  darkness,  but  they  have  seen  the  light  as  it  shone  in  the 
daily  life,  conversation,  and  actions,  of  those  old  heralds  of 
the'  Cross,  who  came  to  them  in  their  ancient  domains,  four 
score  years  ag-o,  as  messeng-ers  of  the  Son  of  God,  proclaim 
ing- Peace  Good  and  Will  to  them.  But  they  would  see  greater 
lig-ht  and  know  more  of  that  lig-ht ;  therefore,  they  who 
charg-e  them  with  a  hankering  to  still  return  to  the  customs 
of  their  ancestors,  though  in  many  respects  more  to  be  de 
sired  than  the  isms  and  degrading  vices  of  the  white  man's 
modern  civilization  as  presented  to  them,  can  lay  no  just 
claim  to  the  right  of  judging  or  estimating  the  merits,  or 
demerits  of  any  one,  as  they  measure  every  thing  by  the 
standard  of  their  own  imbecility  so  manifest  to  all. 

There  is  today,  and  has  ever  been,  as  much  talent  found 
among-  the  true  Native  Americans  as  among  the  Americans, 
,or  ever  was  found  in  any  race  of  uneducated  people;  and  the 
Indian  is  naturally  as  much  of  a  religious  being  as  the  wh'ite 
man,  yea,  to  a  greater  degree,  which  is  fully  sustained  by  his 
more  faithful  adherence  and  unassumed"  devotion  to  his 
newly  adapted  religion,  as  taught  him  by  the  missionary  of 
the  Gospel,  than  are  we  with  all  of  our  fine  churches  and 
noisy  professions.  The  Sabbath  day  is  reg-arded  with  much 
more  reverence,  and  observed  with  greater  emotions  of  un- 
feig-ned  devotion,  yet  we  call  him  a  savage.  Long-  before  the 
light  of  the  Gospel  illuminated  the  mind  of  the  Indian,  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  47 

the  knowledge  of  his  own  dignity  and  destiny  had  dawned 
upon^his  understanding,  his  reason  taught  him  a  belief  in  the 
existence  of  a  Superior  Being  whose  wisdom  and  goodness  he 
saw,  acknowledged  and  reverenced  in  every  leaf  and  flower 
that  adorned  the  earth;  in  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun; 
in  the  storm  of  night  and  the  calm  of  day.  But  the  mis 
sionary  came,  and  the  Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God  then  erected 
his  alter  among  them  and  shed  the  benign  influences  of  her 
oracles  over  them,  leading  their  understanding  from  the 
intellectual  darkness  of  that  long  starless  night  that  had 
,  brooded  over  them  during  ages  untold.  Great  indeed  must 
be  the  reward  in  heaven  for  those  men  and  women  of  God 
who  carried  the  Bread  of  Eternal  Life  to  the  southern  Indians 
of  this  continent,  over  three  quarters  of  a  century  ago;  when 
civilization  and  Christianity  had  never  before  found  lodge 
ment,  and  Nature  was  presented  in  all  her  seemingly  new 
ness  of  life,  unchanged  by  the  handi-work  of  man.  The 
pride  of  ancestry  may  be  just;  to  rehearse  the  deeds  of  illus 
trious  predecessors  may  by  laudable;  but  they,  who  devote 
life  to  the  Glory  of  God  and  the  benefit  of  the;r  fellow  men 
are  truly  the  ones  that  make  life  illustrious  and  the  grave 
glorious;  for  when  time  had  silvered  their  heads  with  gray, 
and  the  summons  came  that  bade  them  go  hence;  then  it  was 
their  good  deeds  lighted  up  the  gloom  of  the  grave  and 
soothed  and  softened  the  pangs  of  dissolution;  and  when 
they  have  long  slumbered  in  the  citv  of  the  silent,  yea,  when 
every  trace  of  the  unhappy  Indian  shall  have  been  wiped  out 
and  forgotten  in  the  oblivion  of  the  past,  still  will  the  mem 
ory  of  their  labors  of  love  live,  and  their  monuments  be  in 
scribed  with  characters  of  imperishable  fame.  Years  hence, 
when  the  inquisitive  shall  ask  what  manner  of  people  were 
the  fallen  and  exterminated  race  of  North  American  conti 
nent,  and  inquire  concerning  those  who  enlightened  the 
minds  that  only  here  and  there  have  left  a  monument  of  their 
independence,  will  some  venerable  patriarch  point  to  the 
catalogue  of  renowned  names,  who  disseminated  the  Gospel 
and  the  light  of  learning  among  the  primitive  inhabitants  of 
the  North  American  continent.  But  the  question  naturally 
arises  here,  will  the  mighty  tide  of  humanity,  now  flowing 
like  a  great  river  into  and  over  our  country,  bear  to  future 
posterity  our  virtues  or  our  vices,  our  glory  or  our  shame? 
Will  the  moth  of  inmorality  and  the  vampire  of  luxury  trans 
mit,  as  an  inheritance,  their  natural  results  to  our  future 
posterity,  and  ultimately  prove  the  overthrow  of  our  Govern 
ment,  or  shall  our  knowledge  and  virtue,  as  pillars  of  rock, 
support  them  against  the  whirlwind  of  ambition  and  corrup 
tion  now  overspreading  the  land?  The  little  insect  intrud- 


48  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

ing"  upon  our  path  is  despised  and  wantonly  crushed;  yet 
united,  they  have  destroyed  nations  and  depopulated  cities. 
"Coming- events"  cease  not  to  "cast  their  shadows  before.'* 
The  North  American  Indians,  in  symmetry  of  form, 
seemed  perfect  men  and  women  ;  all  were  straight  and 
erect ;  the  men,  of  a  proud,  independent  and  manly  bearing-, 
with  sinewy  form  that  denoted  great  strength,  agility  and 
fleetness  ;  with  dark  complexion,  resolute,  yet  quiet  in  ex 
pression,  except  when  ag-itated  by  emotion ;  frank  in  de 
meanor,  and  always  courteous,  never* meeting  you  without  a 
grave  but  polite  and  cheerful  salutation ;  and  whose  confi 
dence  was  not  a  sudden  spark  that  shone  for  a  moment  then 
went  out,  but  endured  through  life  unless  betrayed,  then 
was  never  more  regained,  nor  was  their  hatred  impulsive 
but  fixed  in  their  judgment  and  their  thoughts  rather  than 
in  their  passing  feelings.  And  what  is  said  of  the  charac 
teristics  of  the  men,  as  men,  so  it  may  be  said  equally  of  the 
women,  as  women.  Their  traditions,  which  form  the  con 
necting  link  between  truth  and  romance,  throw  but  a  glim 
mering  light,  as  before  stated,  upon  the  unwritten  history 
of  their  past,  which  has  so  long  been  forgotten,  as  well  as 
upon  their  ancient  habits  and  customs,  of  which  there  can  be 
no  reliable  information,  therefore  all  must  be  left  to  conject 
ure.  But  I  came  in  possession  of  many  traditions  seemingly 
to  founded  more  -in  truth  than  in  fiction,  as  I  oft  sat 
among  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  in  youth  and  early 
manhood  and  listened  with  romantic  emotions  to  the  narra 
tions  of  the  aged,  whose  plurality  of  years  had  consigned 
them  to  the  retired  list  of  warriors,  as  unable  longer  to  en 
dure  the  hardships  and  dangers  that  begirt  the  war-path 
and  the  chase,  and  thus  acquired  much  concerning  their 
past  history,  not  to  be  found  inbooks,  of  which  I  wrill 
more  fully  speak  in  their  proper  place. 

But  alas,  that  the  writings  of  so  many  of  their  White 
historians  (so-called)  seemingly  throug-h  ignorance  or  preju 
dice,  or  both,  should  contain  more  fiction  than  truth,  and  dif 
fuse  more  error  than  true  information  concerning  this  pecu 
liar  and  so  poorly  comprehended  race  of  people  ;  hence  it 
may  be  truly  affirmed  that  there  is  no  race  of  people  that 
now  exists  upon  the  earth,  or  has  ever  existed,  of  whom  -so- 
much  has  'been  said  and  written,  yet  of  whom  the  world  has 
been  taught  less  true  knowledge  and  correct  information 
than  of  the  North  American  Indians.  But  it  should  not  be, 
perhaps,  a  matter  of  very  great  surprise  that  the  majority 
of  the  writers  of  the  present  day,  especially  the  sensational 
newspaper  correspondents,  as  many  of  their  predecessors  of 
years  ago,  should  give  prejudiced  accounts  of  this  people  ; 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  49 

since  it  is  plainly  manifest,  when  taken  into  just  considera 
tion,  that  they  are1  utterly  ig-norant  of  the  subject  offered  for 
their  contemplation,  yet  fail  to  see  their  incapacity ,  since 
the  ingredients  are  pure  and  have  given  abundant  and  unmis 
takable  proof  of  their  many-valuable  qualities  ;  therefore,  as  a 
natural  result,  are  lost  to  the  blind  observers  whose  compo 
sitions,  regarding  the  unfortunate  Indians,  are  made  up  of 
equal  parts  (well  mixed)  of  self-conceit,  ignorance,  duplicity 
and  falsehood  ;  which,  in  their  very  nature,  so  utterly  dis 
qualify  them  of  judging-  bevond  the  surface  of  anything  ex 
cept  self  ;  but  seem  extravagantly  delighted  when  they  have 
struck  a  new  vein  of  precious  metal  in  the  mine  of  falsehood 
against  the  unoffending  Indians,  and  foolishly  imagine  it  has 
stamped  them  •with  a  wisdom  higher  than  man's,  though  dif 
ficulties  arise  in  the  minds  of  a  majority  from  a  failure  to  so 
comprehend  it.  Still  it  is  diverting  to  see  them  strut  about 
after  a  safe  delivery,  as  if  they  were  at  the  head  of  a  new 
dispensation  and  waiting  for  unknown  converts  to  kneel  and 
pay  homage  to  their  imagined  greatness. 

It  is  a  universally  admitted  that  the  color  of  the  Indians 
is  peculiar  to  themselves,  and  though  some  affirm  that  they 
have  discovered  indications  of  a  Tartar  origin  in  their  cheek 
bones,  others  assert  that  their  eyes  do  not  justify  the  affir 
mation.  Their  manner  of  life  may  have  exerted",  perhaps, 
some  influence  in  regard  to  color,  but  it  would  be  a  difficult 
matter  to  satisfactorily  -explain  how  it  coult  have  produced 
the  great  difference  that  is  so  plainly  manifest  in 
that  of  the  eyes.  Still  it  is  affirmed  that  "'their  imagery,, 
bpth.  poetry  and  oratory,  is  Oriental,  though  suffering  by  the 
limited  extend  of  th-ear  practical  knowledge."  Their 
metaphors  were  drawn  from  nature,  the  seasons,  the  clouds, 
the  storms,  the  mountains,  birds  and  beast,  and  the  vegetables 
world.  Yet  in  this,  they  only  did  what  all  other  races  of  the 
human  family  have  done,  whose  bounds  to  fancy  were 
governed  by  experience.  They  also  clothed  their  ideas  in. 
Oriental  dress.  They  expressed  a  phrase  in  a  word,  and 
qualified  the  signification  of  a  whole  sentence  by  a  syllable;: 
and  also  conveyed  different  significations  by  the  simplest 
inflections  of  the  voice.  Some  philologists  affirm  that  among 
all  the  North  American  Indians  who  once  inhabited  this  con- 
tinent,^  ''there  are,  properly  speaking,  but  two  or  three 
languages,"  and  the  difficulty  which  different  tribes  ex 
perience  in  understanding  each  other,  is  attributed  to  the 
corruptions  in  dialects.  This  may  seem  more  plausible 
from  the  following  incident.  Shortly  after  the  Choctaws 
.were  removed  from  their  ancient  domains  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi  River  to  their  present  places  of  abode,  a  small  tribe 


50  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

of  strange  Indians  was  discovered  occupying-  a  portion  of 
their  western  territory,  now  the  Chickasaw  Nation.  A  party 
of  Choctaws,  under  the  command  of  Peter  P.  Pitchlynn, 
was  sent  out  to  ascertain  who  they  were .  When  the  dele 
gation  arrived  at  one  of  the  villages  of  the  unknown  tribe, 
they  were  totally  unable  to  communicate  with  them  only 
through  the  sign  language,  so  well  understood  by  all  the 
Indians,  and  them  alone.  However,  it  was  soon  observed 
that  the  villagers,  in  conversation  with  each  other,  used  a 
few  words  that  were  decidedly  of  Choctaw  origin,  and  now 
and  then  one  or  more  purely  Chactaw  words.  This  but  in 
creased  the  interest  of  the  now  deeply  interested  delegates. 
Upon  further  investigation  by  means  of  the  sign-language, 
It-was  ascertained  that  the  name  of  the  little  tribe  of  stran 
gers  wasBaluhchi,  a  pure  Choctaw  word,  signifying  hickory- 
bark  (formerly  used  by  the  Choctaws  in  making  ropes  and 
whips  when  peeled  from  the  hickory  bush  in  the  spring).  It 
was  also  learned  that  they  originally  came  from  a  country,  to 
their  pleasant  place  of  abode,  that  lay  beyond  the  "Big 
Waters,"  and  this  was  all  that  could  be  learned  concerning 
them.  Being  anxious  to  ascertain  something  more  definite, 
the  delegates,  upon  further  inquiry,  learned  that  there  lived 
in  another  village  a  few  miles  distant,  an  aged  man  who  was 
formerly  their  chief  but  owing  to  his  advanced  age  he  no 
longer  acted  in  that  capacity,  but  was  regarded  by  the  tribe 
as  their  national  Seer  or  Prophet.  To  him  the  delegation 
immediately  went,  and  found  to  their  agreeable  surprise  that 
tlie  venerable  old  patriarch,  for  such  he  truly  was,  could  speak 
the  Choctaw  language  fluently.  He  corroborated  the  state 
ment  of  the  villagers  in  regard  to  the  migration,  and  also 
claimed  that  he  and  his  tribe  were  Choctaws.  When  asked, 
How  long  since  he  left  his  people  east  of  the  "Big  Waters," 
he  replied:  "Long  ago,  when  a  little  boy,"  and  further 
stated  that  he  was  the  only  survivor  of  the  little  company 
that  had  wandered  away  years  ago  from  the  parent  stock. 
JBut  to  fully  test  the  matter,  he  was  questioned  as  to  the 
name  of  the  Choctaw  Iksas  (Clans)  and  their  ruling  chiefs  at 
the  time  of  his  boyhood  and  the  departure  of  the  company  to 
£he  far  west.  He  readily  gave  the  name  of  several  clans  and 
^heir  then  ruling  chiefs,  together  with  the  names  of  the  clan 
(Baluhchi)  to  which  his  parents  belonged;  also  many  memor 
able  incidents  connected  with  the  Choctaws  in  his  boyhood 
together  with  the  general  features  and  outlines  of  their 
territory.  All  of  which  was  known  to  be  true.  'The  test 
was  satisfactory.  The  delegates  returned;  made  their  re 
port,  and  the  Choctaw  Nation  at  once  received  its  long  wan 
dering  prodigals  into  its  paternal  embrace,  and  without 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  51 

hesitation  took  them  into  full  fellowship  as  children  of  one 
and  the  same  family.  About  fifty  families  of  this  once  lost 
clan,  numbering-  about  two  hundred  souls  still  survive,  with 
a  few  of  whom  I  am  personally  acquainted.  The  little  band, 
I  was  informed,  still  adheres  to  the  ancient  customs  of  their 
Clan  with  that  tenacity  peculiar  to  the  North  American 
Indians  alone,  but  has  returned  to  the  use  of  the  Choctaw 
language  proper. 

Here  then,  in  this  little  band  of  strayed  Choctaws,  who 
had  wandered  from  the  parent  stock  scarcely  a  century  be 
fore,  is  found  a  case  in  which  their  language  had  become  so 
blended  or  mixed  with  that  of  the  languages  of  other  adjoin 
ing  tribes,  and  thereby  so  corrupted  and  changed  as  not  to 
be  understood  by  their  own  people  from  whom  they  had 
wandered  but  a  generation  or  two  before.  The  ancient 
Baluhchi  Clan  of  Choctaws  was  first  made  known  to  the 
whites  by  La  Salle,  who  visited  them  on  his  voyage  of  dis 
covery  down  the  Mississippi  River  in  1682,  and  to  which  I 
will  again  refer. 

Fenimore  Cooper,  in  reference  to  the  sign-language  of 
the  North  American  Indians,  says,  he  was  present  at  an  in 
terview  between  two  chiefs  of  the  western  plains,  and  when 
an  interpreter  was  present  who  spoke  both  languages  of 
the  two  different  tribes  to  which  the  two  chiefs  respectively 
belonged.  The  two  warrior  chiefs  appeared  to  be  on  the 
most  friendly  terms,  and  apparently  conversed  much  togeth 
er;  yet,  according  to  the  affirmation  of  the  interpreter,  each 
was  absolutely  ignorant  of  what  the  other  said  .in  his  native 
tongue.  Their  tribes  were  hostile  to  each  other,  but  these 
two  chiefs  had  accidentally  been  brought  together  by  the  in-' 
fluence  of  the  Government ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that 
a  common  policy  influenced  them  both  to  adopt  the  same 
subject.  They  mutually  exhorted  each  other  to  befriend 
the  one  the  other  in  the  event  that  the  chance  of  war  should 
throw  either  of  them  in  the  hands  of  his  enemies. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  truth  as  respects  the  root  and 
the  genius  of  the  Indian  tongue,  it  is  quite  evident  they  are 
now  so  remote  in  their  words  as  to  possess  most  of  the  dis 
advantages  of  strange  languages  ;  hence,  much  of  the  em 
barrassment  that  has  arisen  in  learning  their  history,  and 
most  of  the  uncertainty  which  exists  in  their  traditions. 

The  North  American  Indians  conform  to  rule  as  rigidly 
as  any  nation  of  people  that  ever  existed.  They  regulated 
their  whole  conduct  in  conformity  to  some  general  maxims 
implanted  in  their  minds  in  their  youthful  days.  The  moral 
laws  by  which  they  were  governed  were  few,  'tis  true. 
Butthey  conformed  toall  of  them  most  rigidly  ;  while  our  moral 


52  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

laws  are  many  by  which  we  assume  to  be  governed,  yet  we 
frequently  violate  them  with  little  compunction  of  conscience 
when  conflicting'  with  our  real  or  imaginary  interests.  We 
accuse  the  Indians  of  stoicism  and  habitual  taciturnity,  with 
out  studying-  their  characteristics;  but  if  we  had 
'only  informed  ourselves,  we  would  have  learned  that  they 
are  more  firmly  linked  to  us  by  mutual  sympathies  and  affec 
tions  than  we  have  ever  even  imagined.  But  why  do  the  In 
dians  appear  taciturn  and  unsocial  to  us  ?  Because  we 
have,  from  first  to  last,  manifested  toward  them  an  uncon 
cealed  coldness,  indifference,  distrustfulness  bordering 
largly  on  contempt ;  and  never  with  that  confidence,  frank 
ness  and  sincerity  which  are  so  indispensable  to  g-enuine  love 
and  true  friendship.  Let  a  little  group  of  Indians  be  at  a 
railroad  station  on  the  arrival  of  'a  passenger  train.  See  the 
rush  to  the  platform  and  the  circle  formed  around  them  ; 
hear  the  remarks  of  attempted  wit  made  about  them  and  the 
laug-h  of  ridicule,  as  they  stare  at  them  as  if  they  were  a 
group  of  wild  beasts,  yet  assuming  themselves  to  be  a  people 
remarkable  for  their  strict  adherence  to  the  rules  and  regu 
lations  of  politeness  !  What  feelings  must  pervade  the  In 
dians'  breasts  but  emotions  .of  manifold  pity  and  mingled 
contempt  for  such  an  ill-mannered  set,  who  profess  so  much 
yet  display  so  little  of  common  sense  !  Who,  with  any  de 
gree  of  justice,  can  blame  the  Indians  for  manifesting  their 
wisdom  and  good  sense  by  keeping  themselves  aloof  from 
the  company  of  the  self-conceited  and  scornful,  whose  moral 
worth  and .  highest  attainments  begin  and  end  seemingly 
with  the  nronkey  ?  and,  as  a  natural  consequence,  can  exhibit 
no  other  disposition  when  in  the  presence  of  one  or  more  In 
dians  than  that  of  gratifying  an  ignorant  curiosity  in  behold 
ing  the  so-called  "red  devils,  red  skin,  Indian  bucks,"  appel 
lations  having  their  origin  in  the  depraved  hearts  of  as  cor 
rupt  and  reckless  specimens  of  humanity  as  ever  cursed  a 
land  or  county,  and  are  a  foul  blot  upon  the  fair  face  of  na 
ture,  and  the  language  of  whose  hearts  is  "justice,  truth, 
honor,  mercy,  humanity  depart  from  us,  we  desire  not  the 
knowledge  of  thy  ways."  Thus,  in  all  our  intercourse  with 
this  unfortunate  race  of  people,  we  have  exhibited,  in  the 
majority  of  instances,  every  disposition  toward  them  that 
was  calculated  to  drive  them  far  from  even  the  sight  of  us, 
and  to  stamp  indelibly  upon  their  hearts  the  belief  that  our 
only  desire  is,  and  ever  has  been,  to  dispossess  them. of  their 
hereditary  possessions  ;  and  in  which  they  are  wholly  con 
firmed  by  reading  our  publications  in  which  we  portray  them 
as  "red  devils,  red  skins,  blood-thirsty  savages,  Indian 
bucks,"  thus  seemingly  to  attempt  to  justify  ourselves,  by 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  53 

our  calumniating- epithets,  in  our  cruelties  and  outrages  upon 
them  without  any  respect  to  their  claims  upon  truth,  justice, 
mercy  and  humanity  whatever ;  and  also,  that  they  have  no 
rights  when  conflicting1  with  ours,  but  must  succumb  any 
where  and  everywhere  to  the  nod  of  our  interest  be  it  at 
their  sacrifice  what  it  may  ;  therefore  we  continue,  as  we 
have  done  for  centuries  past,  to  execute  our  verdict  pro 
nounced  against  them  from  the  beginning:  "It  is  easier  and 
less  expensive  to  exterminate  the  Indians,  than  to  obey  the 
mandates  of  the  Son  of  God  in  attempting  to  Christianize 
them."  Said  an  old  chief:  "We've  been  driven  back  until 
we  can  retreat  no  farther  ;  our  tomahawks  have  none  to  wield 
them  ;  our  bows  have  none  to  shoot  them  ;  our  council  fires 
are  nearly  burned  out ;  soon  the  white  man  will  cease  tooppress 
and  persecute  us,  for  we  will  have  perished  and  gone  from 
the  earth."  Thus  have  their  expectations  ..darkened  into 
anxiety,  their  anxiety  into  dread,  their  dread  into  despair 
and  their  despair  into  death. 

„  Never  in  the  history  of  man  has  the  extermination  of  a 
people  been  more  complete  than  that  of  the  North  American 
Indians  within  the  last  two  and  a  half  centuries.  To  the 
query,  "Where  are  they"?  Echo  but  responds,  "Where"? 
Alas!  all  have  disappeared  from  their  ancient  abodes,  and 
hundreds  .of  tribes  have  long  since  ceased  to  exist  as 
nations,  the  majority  not  even  leaving  a  name  behind  them; 
and  even  the  former  homes  ^of  the  hapless  remaining  few 
refuse  to  acknowledge  the  feeble  exiles  but  as  vile  intruders, 
while  the  names  of  mountains,  hills  and  streams  are  all  that 
remain  as  testimonials  of  their  former  occupancy,  even  as 
solitary  heaps  of  drift-wood  left  far  from  the  channel  of  the 
river  bear  testimony  to  the  extent  of  its  inundation.  And  to 
the  query,  Where  are  they?  The  best  reply  may  be  found 
in  a  book  bearing  the  title  "Shank's  Report  On  Indian 
Frauds,"  made  March  3d,  1873,  -to  the  420  Congress,  3d,- 
Session,.  in  the  management  of  Indian  Affairs.  It  is  as 
follows:  "In  250  years  we  have  wasted  their  numbers  from 
2,500,000"  (nearer  the  truth  would  be,  20,500,000)  "down  to 
250,000  or  a  waste  of.  a  number  equals  to  all  their  children 
born  to  them  in  the  last  250  years,  and  2,  250,000,  or  9-10  of 
their  original  number,  residing  in  the  limits  of  our  Govern 
ment,  and  have  taken  absolute  ownership  of  3,232,936,351 
acres  of  their  lands,  prairies,  forests,  game  and  homes, 
leaving,  to  all  their  tribes  collectively,  only  97,745,000  acres 
of  ground,  generally  not  the  best,  and .  even  that  is  sought 
after  with  a  greed  that  is  not  worthy  .  a  Christian  people." 
Nevertheless  we  boast  of  ourselves  .being  a  true  .  Christian 
nation  of  the  "Anglo  Saxon"  blood.  Who  can  but  pity  the 


54  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

unfortunate  Cubans  and  the  Filipinos!  With  what  emotions 
of  horror  must  they  shrink  from  their  prospective  future, 
when  contemplating-  the  extermination  of  the  North  Ameri 
can  Indians. 

Even  at  an  early  day  the  Indians  themselves,  believed,  felt 
andacknowledg-ed  it.  In  1611,  all  the  Indians,  then  known  to 
the  whites,  complained,  according  to  the  statements  of  the 
early  writers,  that  from  the  time  the  French  came  to  trade 
with  them  they  began  to  decline  and  die  off  more  rapidly 
than  ever  before.  It  is  stated  by  the  early  explorers,  that 
they  would  often  fumig-ate  their  heads  to  avoid  infection 
from  the  magic  charms  they  believed  the  French  carried 
about  their  persons,  secret  poison,  harmless  to  themselves, 
but  fatal  to  all  Indians  ;  at  other  times  they  would  accuse 
the  whites  of  selling  them  poisonous  provisions.  "In  1634," 
writesk  the  French  journalist,  "the  orphans  were  sadly  nu 
merous,  for  after  the  Indians  began  to  use  whiskey  they 
died  in  great  numbers."  "Not  so,"  said  a  chief  in  1636,  "It 
is  not  your  drink  which  kills  us,  but  your  writings ;  fo,r 
since  you  have  described  our  country,  our  rivers,  land  and 
forests,  we  are  all  dying-.  This  was  not  so  before  your  com 
ing."  Unhappy  chief!  Thou  wert  honest  in  thy  convic 
tions,  but  erring;  in  your  judgment.  Whiskey  was  the  se 
cret  power  employed  by  the  pale-face  to  silently  but  effectu 
ally  destroy  thy  race,  as  it  has  been  from  that 'day  to  this  ; 
and,  as  auxiliaries  to  that  terrible  destructive,  the  introduc 
tion  of  small-pox,  scarlet  fever,  measles,  mumps,  whooping- 
cough,  unknown  before  to  the  Indians,  did  their  fatal  work, 
and  hurried  millions  of  that  unfortunate  people  to  premature 
graves,  often  depopulating  entire  towns  and  villages,  and 
even  tribes.  These  new  and  unaccountable  diseases  ap 
pearing-  among  them  with  the  coming  of  the  whites,  baffling" 
their  utmost  powers  in  the  healing  art,  and  which  it  ap 
peared  no  skill  could  obviate,  nor  remedy  dispel  the  fearful 
infection,  they  very  naturally  attributed  the  cause  of  them 
to  the  writings  of  the  Pale-face,  so  mysterious  and  incom 
prehensible  to  them.  While  some  tribes  attributed  their 
mysterious  dying-  to  the  anger  of  the  Great  Spirit,  who  thus 
punished  them  for  permitting  the  Pale-faces  to  "describe 
their  country,  lands,  rivers  and  forests." 

A  Huron  convert  told  the  Jesuit  priests  in  1639,  that  it 
was  almost  the  universal  opinion  of  his  nation,  that  all  the 
professed  friendship  of  the  whites  for  the  Indians  was  but 
a  blind  to  conceal  their  deep  hidden  hypocrisy  and  treachery; 
and  that  they  were  really  aiming  to  the  total  destruction  of 
the  Indians,  in  order  to  secure  their  country  for  themselves. 
How  truly  prophetic,  and  how  much  more  of  truth  than 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.      •  55 

fiction  were  their  rational  conclusions,  and  was  there  not 
manifested  also,  in  their  just  reasonings,  in  regard  to  the 
secret  designs  of  the  whites,  as  far-sighted  statemanship  as 
was  ever  exhibited  by  any  nation  of  people  that  ever  existed, 
ancient  or  modern?  Were  the  phillippics  hurled  against  the 
ambitious  Macedonian  king  and  conqueror  by  the  world 
wide  renowned  statesman  and  orator  of  ancient  Athens  more 
prophetic  than  were  the  predictions  of  those  ancient  Hurons 
of  North  America?  "You  will  see,"  said  a  relative  of  the 
above  mentioned  Huron 'convert,  to  whom  he  spoke  of  the 
kind  words  and  friendly  actions  of  the  Jesuit  priests  towards 
the  Indians,  ''your  children  die  before  your  eyes;  you  your 
self  will  soon  follow,  and  if  we  listen  to  them,  we  all  will  go 
the  same  way."  "Whether  it  is  the  work  of  the  devil  or  the 
providence  of  God,"  adds  the  annalist,  "we  dare  not  say,  but 
of  five  children  in  the  family,  but  one  remains.  Soon  after 
that  speech,  one  was  carried  off  by  fever;  another  has  been 
ill  for  months  and  cannot  live;  the  oldest,  who  was  one  of  our 
pupils,  a  lad  of  fourteen,  died  very  suddenly;  an  adopted 
daughter  has  a  dangerous  cough;  the  youngest  boy  is  dying 
too,  while  the  Lord  has  seen  fit  to  afflict  the  wife  also,  who, 
after  losing  four  children,  herself  died  of  small-pox.  Truly 
the  poor  Indian  may  say  Probasti  me  et  cognovisti  me."  In 
1657,  Father  Menard  himself,  while  laboring  among  the  Iro- 
quois,  wrote  as  follows:  "The  hostility  to  our  faith  and  to  our 
persons  which  the  Hurons  had  transmitted  to  those  abori 
gines,  persuading  them  that  we  carried  with  us  disease  and 
misfortune  to  every  country  we  approached,  caused  our  re 
ception  to  be  cool  and  the  presents  to  be  spurned  which  we 
offered  as  a  help  to  the  introduction  of  our  religion." 

Could  the  Indians  be  justly  censured,  with  such  potent 
convictions  resting  upon  their  minds,  that  many,  in  wild  de 
spair  and  in  blind  revenge,  if,  peradventure,  they  might  be 
able  to  turn  back  the  fearful  and  destructive  tide  of;  disease 
and  death  that  was  so  effectually  and  rapidly  destroying 
them,  by  driving  from  their  territories  the  pale-faces — 
seemingly  the  author  of  all  their  misfortunes  and  woes?  and 
did  not  their  hopes  of  success,  their  devotion  to  and  love  of 
country,  and  their  irresistible  idealism  which  stimulates  the 
mighty  effort,  constitute  the  essence  of  true  patriot 
ism?  But  alas,  our  prejudice  denies  it  to  them. 
Wherefore  ?  Because  we,  as  a  people,  were  blinded 
by  our  imagined  superiority  over  them,  and  pre-con- 
ceived  determination  to  convert  their  country  to  our  own  use 
— every  foot  of  it — as  is  so  manifest  to-day  ;  therefore  refused 
to  become  properly  acquainted  with  them  lest  we  might  see 
and  learn  of  their  many  characteristic  virtues.  Their  coun- 


56  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

try  was  the  philosopher's  stone  to  us — the  true  secret  that 
influenced  our  actions  toward,  and  all  our  dealing's  with 
them,  both  of  a  peaceful  and  host'le  nature.  It  was  the 
sceptre  that  was  to  give  us  dominion  over  them,  to  their  de 
struction,  but  our  aggrandizement ;  the  key  that  would  un 
lock  to  us  a  store-house  of  national  power  and  personal 
emolument,  opening  unto  us  the  untold  treasures  of  the 
western  continent.  Therefore,  whatever  in  them  appeared 
strange  and  forbidding  to  our  disordered  imagination  ;  what 
ever  did  not  agree  in  every  punctilio  to  our  self-conceited, 
"high-born,"  civilized  customs,  we  at  once  misjudged  and 
underrated,  haughtily  condemned  and  pushed  aside  as  un 
worthy  our  refined  attention.  Hence  it  is  a  lamentable 
truth,  that  all  the  impressions  ever  made  by  the  whites  upon 
the  Indians,  with  few  exceptions,  from  their  earliest  associa 
tions  to  the  present  day,  have  been  contrary  to  every  thing  that 
had  a  tendency  to  secure  their  confidence,  maintain  their  friend 
ship,  and  induce  them  to  forsake  their  primitive  customs 
and  adopt  those  of  ours  ;  and  we  have  to-day  the  evidence 
on  every  side  that  the  evil  influences  placed  before  the  In 
dians,  and  the  baneful  impressions  made  upon  their  minds 
by  unprincipled  and  lawless  white  men,  who  have  always  in 
fested  their  country,  from  the  beginning,  have  been  deeply 
and  lastingly  made,  and  have  long  ago  assumed  the  form  of  a 
justly  bitter  but  silent  hatred  enduring  as  time,  and,  it  is  to 
be  feared,  forever  to  rankle  in  their  breasts.  This  prejudice 
against  and  hatred  of  all  that  appertains  to  the  white  race 
has  been  widening  and  deepening  from  their  first  acquain 
tance  with  the  whites,  from  whom  they  have  received  noth 
ing  but  sneers,  cuffs  and  kicks  from  the  alpha  to  the  omega, 
and  now  stands  a  yawning  gulf  between  the  confidence  and 
friendship  of  the  red  man  and  the  white,  so  broad  and  deep 
that  all  hope -of  its  being  bridged  seems  nearly  if  not  entirely 
at  an  end.  As  the  great  and  good /Washington  exclaimed., 
when  informed  of  the  treason  of  Benedict  Arnold,  "Whom 
can  we  trust?"  so  the  Indians,  long  ago,  have  been  entirely 
justifiable  to  exclaim  of  the  white  race  "Whom  can  -we 
trust.?"  Memory  is,  and  always  has  been-,  the  Indian's  only 
record-book,  their  history  of '  past  events;  and  upon  its 
pages,  handed  down  through  ages  from  generation  to  gener 
ation,  are  truthfully,  faithfully  and  lastingly  recorded  in  the 
archives  of  their  respective  nations,  and  the  vicissitudes  of 
their  individual  lives.  Its  instructions  they  never  forget,  be 
they  of  joy  or  sorrow,  hope  or  fear,  rights  or  wrongs,  bene 
fits  or  injuries  ;  and.  to-day,  could  the  heart  of  every  Indian, 
whose  blood  is  not  contaminated  with  that  of  the  white,  male 
or  female,  old  or  young,  now  living  within  the  jurisdiction  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  57 

these  United  States'  as  their  miserable  and  down-trodden 
wards,  be  read  as  an  open  scroll-,  I  venture  the  assertion  as 
being*  within  the  line  of  truth,  though  broad  and  inconsistent 
as  it  may  seem,  there  would  be  found  written,  and  with  just 
cause  approved  and  sustained'  by  truth,  against  the  white 
race,  with  pen  dipped  in  the  stream  of  as  bitter  hatred  as 
ever  flowed  through  the  human  soul,  "Tekel."  They  would 
be  superhuman  if  otherwise.  But  upon  whom  justly  rests 
the  cause  of  all  this?  At  whose  door  lies  the  fearful  wrong? 
Who  has  been  the  first  and  last  cause  ?  The  voice  of  truth, 
as  potent  as  that  which  fell  upon  the  ears  of  Israel's  guilty 
king,  sustained  CLOW  as  then  by  the  God  of  justice  and  truth, 
comes  also  to  the  white  man,  and  declares  in  thunder  tones, 
"Thou  art  the  man." 

The  era  (1492)  in  which  Columbus  discovered  the 
western  continent  was  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  awakening  the  long  slumbering  ambition  of  man-kind 
to  an  energy  unknown  before,  and  giving  origin  to  number 
less  speculative  enterprises,  which  resulted  in  a  fierce  strug 
gle  among  the  different  nations  of  the  Old  World  to  secure  a 
permanent  foot-hold  in  the  New,  which  offered  such  bright 
prospects  for  national  power  and  glory  and  individual  wealth, 
and  soon  the  representatives  of  the  different  maritime 
powers  were  seen  upon  the  wide  and  seemingly  illimitable 
field  disputing,  quarrelling  and  fighting  for  supremacy  upon 
the  soil  of  the  Native  American,  and  adopting  every  art  and 
device  that  ingenuitv  could  suggest,  right  or  wrong,  so  it  did 
prove  but  successful  in  preventing  the  opposite  from  attain 
ing  its  desired  end,  or  displacing  the  fortunate  one  who  had 
secured  a  coveted  prize.  Among  the  most  'conspicuous 
contestants  were  the  representatives  of  Spain,  France,  Eng 
land  and  Holland;  who  sent  out  corporations  for  colonizing 
purposes,  establishing  them  at  different  points  according  to 
the  inclinations  of  each,  extending  from  the  Great v 
Lakes  of  the  North  to  the  Gulf  in  the  South; 
each  assuming  the  right  based  upon  that  of  discovery 
and  occupancy  to  possess,  hold,  occupy  and  retain 
any  territory  desired;  but  in  reality,  more  by  virtue  of 
professed  intellectual  superiority  over  the  Native  Americans 
and  the  actual  advantages  in  the  munitions  of  war,  than  that 
of  .any  right  accrued  by  virtue  of  discovery;  influencing  the 
inexperienced  and  unlettered  natives  by  cajolery  and  decep 
tion,  and  oft  by  compulsion,  to  dispose  of  their  lands  to  them 
at  nominal  prices,  a  mere  pittance  under  the  name  of  ''pur 
chase,"  without  any  regard  whatever  to  the  claims  of  truth, 
justice  and  honor,  or  to  the  validity  of  the  Indians'  title  by 
previous  occupancy  for  ages  unknown.  But  after  many 


58  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

\    ' 

years  of  disputation,  wrangling-  and  fighting-,  the  greatest 
arena  of  contending  disputants  was  cleared  of  all  but  two, 
the  French  and  English,  to  whom  was  left  the  task  of  closing 
the  bloody  drama;  but  into  which  the  two  hostile  and  con 
tending  rivals  continued  to  involve  (as  had  been  done  from 
the  beginning  of  their  feuds)  the  bewildered  India'ns  in  their 
battles  with  each  other,  and  also  arraying  them  in  deadly 
strife  and  prolonged  war-fare  among  themselves,  tribe 
against  tribe,  that  they  might  thus  weaken  their  numerical 
strength,  and  thus  the  quicker  and  the  more  easily  drive 
them  from  their  ancient  possessions;  a  scheme  artfully 
adopted  by  us,  after  the  dispossession  of  the  §higlish,  in  turn, 
in  1776  and  the  handing  over  of  the  Indians  to  us,  to  complete 
the  destruction  of  that  unfortunate  race. 

But  truly  has  it  been  said,  "The  Father  of  Waters"  has 
two  epochs,  and  each  with  a  romance,  the  one  as  different 
from  the  other  as  day  and  night.  The  first  belongs  to  the 
northern  Mississippi,  and  the  second  to  the  southern  ;  the 
former  has  its  pastor,  Father  Marquette  ;  the  latter  its  nov 
elty,  Hernahdo  de  Soto.  France  and  England,  long  the  am 
bitious  rivals  and  zealous  competitors  for  territorial  acquisi 
tions  throughout  the  inhabited  globe,  were  the  first  and  only 
nations  that  disputed  and  contended  for  the  entire  posses 
sion  of  the  North  American  continent  at  that  early  day  ;  re 
garding  which  it  has  also  been  said  that  religious  enthusiasm 
planted  the  Puritan  colony  on  Plymouth  Rock  ;  religious  en 
thusiasm  planted  the  Cross  on  the  shores  of  the  St.  Law 
rence,  among  the  Indians  around  Lake  Superior,  thence  to 
the  Great  Valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Thus  France  and  her 
Christianity  stood  in  Canada  and  the  Mississippi  valley;  En 
gland  and  her  Christianity  stood  on  the  hills  of  the  Hudson 
and  in  the  Susquehanna  valley,  and  invited  the  Indians  each 
to  their  respective  civilization  and  Christianity,  while  bloody 
conflicts  and  cruel  scenes  marked  the  footsteps  of  the  intro 
duction  of  the  new  order  of  things  among  the  confused  In- 
diajns. 

In  1608,  Quebec  was  founded  by  the  intrepid  explorer, 
Samuel  Champlain,  and  whose  name  is  perpetuated  in  that  of 
Lake  Champlain.  From  Quebec  the  French  Jesuits  pene 
trated  and  explored  the  vast  solitudes  of  the  Canadian 
wilderness  to  the  Great  Lakes  of  the  West,  then  a  terra 
incognita,  to  the  civilized  world.  Following  in  their  wake 
came  the  English  in  their  representatives,  known  as  the 
Pilgrims  landing  on  the  rock-bound  coast  of  Massachusetts 
in  1620/where  the  foot  of  the  white  man  had  never  trod, 
though  the  adventurous  and  indefatigable  La  Salle  had  ex 
plored  the  Ohio  River  as  far  down  as  the  present  city  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  59 

Louisville,  Ky.,  many  years  before,  while  other  French 
adventurers  and  also  Jesuit  missionaries  had  penetrated  the 
wild  regions  around  the  Great  Lakes,  thence  southward 
along-  the  various  tributaries  of  the  Mississippi  which  drained 
the  vast  and  wild  region  between  them  and  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  far  to  the  south;  there  they  planted  the  Cross  in 
those  seemingly  illimitable  forests,  whose  solitudes  never  be 
fore  had  been  broken  by  the  voice  of  anthems  sang-  in  praise 
to  the  one  and  only  true  God,  and  there  left  behind  them 
many  monuments  scattered  here  and  there,  as  memorials  of 
their  adventurous  and  perilous  travels,  which,  in  after  years, 
wrould  remind  the  passer-by  of  the  names  of  La  Salle, 
Allouez,  Marquette,  Joliet,  Meynard,  and  other  kindred 
spirits,  whose  energy  and  untiring-  efforts  to  convert  to 
their  religious  creed  the  various  tribes  of  the  Native  Ameri 
cans,  and  to  successfully  and  permanently  secure  all  their 
territories  for  the  French,  has  no  parallel  in  the  annals  of 
the  world's  history.  Quebec  soon  became  the  great  and 
frequented  mart  of  trade  between  the  French  and  the 
Indians,  to  which  the  various  tribes  came  from  far  and  near 
in  their  canoes  laden  with  the  skins  and  furs  of  the 
various  wild  animals  that  roamed  in  countless  numbers 
over  the  vast  forests  of  those  primitive  days,  to 
see  the  pale-face  strangers,  and  to  exchange  their  furs 
and  skins  for  the  new  and  strange  articles  that  seemed 
so  greatly  to  excel  their  own  comforts  of  life,  and  especially 
the  white  man's  wonderful  gun,  which  they  had  quickly 
learned  far  surpassed  their  bows  and  Arrows  in  killing  game 
and  in  destroying  their  enemies. 

In  1679,  James  Marquette,  a  French  Jesuit,  and  Louis 
Joliet,  a  French  Canadian  merchant,  entered  the  Mississippi 
river  by  way  of  the  Wisconsin  in  two  birch-bark  canoes; 
thence  down  the  Mississippi  to  a  point  below  the  mouth  of 
the  Arkansas.  In  1682,  Robert  de  Lasalle,  a  French  Cana 
dian  officer,  entered  the  Mississippi  from  the  Illinois  river, 
thence  up  to  its  source,  thence  down  to  its  mouth,  and  gave 
the  name  Louisiana  to  that  vast  territory  in  honor  of  Louis 
XIV,  king  of  France.  In  1683,  Kaskaskia,  in  the  no'w  state 
of  Illinois,  was  founded  by  the  French ;  in  1701, 
Detroit,  in  Michigan ;  in  1705,  Vincennes,  in  Indi 
ana.  In  1699,  the  French,  under  the  command  of  Le- 
moyne  de  Iberville,  also  a  French  Canadian,  founded  Biloxi, 
in  Mississippi,  which  was  named  after  a  clan  of  the  ancient 
Choctaws  called  Bulohchi  (Hickory  Bar),  of  whom  I  have  al 
ready  spoken.  New  Orleans  was  founded  by  the  French 
under  Bienville,  in  1718.  Fort  Rosalie  among  the  Natchez 
Indians,  which  was  destroyed  by  them  in  1729,  who  had  be- 


60  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

come  exasperated  by  the  oppressions  of  the  French,  of  whom 
I  will  again  more  pa,  >ularly  speak.  In  1722,  Bienville  also 
founded  Mobile,  in  Alabama.  A  chain  of  forts  was  then 
built  by  the  French  between  Montreal  and  New  Orleans  ; 
the  most  important  of  which  were,  the  one  at  Detroit,  erect 
ed  in  1701  ;  the  one  at  Niagara,  1726  ;  and  one  at  Crown 
Point,  in  1730.  However,  De  Monts,  a  French  Huguenot, 
established  the  first  permanent  French  settlement  upon  the 
continent,  at  Port  Royal  (now  Annapolis)  in  Nova  Scotia,  call 
ing  the  territory  Acadia. 

February  10th,  1763,  witnessed  the  total  subversion  of 
French  power  in  North  America  by  the  English,  at  which 
time  peace  was  made  between  the  belligerents,  England, 
France  and  Spain,  by  which  the  North  American  continent 
<ind-its  native  inhabitants  were  handed  over  to  England. 

Reader  contemplate  the  following,  which  is  only  one  of 
thousands.  In  the  "California  Illustrated,"  a  book  written 
in  1849,  the  Author,  on  page  111,  says:  "In  passing  through 
a  slight  gorge,  I  came  upon  the  bodies  of  three  Indians  who 
had  been  dead  apparently  about  two  days,  each  bearing  the 
mark  of  the  unerring  rifle;  two  of  them  were  shot  through 
the  head;  the  sight  was  a  sad  one,  and  gave  rise  to  melan 
choly  reflections,  for  here  these  poor  beings  are  hunted  and 
shot  down  like  wild  beasts,  and  they  no  doubt  fell  by  the 
hand  of  the  assassin,  not  for  lucre  but  to  satiate  a  feeling  of 
hate."  "In  an  adjoining  territory  the  Red  Man  had  a  quiet 
home;  there  he  was  always  supplied  with  venison,  their  corn 
fields  ripened  in  autumn,  their  rude1  trap  furnished  clothing 
for  the  winter,  and  in  the  spring  they  danced  in  praise  of 
the  Great  Spirit  for  causing  flowers  to  bloom  upon  the  graves 
of  their  fathers,  but  the  white  stranger  came  and  took 
possession  of  their  hunting  grounds  and  streams,  and  har-« 
vested  their  corn.  They  held  a  council  and  decided  that  the 
Great  Spirit  had  sent  the  white  stranger,  and  it  would  be 
wrong  not  to  give  him  all  he  wished;  they  collected  their 
traps,  bows  and  arrows,  and  prepared  to  fall  back  in  search 
of  new  streams  and  hunting  grounds;  they  paid  the  last  visit 
to  the  graves  of  their  fathers.  What  were  their  -feelings? 
The  moon  threw  a  pale,  dim  light  through  the  foliage,  the 
air  breathed  a  mournful  sigh  as  they  reached  the  lonely 
mound;  the  stout  hearted  warrior  drew  his  blanket  to  hide 
his  tears  as  he  bowed  down  to  commune  for  the  last  time 
with  the  spirits  that  had  so  often  blessed  him  in  the  chase; 
his  heart  was  too  full,  and  he  fell  upon  his  face  and  wept 
bitterly.  But  a  last  adieu;  they  rise,  cross  the  arrows  over 
the  grave,  walk  mournfully  away;  the  Great  Spirit  give  them 
a  new  hunting  ground,  and  the  corn  ripens  on  the  plain,  but 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  61 

soon  the  white  stranger  comes  and  tells  them  to  fall  back. 
They  are  at  the  base  of  the  mountain;  there  are  no  hunting- 
grounds  beyond;  they  hold  a  council  and  deci.de  to  defend 
their  homes  against  further  encroachments  of  the  white 
stranger.  The  white  was  strong  aiid  drove  the  Red  Man 
into  the  mountains,  and  for  the  crime  of  having  tried  to  de 
fend  their  homes  and  families,  they  are  placed  under  a  ban, 
and  hunted  down  like  beasts.  No  matter  where  they  are 
found  the  crime  of  being  a  Red  Man  is  a  forfeiture,  not  only 
of  all  right  to  prosperty  but  to  life  itself. 

"Will  not  some  philanthropist  rise  above  sectional -preju 
dices  and  undertake  the  regeneration  of  this  truly  noble  but 
down-trodden  people?  Had  I  the  wealth  of  an  Astor  I  would 
not  wish  a  better  or  nobler  field  for  immortality."  Will  not 
the  philanthropists  of  these  United  States  "rise  above  sec 
tional  prejudices,  and  undertake  the  regeneration  of  these 
truly"  infamous,  God-forsaken,  white  scoundrels,  that  so 
curse  our  land?  "I  would  not  wish  a  better  or  nobler  field 
for  immortality." 

"The  first  man  I  met  after  my  arrival  in  the  interior 
was  an  Oregonian  on  horseback,  armed  with  a  revolving  rifle 
in  search  of  Indians.  He  had  had  a  horse  stolen,  and  pre 
sumed  it  was  taken  by  an  Indian  ;he  swore  he  would  shoot  the 
first  red  skin  he  met;'  and  I  had  no  reason  .to  doubt  his 
word  ;  still  the  chances  were  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred, 
that  the  horse  was  stolen  by  a  white  man,  and  the  charges  of 
the  white  man  upon  the  Indians  are  like  Nero's  setting  Rome 
on  fire  and  charging  it  upon  Christians.  I  have  no  doubt  the 
three  Indians  above  spoken  of  were  wantonly  shot  while 
walking  peacefully  along  their  trail."  But  alas  !  who  would 
undertake  the  task  of  regenerating  the  harpies  that  are,  at 
the  present  day,  pursuing  the  Indians,  and  howling  at  their 
heels. 

Eugene  V.  Smalley,  in  his  travels,  says:  "Near  the 
town  (Benton)  we  visited  the  camp  of  a  dozen  lodges  of  Pie- 
gan  Indians,  who  had  come  to  stay  all  winter  for  the  sake  of 
such  subsistence  as  they  could  get  from  the  garbage  barrels 
of  the  citizens.  A  race  of  valorous  hunters  and  warriors  has 
fallen  so  low  as  to  be  forced  to  beg  at  back  doors  for  kitchen 
refuse.  In  one  of  the  tepees  in  the  Piegan  camp  there  was 
an  affecting  scene.  A  young  squaw  lay  on  a  pile  of  robes 
and  blankets,  hopelessly  ill  and  given  up  to  die.  In  the  lines 
of  her  face  and  the  Expression  of  her  great  black  eyes  there 
were  traces  of  beauty  and  refinement  not  often  seen  in  Indian 
women.  Crouched  on  the  ground  by  her  side  sat  her  father, 
an  old' blind  man  with  long  white  hair  and  a  strong,  firm  face 
clouded  with  an  expression  of  stolid  grief.  The  Piegans 


62  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

and  Blackfeet,  who  possess  the  great  reservation  north  and 
east  of  Fort  Benton,  have  suffered  grievously  for  want 'of 
food,  and  hundreds  have  died  from  scrofula  and  otherdiseas- 
es  induced  by  insufficient  nourishment.  In  fact  the 
government  has  kept  them  in  a  state  of  semi-starva 
tion.  Father  Palladini  told  me  that  the  speeches  of 
Indian  chiefs  at  the  council,  where  they  told  of  their 
suffering  of  their  tribes  and  bared  their  emaciated  arms 
and  breasts  to  show  what  a  condition  they  had  been  brought 
by  hunger,  were  thrilling  bursts  of  Indian  oratory,  even  af 
fecting  listeners  who  could  not,  as  he  did,  understand  the 
spoken  words."  What  a  picture  is  here  represented  of  our 
policy  toward  the  Indians  !  What  an  illustration  of  the  de 
signs  of  that  arch  dissembler,  the  author  of  the  "Severalty 
Bill,"  whose  venal  soul  plunders  a  helpless  people  of  the 
homes  and  little  all  through  wilful  misrepresentation  and 
brazen-faced  falsehood.  What  a  true  elucidation  of  the  so- 
called  "Indian  Problem"  which  our  congress  has  so  long 
held  up  in  imaginary  suspension  in  mid  air  as  a  kind  of  Mo 
hamet's  coffin  ! 

The  ancient  traditional  history  of  the  Choctaws  and  Chick- 
asaws,  (the  former  signifying  Separation  and  the  latter  Re 
bellion — separation  and  rebellion  from  the  Muskogees,  now 
known  as  Creeks,  who,  according  to  tradition,  were  once  of 
one  tribe  before  their  migration  from  some  distant  country- 
far  to  the  west,  totheir  ancient  domain  east  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  which  is  of  more  than  dubious  authority)  claims  for 
them  a  Mexican  origin,  and  a  migration  from  that  country  at 
some  remote  period  in  the  past,  under  the  leadership  of  two 
brothers,  respectively  named  Chahtah  aud  Chikasah,  both 
noted  and  influential  chiefs,  to  their  possessions  east  of  the 
Mississippi.  Adair,  in  his  "American  Indians,"  says: 
•'The  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  descended  from  a  people 
called  Chickemacaws,  who  were  among  the  first  inhabitants 
of  the  Mexican  empire  ;  and  at  an  ancient  period  wandered 
east,  with  a  tribe  of  Indians  called  Choccomaws  ;  and  finally 
crossed  the  Mississippi  river,  with  a  force  of  ten  thousand 
warriors."  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  name 
Choctaw  has  its  derivation  from  Choccomaw,  and  Chickasaw, 
from  Chickemacaw  (both  corrupted)  ;  as  they  claim,  and  no 
doubt  justly,  the  names  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  to  be  their 
ancient  and  true  names. 

Their  tradition,  in  regard  to  their  origin  as  related  by 
the  aged  Choctaws  to  the  missionaries  in  1820,  was  in  sub 
stance  as  follows:  In  a  remote  period  of  the  past  their  an 
cestors  dwelt  in  a  country  far  distant  toward  the  setting 
sun1;  and  being  conquered  and  greatly  oppressed  by  a  more 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  .  •        63 

powerful  people  (the  Spaniards  under  Cortez)  resolved  to 
seek  a  country  far  removed  from  the  possibility  of  their  op 
pression. 

A  great  national  council  was  called,  to  which  the  entire 
nation  in  one  vast  concourse- quickly  responded.  After 
many  days  spent  in  grave  deliberations  upon  the  question  in 
Avhich  so  much  was  involved,  a  day  was  finally  agreed  upon 
and  a  place  of  rendezvous  duly  appointed  whence  they  should 
bid  a  final  adieu  to  their  old  homes  and  country  and  take  up 
their4ine  of  march  to  seek  others,  they  knew  not  where. 
When  the  appointed  day  arrived  it  found  them  at  the  desig 
nated  place  fully  prepared  and  ready  for  the  exodus  under 
the  chosen  leadership  of  two  brothers,  Chahtah  and  Chika- 
sah,  both  equally  renowned  for /their  bravery  and  skill  in 
war  and  their  wisdom  and  prudence  in  council ;  who,  as 
Moses  and  Aaron  led  the  Jews  in  their  exodus  from  Egypt, 
were  to  lead  them  from  a  land  of  oppression  to  one  of  peace, 
prosperity  and  happiness.  The  evening  before  their  de 
parture  a  "Fabussa"  (pole,  pro.  as  Fa-bus-sah)  was  firmly 
set  up  in  the  ground  at  the  centre  point  of  their  encamp 
ment,  by  direction  of  their  chief  medicine  man  and  prophet, 
whose  wisdom  in  matters  pertaining  to  things  supernatural 
was  unquestioned  and  to  whom,  after  many  days  fasting  and 
supplication,  the  Great  Spirit  had  revealed  that  the  Fabussa 
would  indicate  on  the  following  morning,  the  direction  they 
should  march  by  its  leaning  ;  and,  as  the  star  led  the  Magi 
to  where  the  world's  infant  Redeemer  and  Savior  sweetly  re 
posed,  so  the  leaning  of  the  pole,  on  each'  returning  morn, 
would  indicate  the  direction  they  must  travel  day  by  day  un 
til  they  reached  the  sought  and  desired  haven;  when,  on  the 
following  morn,  it  would  there  and  then  remain  as  erect  as 
it  had  been  placed  the  evening  before.  At  the  early  dawn  of 
the  following  morn  many  solicitous  eyes  were  turned  to  the 
silent  but  prophetic  Fabussa,  Lo!  It  leaned  to  the  east. 
Enough.  Without  hesitation  or  delay  the  mighty  host  began 
its  line  of  march  toward  the  rising  sun,  and  followed  each 
day  the  morning  directions  given  by  the  talismanic  pole, 
which  was  borne  by  day  at  the  head  of  the  moving  multi 
tude,  and  set  up  at  each  returning  evening  in  the  centre  of 
the  encampment,  alternately  by  the  two  renowned  chiefs-aiid 
brothers,  Chahtah  and  Chikasah.  For  weeks  and  months 
they  journeyed  toward  the  east  as  directed  by  the  undeviat- 
ing  fabussa,  passing  over  wide  extended  plains  and  through 
forests  vast  and  abounding  with  game  of  many  varieties 
seemingly  undisturbed  before  by  the  presence  of  man,  from 
which  their  skillful  hunters  bountifully  supplied  their  daily 
wants.  Gladly  would  they  have  accepted,  as  their  future 


64  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

asylum,  many  parts  of  the  country  /through  which  they 
traveled,  but  were  forbidden,  as  each  returning1  morn  the  un 
relenting-  pole  still  gave  its  silent  but  comprehended  com 
mand:  "Eastward  and  onward."  After  many  months  of 
wearisome  travel,  suddenly  a  vast  body  of  flowing1  water 
stretched  its  mighty  arm  athwart  their  path.  With  un 
feigned  astonishment  they  gathered  in  groups  upon  its  banks 
and  gazed  upon  its  turbid  waters.  Never  before  had  they 
even  heard  of,  or  in  all  their  wanderings  stumbled  upon 
aught  like  this.  Whence  its  origin?  Where  its  terminus? 
This  is  surely  the  Great  Father  the  true  source  of  all  waters, 
whose  age  is  wrapt  in  the  silence  of  the  unknown  past,  ages 
beyond  all  calculation,  and  as  they  then  and  there  named  it 
"Misha  Sipokni"  (Beyond  Age,  whose  source  and  terminus' 
are  unknown). 

Surely  a  more  appropriate,  beautiful  and  romantic  name, 
than  its  usurper  Mississippi,  without  any  signification.  But 
who  can  tell  when  the  waters  of  Misha  Sipokni  first 
found  their  way  from  the  little  Itasca  lake  hidden  in  its 
northern  home,  to  the  far  away  gulf  amid  the  tropics  of  the 
•south?  Who  when  those  ancient  Choctaws  stood  upon  its 
banks  and  listened  to  its  murmurings  which  alone  disturbed 
the  silence  of  the  vast  wilderness  that  stretched  away  on 
every  side,  could  tell  of  its  origin  and  over  what  mighty  dis 
tances  it  rolled  its  muddy  waters  to  their  ultimate  , destiny? 
And  who  today  would  presume  to  know  or  even  conjecture, 
through  what  mysterious  depths  its  surging  currents  strug 
gle  ere  they  plunge  into  the  southern  gulf?  But  what  now 
says  their  dumb  talisman?  Is  Misha  Sipokni  to  be  the 
terminus  of  their  toils?  Are  the  illimitable  forests  that  so 
lovingly  embraced  in  their  wide  extended  arms  its  restless 
waters  to  be  their  future  homes?  Not  so.  Silent  and  motion 
less,  still  as  ever  before,  it  bows  to  the  east  and  its  mandate 
"Onward,  beyond  Misha  Sipokni"  is  accepted  without  a 
murmur;  and  at  once  they  proceed  to  construct  canoes  and 
rafts  by  which,  in  a  few  weeks,  all  were  safely  landed  upon 
its  eastern  banks,  whence  again  was  resumed  their  eastward 
march,  and  so  continued  until  they  stood  upon  the  western 
banks  of  the  Yazoo  river  and  once  more  encamped  for  the 
night;  and,  as  had  been  done  for*  many  months  before,  ere 
evening  began  to  unfold  her  curtains  and  twilight  had 
spread  o'er  all  her  mystic  light,  the  Fabussa  (now  truly 
their  Delphian  oracle)  was  set  up;  but  ere  the  morrow's  sun 
had  plainly  lit  up  the  eastern  horizon,  many  anxiously  watch 
ing  eyes  that  early  rested  upon  its  straight,  slender,  silent 
fo.rm,  observed  it  stood  erect  as  when  set  up  the  evening  be 
fore.  And  then  was  borne  upon  that  morning  breeze 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  65 

throughout  the  vast  sleeping-  encampment,  the  joyful  accla 
mation,  "Fohah  hupishno  Yak!  Fohah  hupishno  Yak!  (pro. 
as  Fo-hah,  Rest,  hup-ish-noh,  we,  all  of  us,  Yak,  here.) 

Now  their  weary  pilgrimage  was  ended,  and  flattering- 
hope  portrayed  their  future  destiny  in  the  bright  colors  of 
peace,  prosperity  and  happiness.  Then,  as  commemorative 
of  this  great  event  in  their  national  history,  they  threw  up  a 
large  mound  embracing  three  acres  of  land  and  rising 
forty  feet  in  a  conical  form,  with  a  deep  hole  about  ten  feet 
in  diameter  excavated  on  the  top,  and  all  enclosed  by  a  ditch 
encompassing  nearly  twenty  acres.  After  its  completion,  it 
was  discovered  not  to  be  erect  but  a  little  leaning,  and  they 
named  it  Nunih  (mountain  or  mound,  Waiyah, leaning,  pro.  as 
Nunih  Wai-yah).  This  relic  of  the  remote  past  still  stands  half 
buried  in  the  accumulated  rubbish  of  years  unknown,  dis 
figured  also  by  the  desecrating  touch  of  time  which  has 
plainly  left  his* finger  marks  of  decay  .upon  it  blotting  out 
its  history,  with  all  others  of  its  kind,  those  memorials  of 
ages  past  erected  by  the  true  Native  American,  about  which 
so  much  has  been  said  in  conjecture  and  so  much  written  in 
speculation,  that  all  now  naturally  turn  to  anything  from 
their  modern  conjectures  and  speculations  with  much  doubt 
and  great  misgivings. 

Several  years  afterward,  according  to  the  tradition  of 
the  Choctaws  as  narrated  to  the  missionaries,  the  two 
brothers,  still  acting  in  the  capacity  of  chiefs,  'disagreed 
in  regard  to  some  national  question,  and,  as  Abraham  sugr 
gested  to  Lot  the  propriety  of  a  separation,  so  did  Chikasah 
propose  to  Chahtah;  but  not  with  that  unselfishness  that 
Abraham  manifested  to  Lot;  since  Chikasah,  instead  of 
giving  to  Chahtah  the  choice  of  directions,  proposed  that 
they  should  leave  it  to  a  game  of  chance,  to  which  Chahtah 
readily  acquiesced.  Thus  it  was  played:  They  stood  fac-^ 
ing  each  other,  one  to  the  east  and  the  other  to  the  west, 
holding  a  straight  pole,  ten  or  fifteen  feet  in  length,  in  an 
erect  position  between  them  with  one  end  resting  on  the 
ground;  and  both  were  to  let  go  of  the  pole  at  "the  same 
instant  by  a  pre-arranged  signal,  and  the  direction  in  which 
it  fell  was  to  decide  the  direction  in  which  Chikasah  was  to 
take.  If  it  fell  to  the  north,  Chikasah  and  his  adherents 
were  to  occupy  the  northern  portion  of  the  country,  and 
Chahtah  and  his  adherents,  the  southern;  but  if  it  felfto  the 
south,  then  Chikasah,  with  his  followers,  was  to  possess 
the  southern  portion  of  the  country,  and  Chahtah  with  his, 
the  northern.  The  game  was  played,  and  the  pole  decreed 
that  Chikasah  should-  take  the  northern  partv  of  their  then 
vast  and  magnificent  territory.  Thus  they  were  divided 


66  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

( 

and  became  two  separate  and  distinct  tribes,  each  of  whom 
assumed  and  ever  afterwards  retained  the  name  of  their 
respective  chiefs,  Chahtah  and  Chikasah.  The  ancient 
traditions  of  the  Cherokees,  as  well  as  the  ancient  traditions 
of  the  Muscogees  (Creeks)  and  the  Natchez  also  point  back 
to  Mexico  as  the  country  from  which  they,  in  a  period  long- 
past,  moved  to  their  ancient  possessions  east  of  the  Missis 
sippi  river.  But  whether  they  preceded  the  Choctaws 
and  Chickasaws  or  came  after,  their  traditions  are  silent. 

Milfort,  (p.  269)  says  :  Big-  Warrior,  chief  of  the  Chero 
kees,  as  late  as  1822,  not  only  confirms  their  tradition  that 
Mexico  was  their  native  country,  but  goes  back  to  a  more 
remote  period  for  their  origin  and  claims  that  his  ancestors 
came  from  Asia;  crossing  Behring  Straits  in  their  canoes; 
thence  down  the  Pacific  coast  to  Mexico;  thence  to  the  coun 
try  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  where  they  were  first 
known  to  the  Europeans. 

Mr.  Gaiues,  United  States  agent  to  the  Choctaws  in  1810, 
asked  Apushamatahaubi  (pro.  Ar-push-ah-ma-tar-hah  ub-ih), 
the  most  renowned  chief  of  the  Choctaws  since  their  acquain 
tance  with  the  white  race,  concerning-  the  origin  of  his  peo 
ple,  who  replied:  "A  hattaktikba  bushi-aioktulla  hosh  hopaki 
fi/una  moma  ka  minti"  (pro.  as  Arn  (my)  hut-tark-tik-ba 
(forefather)  hush-ih, -ai-o-kah-tullah  (the  west)  mo-mah  (all) 
meen-tih  (came)  ho-par-kih  (far)  feh-nah  (very)).  And  the 
same  response  was  always  given  by  all  the  ancient  Choctaws 
living-  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  when  the  inquiry  was 
made  of  them,  whence  their  origin?  By  this  they  only  re 
ferred  to  the  country  in  which  their  forefathers  long  dwelt 
prior  to  their  exodus  to  the  east  of  the  Mississippi  river;  as 
they  also  had  a  tradition  that  their  forefathers  come  from  a 
country  beyond  the  "Big  Waters"  far  to  the  northwest, 
crossing  a  large  body  of  water  in  their  canoes  of  a  day's 
travel,  thence  doyvn  the  Pacific  coast  to  Mexico,  the  same  as 
the  Cherokees.  In  conversation  with  an  aged  Choctaw  in 
the  year  1884,  (Robert  Nail,  along  known  friend,)  upon  the 
subject,  he  confirmed  the  tradition  by  stating  that  his  peo 
ple  first  came  from  Asia  by  way  of  the  Behring  Straits.  He 
was, a  man  well  versed  in  geography,  being  taught  in  boy 
hood  by  the  missionaries  prior  to  their  removal  from  their 
eastern  homes  to  their  present  abode  north  of  Texas.  The 
Muscogees,  Shawnees,  Delawares,  Chippeways,  and  other 
tribes  also  have  the  same  traditions  pointing  beyond  Behring 
Straits  to  Asia  as  the  land  whence  their  forefathers  came  in 
ages  past.  Some  of  their  traditions  state,  that  they  crossed 
the  Strait  on  the  ice^  the  Chippeways  for  one  ;  but  the  most, 
according  to  their  traditions,  crossed  in  their  canoes.  But 


HISTOKY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  67 

that  the  ancestors  of  the  North  American  Indians  came  at 
some  unknown  period  in  the  remote  past,  from  Asia  to  the 
North  American  continent,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Their 
traditions,  pointing"  back  to  ancient  historical  events,  and 
many  other  things,  though  vague  by  the  mists  of  ages  past, 
yet  interestingly  strange  from  proximity  to  known  historical 
truths.  Noah,  who  lived  350  years  after  the  flood,  which  oc 
curred  1656  years  from  the  creation  of  man,  or  2348  B.  C., 
divided  the  earth,  according  to  general  opinion,  among  his 
three  sons.  To  Shem,  he  gave  Asia;  to  Ham,  Africa,  and  to 
Japheth,  Europe,  whose  posterity  are  described  occupying 
chiefly  the  western  and  northern  regions  (Gen.  x,  2-5);  this 
well  accords  with  the  etymology  of  the  name,  which  signifies 
widely  spreading  ;  and  how  wonderfully  did  Providence  en 
large  the  boundaries  of  Japheth!  His  posterity  diverged 
eastward  and  westward,  from  the  original  settlement  in  Ar 
menia,  through  the  whole  extent  of  Asia  north  of  the  great 
range  of  Taurus  distinguished  by  the  general  namesof  Tarta- 
ry  and  Siberia  as  far  as  the  Eastern  Ocean:  and,  in  process  of 
time,  by  an  easy  passage  across  Behring  Straits,  over  the  en 
tire  continent;  and  they  spread  in  the  opposite  direction, 
throughout  the  whole  of  Europe,  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean  ;  thus 
literally  encompassing  the  earth,  within  the  precincts  of 
the  northern  temperate  zone  ;  while  the  war-like  genius  of 
this  hardy  hunter  race  frequently  led  them  into  the  settle 
ments,  and  to  dwell  in  the  "tents  of  Shem,"  whose  pastoral 
occupations  rendered  them  more  inactive,  peaceable,  and  un- 
war-like. 

There  is  much  proof  in  favor  of  the  belief  that  the  Choc- 
taws,  Chickasaws,  Cherokees  and  Muscogees,  were  living  in 
Mexico  when  Cortez  overthrew  the  Aztec  dynasty. 

But  heavily  has  the  hand  of  time,  with  its  weight  of 
years,  rested  upon  the  descendants  of  the  people  over  whom, 
the  two  brothers,  Chahtah  and  Chikasah  swayed  the 
sceptre  of  authority  as  chiefs,  counselors  and  warriors,  in 
the  unknown  ages  of  the  past;  and  from  the  time  of  their 
traditional  migration  to  that  of  their  first  acquaintance  with 
the  White  Race,  what  their  vicissitudes  and  mutations;  wrhat 
their  joys  and  sorrows;  what  their  hopes  and  fears;  what 
their  lights  and  shadows,  during  the  long  night  of  historical 
darkness,  was  known  to  them  alone,  and  with  them  has  long 
been  buried  in  the  oblivion  of  the  hidden  past,  together  with 
that  of  their  entire  race.  Truly,  their  legends,  their  songs 
and  romances,  celebrating  their  exploits,  would  form,  if  but 
known,  a  literature  of  themselves;  and  though  their  ghosts 
still  ride  through  the  forests  and  distant  echoes  o^  them  are 
still  heard  in  vague  tradition,  yet  they  afford  but  a  slender 


68  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

basis  for  a  history  for  this  broad  fabric  of  romance,'  while 
around  them  still  cluster  all  those  wonderful  series  of  myths 
which  have  spread  over  the  land  and  assumed  so  many 
shapes.  But  what  a  volume  of  surpassing-  romance;  of  fon 
dest  hopes,  of  blighted  aspirations;  of  glorious  enthuiasms; 
of  dark  despair,  and  of  touching-  pathos,  would  their  full 
history  make?  They  owned  this  vast  continent,  and  had 
possessed  it  for  ages  exceeding-  in  time  the  ability  of  the 
human  mind  to  conceive;  and  they  too  speak  of  the  long  in 
fancy  of  the  human  race;  of  its  slow  advance  in  culture;  of 
its  triumphs  over  obstacles,  and  of  the  final  appearance  of 
that  better  day,  when  ideas  of  truth,  justice,  and  that  ad 
vanced  stage  of  enlightenment  had  been  reached  wherein  we 
speak  of  man  as  civilized.  They  were  of  a  cheerful  and  joy 
ous  disposition,  and  of  a  kindly  nature,  the  croaking-  and 
.snarlings  of  ignorance  and  prejudice  to  the  contrary  not 
withstanding.  Their  civilization  has  been '  grossly  under 
estimated.  We  have  unjustly  contemplated  them  to  a  ridicu 
lous  extent  through  our  own  selfish  and  narrow  contracted 
spectacles,  and  have  so  loudly  talked  of  and  expatiated  upon 
their  forests,  that  we  have  forgotten  their  cornfields;  and 
repeatedly  spoken  of  their  skill  as  hunters,  until  we  have 
overlooked  their  labors  as  herdsmen;  while,  at  the  same  time, 
it  has  been  customary  every  where  to  look  down  upon  them 
with  emotions  of  contempt  and  to  decry  their  habits  and 
customs.  I  do  not  deny  the  existence  of  blemishes  in  many 
of  their  characteristics;  nor  deny  that  superstitions  and 
erroneous  opinions  were  prevalent,  at  which  we  have  assumed 
to  be  greatly  horrified;  yet,  do  condemn  the  modern  writers 
for  their  want  of  judgment  on  this  point,  -?nd  their  unreason 
able  severity  in  their  condemnation  of  the  Indians,  in  whom 
they  profess  to  have  discovered  so  many  defects  without  a 
redeeming-  virtue;  and  their  disregard  of  the  truth,  that,  to 
him  alone  who  is  without  sin  is  given  the  right  to  cast  the 
first  stone.  Therefore,  how  could  it  be  otherwise  than  that, 
concerning-  the  dealings  of  the  White  Race  with  the  Red, 
there  is  a  sad,  fearful  and  revolting,  story 'to  be  told;  while 
losing  ourselves  in  the  wild  revelry  of  imagination,  we  dream 
of  the  time  when  our  civilization  and  Quixotic  ideas  of  human 
liberty  shall  embrace  the  entire  world  in  its  folds. 

The  Choctaws  were  first  made  known  to  the  European 
world  by  the  journalists  of  that  memorable  adventurer. 
Hernando  De  Soto,  who  invaded  their  territory  October, 
1540,  and  introduced  the  civilized  (so-called)  race  of  man 
kind  to  the  Choctaws  in  the  following  manner:  A  manly 
young  Indian  of  splendid,  proportions,  and  with  a  face  ex 
tremely  attractive  and  interesting,  visited  De  Soto  after  he 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  69 

had  left  Tallase.  He  was  the  son  of  Tuscaloosa  (corruption 
of  the  Choctaw  words  Tushka,  warrior,  Lusa,  black),  a  re 
nowned  chief  whose  territories  extended  to  the  distant 
Tombigbee  in  the  west.  (Tombigbee  is  a  corruption  of  the 
Choctaw  words  Itombi,  box,  ikbi,  maker),  a  name  given  to  a 
white  man,  it  is  said,  who,  at  an  early  day,  settled  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  and  made  boxes  for  the  Choctaws,  in 
which  were  placed  the  bones  of  their  dead,  which  will  be  par 
ticularly  noticed  elsewhere. 

The  young  warrior  bore  an  invitation  from  his  father 
to  De  Soto  to  visit  him  at  his  capital.  The  next  da.y  De  Soto, 
advancing  to.  within  six  miles  of  where  the  great  chief  await 
ed  him,  made  a  halt,  and  sent  Louis  de  Mascosso  with' fifteen 
horsemen  to  inform  Tush  ka  Lusa  of  his  near  approach. 
Mascosso  and  his  troopers  soon  appeared  before  Tush  ka 
Lusa,  who  was  seated  upon  an  eminence  commanding  a 
broad  and  delightful  view.  He  was  a  man  of  powerful  stat 
ure,  muscular  limbs,  yet  of  admirable  proportions,  with  a 
countenance  grave  and  severe,  yet  handsome.  When  De 
Soto  arrived  Tush  ka  Lusa  arose  and  advanced  to  meet  him 
with  a  proud  and  haughty  air,  and  said :  ''Great  Chief  ;  I  re 
ceive  you  as  a  brother,  and  welcome  you  to  my  country.  I  am 
ready  to  comply  with  your  requests."  After  a  few  prelimi 
naries,  in  company  with  Tush  ka  Lusa  and  his  followers,  De 
Soto  took  up  his  line  of  inarch  for  Mobila  the  capital  of  the 
mighty  chief.  (Mobila  is  a  corruption  of  the  two  Choctaw 
words  moma,  all,  binah,  a  lodge,  literally  a  lodge  or  encamp 
ment  for  all.) 

.On  the  third  day  of  their  march  from  Piache,  (a  corrup 
tion  of  the  Choctaw  word  Pi-a-chih,  to  care  for  us),  they 
passed  through  many  populous  towns,  well  stored  with  corn, 
beans  and  other  provisions.  On  the  fourth  morning,  De 
Soto,  with  a,  hundred  cavalry  and  as  many  infantry,  made  a 
forced  march  with  Tush  ka  Lusa  in  the  direction  of  Mobila, 
leaving  Mascosso  to  bring  up  the  rear.  At  eight  o'clock  the 
same  morning,  October  18th,  1540,  De  Soto  and  Tush  ka 
Lusa  reached  the  capital.  It  stood  by  the  side  of  a  large 
river,  upon  a  beautiful  plain,  and  consisted  of  eighty  hand 
some  houses,  each  large  enough  to  contain  a  thousand  men, 
and  all  fronting  a  large  public  square.  Dodge  says  in  his 
book  styled  "Our  Wild  Indians"  that  "The  aboriginal  in 
habitants  of  the  North  American  continent,  have  never  at  any 
time  exceeded  half  a  million  souls;"  yet  according  to  De 
Soto's  journalists  who  were  with  him  in  his  memorable  raid, 
Mobila  alone,  "consisted  of  eighty  handsome  houses,  each 
large  enough  to  contain  a  thousand  men;"  'and  if  each  house 
contained  Dodge's  "several  families  consisting  6f  men,  with 


70  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

two  or  three  wives,  and  children  of  all  ages  and  sexes,  occu 
py  for  all  purposes  one  single  lodge  of  12  or  15  feet  in 
diameter  what  must  have  been  the  number  of  iiidabitants 
in  Mobila  with  "80  handsome  houses,  each  large  enough  to 
contain  a  thousand  men"  with  two,  three,  or  more  wives, 
and  children  occupying  "for  all  purposes,"  a  space  only  "12 
or  15  feet, in  diameter"?  The  reader  can  make  the  calcula 
tion  at  his  own  leisure ;  though  it  seems  Mobila  alone  con 
tained  over  half  the  number  of  souls  that  Dodge  allows  for 
the  entire  continent,  "at  one  time." 

A  high  wrall  surrounded  the  town,  made  of  immense 
trunks  of  trees  set  close  together  and  deep  in  the  ground, 
and  made  strong  with  heavy  cross  timbers  interwoven"with 
large  vines.  A  thick  mud  plaster,  resembling  handsome 
masonry,  concealed  the  wood  work,  while  port-holes  were 
abundant,  together  with  towers,  capable  of  holding  eight 
men  each,  at  the  distance  of  fifteen  paces  apart.  There 
were  two  gates  leading  into  the  town,  one  on  the  east,  the 
other  on  the  west.  De  Soto  and  Tush  ka  Lusa  were  es 
corted  into  the  great  public  square  with  songs  and  chants, 
and  the  dancing  of  beautiful  Indian  girls.  They  alighted 
from  their  horses,  and'  were  given  seats  under  a  canopy  of 
state.  Having  remained  seated  for  a  short  time,  Tush  ka 
Lusa  now  requested  that  he  should  no  longer  be  held  as  a 
hostage  ;  to  which  De  Soto  giving  no  heed,  the  indignant 
chief  at  once  arose  and  walked  off  with  an  independent  atti 
tude  to  where  a  group  of  his  warriors  stood.  De  Soto  had 
scarcely  recovered  from  his  surprise  at  the  independent  con 
duct  of  Tush  ka  Lusa,  when  Jean  Ortez  followed  the  chief 
and  stated  that  breakfast  awaited  him  at  De  Soto's  table  ; 
but  he  refused  to  return,  and  added,  "If  your  chief  knows 
what  is  best  for  him,  he  will  immediately  take  his  troops  out 
of  my  territory."  At  this  juncture  De  Soto  secretly  sent  word 
to  his  men  to  be  prepared  for  an  attack.  Then,  hoping  to 
prevent  an  attack  until  he  could  again  get  in  possession  of 
the  chief,  De  Soto  advanced  toward  him  with  assumed  smiles 
and  words  of  friendship,  but  Tush  ka  Lusa  scornfully 
turned  his  back  upon  him,  and  was  soon  hidden  among  the 
multitude  of  now  highly  excited  warriors.  Justthen  a  warrior 
rushed  out  of  a  house, 'denouncing  the  Spaniards  as  robbers 
and  murderers  and  declared  that  they  should  no  longer  impose 
on  their  chief,  by  holding  him  as  a  prisoner.  His  words  so  en 
raged  Baltaserde  Gallagas,  that  he  cut  the  warrior  in  twain  with 
one  sweep  of  his  broad  sword.  At  the  sight  of  their  slain 
warrior,  the  Choctaws,  with  their  defiant  war-whoop,  at  once 
rushed  upon  De  Soto  and  his  men.  De  Soto,  placing  himself 
at  the  head  of  his  men,  fighting  and  retreating, 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  71 

slowly  made  his  way  out  of  the  town  into  the 
plain;  and  continued  to  retreat  until  he  had 
reached  a  considerable  distance  upon  the  plain.  In  the 
mean  time  the  troopers  rushed  to  secure  their  horses,  which 
had  been  tied  outside  of  the  walls.  The  Choctaws  at  once 
knocked  the  chains  from  the  hands  and  feet  of  the  Indian 
prisoners  whom  De  Soto  had  brought  with  him,  giving1  them 
weapons  bade  them  help  destroy  the  perfidious  strang'ers.  In 
the  first  rush  the  Choctaws  killed  five  of  the  Spaniards,  who 
had  been  left  outside  of  the  walls,  and  were  loudly  exulting 
over  their  seeming  good  fortune  in  dense  masses  before  the 
gate.  At  that  moment,  De  Soto  with  his  cavalry,  closely 
followed  by  his  infantry,  made  a  fearful  charge  upon  the 
disordered  mass  of  the  Choctaws,  who  were  still  on  the  out 
side  of  the  enclosures,  and  with  a  terrible  slaughter  drove 
them  back  into  the  town.  Immediately  the  Choctaws 
rushed  to  the  port-holes  and  towers,  and  hurled  clouds  of  ar 
rows  and  spears  upon  the  Spaniards,  and  again  drove  them 
from  the  walls.  Seeing  the  Spaniards  again  retreat,  again 

/the  Choctaws  rushed  through  the  gate  and  fearlessly  attacked 
the  Spaniards  fighting  them  hand  to  hand  and  face  to  face. 
Three  long  hours  did  the  battle  rage,  the  Spaniards  now  re 
treating,  then  the  Choctaws.  Like  a  spectre  De  Soto  seemed 
every  where  hewing  down  on  the  right  and  left,  as  if  his 
arm  could  never  tire.  vThat  sword,  which  had  been  so  often 
stained  with  the  blood  of  the  South  American,  was  now  red 
with  that  of  the  North  American,  a  still  braver  race.  Above 
the  mighty  din  was  heard  the  voice  of  Tush  ka  Lusa  en 
couraging  his  warriors  ;  his  tomahawk,  wielded  by  his  mus 
cular  arm,  ascended  and  descended  in  rapid  strokes,  like  a 
meteor  across  a  starry  sky.  But  could  the  feeble  bow  and 

1  arrow  and  the  tomahawk  avail  against  the  huge  lance  and 
broad-sword?  What  the  unprotected  body  of  the  Choctaw 
warrior  against  the  steel  clad  body  of  the  Spanish  soldier? 
At  length  the  Choctaws  were  forced  to  make  a  permanent  re 
treat  within  the  enclosure  of  their  town,  closing  the  gates 
after  them;  and  at  the  same  time  the  Spaniards  made  a  des 
perate  charge  against  the  gates  and  walls,  but  were  met 
with  showers  of  arrows  and  other  missiles.  But  the  infant 
ry,  protected  by  their  bucklers,  soon  hewed  the  gates  to 
pieces  with  their  battle-axes,  and  rushed  into  the  town,  while 
the  cavalry  remained  on  the  outside  to  cut  to  pieces  all  who 
might  attempt  to  escape.  Then  began  a  carnage  too  awful 
to  relate.  The  Choctaws  fought  in  the  streets,  in  the 
square,  from  the  house  top,  and  walls ;  and  though  the 
ground  was  covered  with  their  dead  and  dying  relatives  and 
friends,  still  no  living  one  entreated* for -quarter.  Hotter 


72  HISTORY  OF  THR  INDIANS. 

and  hotter,  and  more  bloody  waxed  the  desperate  conflict. 
Often  the  Choctaws  drove  the  Spaniards  out  of  the  town,  but 
to  see  them  return  again  with  demoniac  fury.  To  such  a 
crisis  had  the  battle  now  arrived,  that  there  could  be  no  idle 
spectators  ;  and  now  were  seen  women  and  girls  contending 
side  by  side  with  the  husbands,  fathers  and  ^brothers^  and 
fearlessly  sharing  in  the  dangers  and  in  the  indiscriminate 
slaughter.  At  length  the  houses  were  setson  fire, .  and  the 
wind  blew  the  smoke  and  flames  in  all  directions  adding  hor 
ror  to  the  scene.  The  flames  ascended  in  mighty  volumes. 
The  din  of  strife  began  to  grow  fainter.  The  sun  weut 
down,  seemingly  to  rejoice  in  withdrawing  from  the  sicken 
ing  scene.  Then  all  was  hushed.  Mobila  was  in  ruins, 
and  her  people  slain.  For  nine  long  hours  had  the  battle 
raged.  Eighty-two  Spaniards  were  killed^  and  forty-five 
horses.  But  alas,  the  poor  Choctaws,  who  participated  in 
the  fight  were  nearly  all  slain. 

Garcellasso  asserts  that  eleven  thousand  were  slain; 
while  the  "Portuguese  Gentleman"  sets  the  number  at  twenty 
five  hundred  within  the  town  alone.  Assuming  a  point  be 
tween  the  two,  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  six  thousand 
were  killed  in  and  outside  of  the  town.  Tushka  Lusa 
perished  with  his  people.  After  the  destruction  of  Mobila, 
De  Soto  remained  a  few  days  upon  the  plains  around  the 
smoking  town  ;  sending  out  foraging  parties,  who  found  the 
neighboring  villages  well  stocked  with  provisions.  In  all 
these  foraging-  excursions,  females  of  great  beauty  were 
captured,  and  added  to  those  taken  at  the  close  of  the  battle. 
On  Sunday  the. 18th  of  November,  1540,  this  monster  and 
his  fiendish  crew  took  their  departure  from  the  smouldering 
ruins  of  Mobila,  and  its  brave  but  murdered  inhabitants;  and 
with  the  poor  Mobila  girls,  at  whose  misfortunes  humanity 
weeps,  resumed  their  westward  march.'' 

Thus  the  Europeans  introduced  themselves  to  the  Native 
Americans  nearly  four  centuries  ago  as  a  race  of  civilized  and 
Christian  pe.ople,  'but  proving  themselves  to  be  a  race  of 
fiends  utterly  void  of  every  principle  of  virtue  known  to  man. 
And  thus  the  Native' American's  introduced  themselves  to  the 
Europeans  as  a  race  unknown  to  civilization  and  Christianity, 
yet  proving  themselves  possessed  of  many  virtues  that  adorn 
man,  together  with  a  spirit  of  as  true  and  noble  patriotism, 
martyrs  upon  the.  altar  of  liberty,  that  has  never  been  sur 
passed  . 

I  challenge  history  to  show  a  nation  whose  people  ever 
displayed  a  more  heroic  courage  in  defense  of  their  country 
and  homes  than  did  Tushka  Lusa  and  his  brave  people  in 
defending  their  town  Mama-binah.  They  exposed  their 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  73 

naked  breasts  to  the  keen  lances  and  swords  of  those  iron-clad 
Spaniards  with  but  stone  and  bone-tipped  spears  and  the 
feeble  bow  and  arrow,  which  were  but  as  toy  pistols  against 
the  deadly  Winchester  rifle  of  the  present  day;  and  heroic 
ally  stood  face  to  face  with  their  terrible  foes  with  their  frail 
weapons  and  disputed  every  inch  of  ground,  and  yielded 
only  when  none  was  left  to  fight.  That  they  should  have 
killed  eighty  two  of  the  Spaniards  with  their  feeble  weapons 
is  truly  astonishing,  proving  conclusively  that  had  they  been 
on  equal  footing  with  the  Spaniards,  not  a  Spaniard  would 
have  survived  to  tell  the  tale  of  their  complete  destruction. 

That  the  Mobiliaiis,as  they  have  been  called  by  the  early 
writers,  were  a  clan  of  the  ancient  Choctaws  there  can  be  no 
doubt  whatever  The  early  French  colonists  established  in 
the  south  under  Bienville  called  the  Choctaws,  Mobilians 
and  Pafalaahs  (corruption  of  the  Choctaw  words  pin,  our, 
okla,  people,  falaiah,  tall),  and  also  called  the  Chickasaws 
Mobilians;  they  also  state  that  the  Choctaws,  Pifalaiahs  or 
more  properly,  Hottak  falaiahs  (long  or  tall  men)  and  Mobi 
lians  spoke  the  same  language.  The  present  city  of  Mobile 
in  Alabama  was  named  after  the  Mobila  "Iksa,"  or  clan  of 
Choctaws  by  Bienville  at  the  time  he  laid  its  foundation. 
Moma  binah,  or  Mobinah  (from  which  Mobile  is  derived)  and 
Pifalaiah  are  pure  Choctaw  words.  According  to  the  ancient 
traditions  of  the  Choctaws,  and  to  which  the  ag*ed  Choctaws 
now  living  still  affirm,  their  people  were,  in  the  days  of  the 
long  past,  divided  into  two  great  Iksas ;  one  was  Hattak  i  ho- 
lihtah  (Pro.  har-tark,  men,  i,  their  holihta,  ho-lik-tah, 
fenced  ;  i,  e.  Their  men  fortify).  The  other,  Kashapa  okla 
{as  Ka-shar-pau-oke-lah):  Part  people,  i.  e.  A  divided  people. 
The  two  original  clans,  subsequently  divided  into  six  clans, 
were  named  as  follows  :  Haiyip  tuk  lo  hosh,  (The  two 
lakes.)  Hattak  falaiah  (as,  Har-tark  fa-lai-yah  hosh.  The 
long  man  or  men.  Okla  huniiali  hosh  (as  Oke-lah  huri-nar- 
lih  hosh.  People  six  the.  Kusha  (Koon-shah)  Being  broken. 
Apela,  (A  help.)  Chik  a  sah  ha,  (A  Chckasaw.) 

In  1721,  a  remnant  of  the  Mobilians  were  living  at  the 
junction  of  the,  Alabama  and  Tombigbee  rivers,  but  finally 
united  with  other  clans  of  the  Choctaws,  their  own  people, 
and  thus  became  extinct  as  an  iksa.  The  laws  of  the  great 
Iksas  or  families,  Hattak  i  holahta  and  kash  ap  a  okla,  for 
bade  the  marriage  of:  any  person,  either  male  or  female, 
belonging  to  the  same  clan;  which,  as  the  laws  of  the  Medes 
and  Persians,  were  unchangeable ;  and  to  this  day,  the  same 
laws  relating  to  marriage  are  strictly  observed. 

From  the  destruction  of  Mobila  by  De  Soto,  a  long,  star 
less  night  of  nearly  two  centuries  throws  its  impenetrable 


74  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

veil  over  the  Choctaws  shrouding-  their  history  in  the  oblivion 
of  the  past.  But  that  they,  with  other  southern  tribes,  were 
a  numerous  and  also  an  agricultural  people  as  far  back  as 
the  fifteenth  century  there  is  no  doubt ;  though  agricultural 
to  a  small  extent  in  comparison  with  the  whites;  yet  to  a 
sufficient  degree  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  any  people  to 
who  avarice  was  an  entire  stranger,  and  who  adhered  to  the 
maxim  "Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof." 

When  De  Soto  passed  through  Georgia,  his  route  was 
lined  with  towns,  villages  and  hamlets,  and  many  sown  fields 
which  reached  from  one  to  the  other.  The  numerous  log- 
pens  were  full  of  corn,  while  acres  of  that  which  was  grow 
ing  bent  to  the  warm  rays  of  the  sun  and  rustled  in  the 
.breeze.  "On  the  18th  of  September,  1540,  De  Soto  reached  the 
town  of  Tallase,  a  corruption  of  the  Choctaw  words  Tuli, 
rock,  and  aisha,  abound,  i.  e.  the  place  of  rocks." 

It  stood  upon  a  point  of  land  almost  surrounded  by  a 
main  river.  Extensive  fields  of  corn  reached  up  and  down 
the  banks.  On  the  opposite  side  were  other  towns,  skirted 
with  rich  fields  laden  with  heavy  ears  of  corn.  On  the 
third  day  the  of  march  from  Piache,  they  passed  through 
many  populous  towns,  well  stored  with  corn,  beans,  pump 
kins,  and  other  provisions." 

But  the  six  great  southern  tribes,  Choctaws,  Chickasaws, 
Cherokees,  Muscogees,  Seminoles  and  Natchez  possessed 
too  grand  a  country  not  to  attract  the  eyes  of  the  fortune 
hunters  of  all  Europe,  and  excite  their  cupidity  to  the  high 
est  degree;  therefore,  the  French  in  Lousiana,  the  Span 
iards  in  Florida,  and  the  English  in  Virginia  and  the  Caro- 
linas,  early  sought  to  establish  a  foothold  in  the  territories 
of  those  warlike  and  independent  tribes  by  securing,  each 
for  himself,  their  trade,  with  a  view  of  ultimately  conquering 
them  and  thus  getting  possession  of  their  territories  and 
country.  As  early  as  1670  the  English  traders  and  emissa 
ries  had  also  found  their  way  to  the  Choctaws,  Chickasaws 
and  Muscogees;  and  but  few  years  had  passed  before  their 
designs,  together  with  those  of  the  French  and  Spaniards, 
were  plainly  manifested. 

By  each  exciting  the  Indians  and  influencing  them  to 
drive  the  others  from  their  territories;  each  hoping  thus  to 
ultimately  secure  these  regions  for  their  own  country  and 
their  personal  interests.  As  the  French  had  artfully  gained 
and  held  the  friendship  and  confidence  of  the  Choctaws,  so 
had  the  English  secured  and  held  that  of  the  Chickasaws; 
hence  those  two  brave,  and  then  powerful  tribes,  were  in 
duced  to.  make  frequent  wars  upon  each  other, ,  and  thus 
each  foolishly  but  ignorantly  furthering  the  designs  of  their 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  75 

mutual  foes  against  themselves,  the  Choctaws  weakening  and 
destroying  the  Chickasaws  for  the  benefit  of  the  French, 
alone,  and  the  Chickasaws  for  the  benefit  alone  of  the  Eng 
lish;  neither  caring  a  fig  for  either  the  Choctaw^  or  Chicka 
saws, 'only  so  far  as  prosecuting  their  designs  the  one  against 
the  otheV;  each  with  the  hope  of  driving  the  other  out 
of  the  country,  and  then,  being  enabled  easily  to  subjugate 
the  Indians  by  their  weakened  condition,  they  would  soon 
secure  their  country;  therefore,  the  more  Indians  killed,  no 
matter  by  whom  or  by  what  means,  the  better.  Thus  were 
the  grasping  hands  of  the  two  unscrupulous  rivals  mani 
fested  as  long  as  they  possessed  any  power  or  authority  upon 
the  North  American  continent  now  forming  the  United 
States. 

In  1696,  Bienville  convened  the  chiefs  of  the  Choctaws 
and  Chickasaws  in  council,  that  he  might  conciliate  their  good 
will  by  presents;  and,  with  a  view  of  impressing  them  with 
his  power  and  greatness  by  an  imposing  display,  he  also 
called  together  all  the  colonists  within  his  reach;  but  his  effort 
to  impress  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  with  an  idea  of  his 
greatness  proved  more  humiliating  than  flattering  to  the 
pride  of  Bienville,  as  they  manifested  to  him  their  utter  con 
tempt  of  such  a  farcical  evidence  of  power  and  greatness,  by 
propounding-  a  question  to  him,  through  one  of-  their  chiefs, 
which  was  a  humiliating  proof  of  the  low  estimation  in  which 
they  held  him  as  well  as  the  entire  French  people;  it  was,  "If 
his  people  at  home  were  as  numerous  as  those  who  had  set-' 
tied  in  their  country"?  In  reply,  Bienville,  who  had  learned 
to  speak  their  language  to  some  extent,  attempted  to  describe 
to  them  by  various  comparisons  the  great  numbers  and 
power  of  the  French.  But  still  the  chiefs  proved  not  only  to 
be  douhting  Thomases,  but  wholy  established  in  the  belief 
that  all  he  had  said  was  false,  by  finally  propounding  the 
following  questions:  "If  your  countrymen  are  as  thick,  as  you 
say,  on  their  native  soil  as  the  leaves  on  the  trees  of  our 
forests,  why  have  they  not  sent  more  of  their  warriors  here 
to  avenge  the  death  of  those  whom  we  have  slain  in  battle? 
When  they  have  the  power  to  avenge  their  death  and  then  fail 
do  so,  is  an  evidence  of  great  cowardice  or  a  mean  spirit. 
And  why  is  it  that  the  places  of  the  strong  and  brave  soldiers 
that  first  came  with  you,  but  now  dead,  are  filled  by  so  many 
little,  weak  and  bad  looking  men,  and  even  boys?  If  your 
nation  is  so  great  and  your  people  so  numerous,  they  would 
not  thus  act,  and  we  believe  that  our  white  brother  talks  with 
a  forked  tongue."  Thus  was  Bienville  fully  convinced  that 
the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  did  not  tremble  through  fear 
of  his  boasted  power;  and  that,  they  also  well  knew  that  he 


76  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

only  had  about,  fifty  soldiers  at  his  command,  and  that  his 
attempted  display  of  power  had  but  convinced  them  of  his 
weakness.  And  had  the  ChOctaws  and  Chickasaws  been  so 
disposed,  they  could,  with  a  little  handful  of  their  warriors, 
have  wiped  out  the  French  colony,  Bienville,  soldiers  and  all. 

In  1702,  Bienville,  then  commander  of  the  French  at  Mo 
bile,  secretly  sent  out  a  small  party  to  the  Choctaws  and 
ChickasawTs  to  solicit  their  friendship,  and  thus  secure  their 
trade.  A  few  chiefs  returned  with  the  party  to  Mobile, 
whom  Bienville  welcomed  and  entertained  with  affected 
friendship  and  assumed  hopitality,  bestowing"  presents  and 
soliciting"  their  friendship;  yet,  "In  January,  1704,"  says 
Barnard  de  la  Harpe,  pp.  35,  83,  "Bienville  induced  several 
war  parties  of  the  Choctaws  to  invade  the  country  of  the  In 
dian  allies  of  the  English,  and  having"  taken  several  scalps, 
they  broug-ht  them  to  Bienville,  who  rewarded  them  satisfac 
torily;"  thus  involving"  the  Choctaws,  whose  interests  he' pro 
fessed  to  have  so  much  at  heart,  in  destructive  warfare  so 
greatly  detrimental  to  their  national  interests;  and  proving 
the  shallowness  of  his  professed  friendship  for  the  Indians 
and  the  perfidy  of  his  nature,  in  a  letter  to  the  French  min 
ister,  October  12.  1708,  in  which  he  suggested  the  propriety 
of  the  French  colonists  in  North  America,  being"  allowred  the 
privilege  offending  Indians  to  the  West  India  Islands  to  be 
exchanged  as  slaves  for  negroes,  and  asserting  that  "those 
Islanders  would  give  t\vo  negroes  for  three  Indians." 

There  was  a  tradition  of  the  Choctaws  related  to  the 
missionaries  over  seventy-five  years  ago  by  the  old  warriors 
of  the  Choctaws  of  that  day,  who  for  many  years  before  had 
retired  from  the  hardships  of  the  war-path,  which  stated 
that  a  two  years'  war  broke  out  between  their  nation  and 
the  Chickasaws,  over  a  hundred  years  before  (about  1705) 
the  advent  of  the  missionaries  among  them,  resulting  in  the 
loss  of  many  warriors  on  both  sides  and  finally  ending  in  the 
defeat  of  the  Chickasaws  ;  whereupon  peace  was  restored  to 
the  mutual  gratification  of  both  nations  wearied  with  the 
long  fratricidal  strife.  This  war  had  its  origin  as  the  tra 
dition  affirms,  in  an  unfortunate  affair  that  occurred  in  Mo 
bile,  (then  a  little  French  trading  post)  between  a  party  of 
Chickasaw  warriors  (about  seventy)  who  had  gone  there 
for  the  purpose  of  trade,  and  a  small  band  of  Choctaws  who 
had  preceded  them  on  the  same  business.  While  three  to 
gether,  a  quarrel  arose  between  some  of  the  different  war 
riors  resulting  in  a  general  fight,  in  which,  though  several 
Chickasaws  were  killed  and  wounded,  the  entire  little  band  of 
Choctaws  was  slain  as  was  supposed;  but  unfortunately  for 
the  Chickasaws  a  Choctaw  happening  to  be  in  another  part 'of 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  77 

the  town  at  the  time  of  the  difficulty,  escaped  ;  and  learning 
at  once  of  the  killing1  of  his  comrades,  fled  for  home,  where 
arriving-  safely  he  informed  his  people  of  the  bloody  tragedy 
at  Mobile.  Without  delay  the  Choctaws  adopted  measures 
of  revenge.  Knowing  that  the  company  of  Chickasaws 
would  have  to  return  home 'through  their  country,  they  laid 
their  plans  accordingly.  The  Chickasaws,  not  without  fears, 
however,  lest  the  Choctaws  might  have  heard  of  the  unfor 
tunate  affair,  secured  an  escort  from  Bienville  of  twenty-five 
Canadians  under  the  command  of  Boisbriant.  As  they  ap 
proached  a  village,  the  Choctaws  sent  a  small  company  to 
invite'  and  escort  them  to  a  council  pretenvedly  to  be  in 
session ;  which  the  Chickasaws,  feeling-  safe  under  their 
escort,  accepted.  They  were  escorted  to  the  sham  council, 
and  were  given,  as  was  customary  on  such  occasions,  the 
inside  circles,  all  seated  on  the  ground;  while  the  Choctaws 
formed  a  circle  completely  hemming-  them  in.  A  Choctaw 
chief  then  arose  and  advanced  with  g*reat  solemnity  and  dig- 
nity  to  thecspeaker's  place  in  the  centre,  with  a  tomahawk 
concealed  under  his  dress,  wrhich,  when  he  drew  from  its 
place  of  concealment,  was  the  signal  for  the  work  of  death 
to  begin.  The  speaker  went  on  for  a  few  minutes  in  a 
strain  of  wild  eloquence,  but  saying  nothing  that  would 
awaken  the  least  suspicion  in  the  minds  of  his  still  unsus 
pecting  guests;  when  suddenly  he  snatched  the  fatal  toma 
hawk  from  its  concealment  and  in  an  instant  hundreds  of 
tomahawks,  heretofore  concealed,  gleamed  a  moment  in  the 
air  and  then  descended  upon  the  heads  of  the  doomed  Chicka 
saws,  and,  ere  they  had  time  for  a  second  thought,  all  were 
slain.  The  Choctaws  knowing  that  the  Chickasaws  would 
hear  of  the  destruction  of  their  brethren  and  would  retaliate 
upon  them,  rushed  at  once  jnto  their  country  and  destroyed 
several  villages  ere  the  Chickasaws  could  recover  from  their 
surprise.  But  the  brave  and  dauntless  Chickasaws,  ever  equal 
to  any  and  all  emergencies,  soon  rallied  from  their  discom 
fiture,  and  presented  a  bold  and  defiant  front.  Then  com- 
'menced  a  two  years'  war  of  daring  deeds  and  fatal  results 
between  those  two  nations  of  fearless  warriors,  known  and  to 
be  known  to  them  alone.  The  creek,  dividing  that  portion 
of  their  territories  that  lay  contiguous  t6  the  place  where 
the  band  of  Chickasaws  were  slain  on  their  return  from 
Mobile,  now  in  the  northern  part  of  Oktibbiha  county,  Mis 
sissippi,  and  known  as  Line  Creek,  was  named  by  the  Choc 
taws,  after  the  two  years'  war,  Nusih  (sleep  or  slept,  Chiah, 
yau-yau  slept,  that  is,  you  were  taken  by  surprise)  in 
memorial  of  those  two  tragical  events,  the  surprise  and 
destruction  of  the  Chickasaw  warriors,  and  the  disquiet  and 


78  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

discomfiture  of  their  nation  at  the  unexpected  attack  upon 
them  by  the  Choctaws,  Nusih  Chia  has  been  erroneously 
interpreted  by  some  as  meaning-  "Where  acorns  abound." 
Nosi  aiasha — means  where  acorns  abound; 

The  killing"  of  this  little  band  of  Chickasaws  under  the 
circumstances,  together  with  that  of  being-  under  the  escort 
and  protection  of  the  French,  caused  the  Chickasaws  to  be 
lieve  it  was  done  throug-h  the  connivance  of  the  French,  and 
ever  afterwards  they  were  the  most  inveterate  and  uncom 
promising-  enemies  of  the  French,  among-  all  the  Indian 
tribes,  north  and  south,  except  the  Iroquois,  and  in  which, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  they  were  encouraged  by  the  Carolina 
traders  from  the  English  settlements. 

That  the  southern  Indians  were  friendly  to  their  foreig-n 
intruders  and  disposed  to  live  in  peace  with  them,  and  were 
not  such  a  bloodthirsty  people  as  they  have  been  repre 
sented,  is  clearly  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that,  in  1810 
there  was  such  a  scarcity  of  provisions,  that  Bienville  had  to 
scatter  his  men  among-  the  Indians  in  order  to  obtain  food 
for  them,  and  so  informed  his  g-overnment;  a  plan  to  which 
he  had  been  driven  before;  and  had  not  the  Indians  pre 
ferred  peace  to •  war  with  the  whites,  they  surely  would  have 
embraced  such  favorable  opportunities  to  destroy  the  un 
welcome  invader  of  their  country. 

In  1711,  throug-h  the  machinations  of  the  English,  who 
were  ever  ready  to  embrace  every  opportunity  to  enhance 
their  own  interests,  though  at  the  destruction  of  the  Indians', 
the  Choctaws  "end  Chickasaws,  were  ag-aiii  involved  in  a 
fratricidel  war,  at  fye  beginning  of  which,  there  was  a  little 
company  of  thirty  Chickasaw  warriors  instead  of  Choctaws, 
in  Mobile,  and  fearing-  to  return  home  throug-h  the  Choc  taw 
nation,  they  too  earnestly  requested  Bienville  to  send  a  com 
pany  of  his  soldiers  with  them  for  protection.  Bienville, 
seeing-  so  favorable  opportunity  of  winning-  the  friendship 
of  the  Chickasaws,  and  hoping-  thus  to  seduce  them  from 
their  alliance  to  the  English  to  that  of  the  French,  cheerfully 
complied  to  their  request  by  sending-  his  brother,  Cha- 
teaug-ne,  to  escort  them  through  the  Choctaw  nation,  which 
he  safely  did.  But  the  cause  and  result  of  this  war  have 
long-  since  paased  with  its  participants  into  the  silence  Of  the 
unknown  past. 

Charles  Gayarre  (Vol.  1,  p.  91)  says:  "In  1714  twelve 
English  men,  with  a  large  number  of  Muskog-ees,  came 
among-  the  Choctaws,  and  were  kindly  received  by  all  the 
towns  except  two,  who  fortified  themselves  and,  while  be- 
seig-ed  by  the  Muskogees,  one  night  made  their  escape  to 
Mobile."  From  the  above,  it  appears  that  the  visit  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  ,  79 

twelve  Englishmen  to  the  Choctaws  was  attributed  to  an  in 
vitation  extended  to  them  by  a  Choctaw  chief;  since  in.  the 
following  year,  July  1715,  Bienville  sent  messengers  to  the 
Choctaws,  demanding  the  head  of  Outoct-chito"(a  corrup 
tion  of  his  true  name,  Oktak  (oketark)  (Prairie)  Chitoh  (Big 
or  Big  Prairie))  "who  had  persuaded  the  English  traders  to 
visit-  their  nation,  and  had  thereby  caused  to  be  driven  off 
the  inhabitants  of  two  Choctaw  towns,  who  were  still  in  Mo 
bile.  The  messengers  returned  to  Mobile  with  the  head  of 
the  unfortunate  Oktark  Chitoh,  which  had  been  stricken  off 
by  the  Choctaw  chiefs,  who  now  were  afraid  of  Bienville." 

How  different  the  Choctaws  then  from   what  they   were 
in  1696,  when  they  closed  their  interrogatories  to   him  with" 
the  bold  assertion,  "We  believe  our  white  brother  talks  with 
a  forked  tongue."     Alas!  how   rapidly  had  they  fallen  from  a 
state  of  perfect  independence  to  that  of  servile    dependence 
within  the  period  of  three  quarters  of  a  century;   the  dupes 
at  first,  only  to  become  the  abject  slaves  of  a  heartless  tyrant. 
Thus  did  the  rivalry  of  France  and  England  for  the   posses 
sion  of  the  North  American  continent,  encouraged  and   em 
boldened  by  their  national  jealousy  and  .innate  hatred   long 
cherished  each  for  the  other,  involve  the   deceived  Indians  in 
continued     war-fare  with   each     other,   as   their   respective 
traders  and  emissaries  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of   the  Indian  territories  to  contend  for  the  patronage  of  the 
Indians,   and  to  drive  each  the  other  from  thos    positionse 
where  they  had  established  themselves,  ultimately   to  end  in 
ruin  and  destruction    of  the    Indians.     But   the    Choctaws, 
though  reduced  to  such  servile   extremities  and   seemingly 
wholly  under  the  arbitrary  power  of  the  French,  were   still 
dreaded  by  many  of  the  neighboring  tribes,   and  even  by  the 
English  themselves..    As  an  illustration,  in  1727,  the  English, 
being  at  war  with  the  Spaniards,  used    every  means  in   their 
power  to  influence  the  Indians  to  make  war   upon  them,  and 
by  their  instigation  a  tribe,  then  known  as  Talapauches,  had 
laid  seige  to  Pensacola  (corrupted  from    the  Chahtah   words 
Puska,    bread,  and  Okla,  people,  Bread   People,  or   people 
having  bread);  but  Pirier,  who  had  succeeded  Bienville  in  the 
governorship  at  New  Orleans,  sent  word  to  the  Talapauches 
(corrupted  from  the  Choctaw  words  Tuli,  rock  or   iron,  and 
Poo-shi,  dust;  and  no  doubt  an  ancient  off-shoot  of   the  Choc 
taws)  to  return  to   their   homes  without  delay,  or   he   would 
put  the  Choctaws  after  them;  and  they  at  once  sought  their 
homes  with  much  more  alacrity  than  when  they  left   them. 
Such  was  the  dread  of  the  Choctaws  and  such   the  terror  in 
spired  by  their  name  alone. 

In  1733,  the  Choctaws,  as  allies  to  the  French,    engaged 


80  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

in  a  war  with  the  Natchez,  of  which  I  will  more  particularly 
notice  in  the  history  of  that  tribe. 

On  January  13th,  1733,  the  truly  Christian  philanthro 
pist,  Oglethorpe,  with  a  hundred  and  twenty  emigrants 
landed  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  ,  Afterwards  sailing 
down  the  coast,  he  anchored  his  vessel,  "Anne,"  for  a  few 
days  at  Beaufort,  while  he,  with  a  small  company  ascended 
the  Savannah  river  to  a  high  bluff  on  which  the  present  city 
of  Savannah.  Georgia,  now  stands,  which  he  selected  as  the 
place  for  the  establishment  of  his  little  colony.  And  there, 
February  1st,  1733,  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the  oldest  En 
glish  town  south  of  the  Savannah  river.  In  a  few  days  the 
great  chief  of  the  Yemacaws,  Tam-o-chi-chi,  called  upon  the 
strangers  who  had  thus  unceremoniously  taken  posession  of 
that  portion  of  of  his  people's  territories;  and  then  and  there 
two  congenial  spirits,  the  one  of  European,  the  other  of  an 
American,  first  met  and-  formed  a  friendship  each  for  the 
other  that  wras  never  broken;  and  at  the  departure  of  the 
venerable  old  man,  he  presented  to  Oglethorpe  a  magnificent 
buffalo  robe  upon  the  inside  of  which  was  painted  with  elabo 
rate  Indian  skill,  the  head  and  feathers  of  an  eagle,  and  said: 
"Accept  this  little  token  of  the  good  will  of  myself  and  peo 
ple.  See,  the  eagle  is  bold  and  fearless,  yet  his  feathers  are 
soft;  as  the  eagle,  so  are  my  people  bold  and  fearless  in  war; 
yet  as  his  feathers,  so  are  they  soft  and  beautiful  in  friend 
ship.  The  buffalo  is  strong,  and  his  hair  is  warm;  as  the 
buffalo,  so  are  my  people  strong  in  war;  yet,  as  his  robe, 
the}7  are  warm  in  love.  I  and  my  people  would  be  your 
friends,  beautiful  in  our  friendship  and  warm  in  our  love. 
Let  this  robe  be  the  emblem  of  friendship  and  love  between 
me  and  you,  and  mine  and  thine."  Oglethorpe  accepted  the 
present  with  its  tokens;  nor  was  the  purity  of  those  em 
blems  ever  tarnished  by  a  dishonorable  act  of  Tomochichi 
and  his  tribe  or  Oglethorpe  and  his  colony,  the  one  toward 
the  other. 

It  is  evident  that  the  Yamacaws  were  an  ancient  off 
shoot  of  the  Choctaws  from  the  similarity  of  their  language, 
habits  and  customs.  The  very  name  of  the  tribe  is  plainly  a 
corruption  of  the  Choctawr  words  yummakma  (that  one  also) 
Ka-sha-pah,  (to  be  a  part). 

Also  the  name  of  their  chief,  Tamochichi,  is  also  a  cor 
ruption  by  the  whites  of  the  Choctaw  words,  Tum-o-a-chi 
(wandering  away,  from  the  Choctaws  in  the  pre-historic  oj 
the  past). 

How  well  did  the  North  American  Indians  read  and 
comprehend  the  symbolic  language  of  Nature  in  all  its  dif 
ferent  phases  !  What  white  man,  whether  illiterate  or 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  81 

boasting-  the  comprehensive  genius  of  a  United  States  Colonel 
(Dodge)  who  was  enabled  to  discover  one  race  of  God's 
created  intelligences  (the  North  American  Indians)  to  be 
"absolutely  without  conscience,"  could  have  drawn  such 
grand  sentiments  from  a  buffalo  robe  and  a  bunch  of  eagle 
feathers,  since  "the  money  that  was  in  them"  would  have 
absorbed  every  other  consideration  of  his  soul!  Alas!  that 
"The  love  of  money"  should  so  engross  every  noble  faculty 
of  our  souls,  that  we  could  not,  or  would  not,  comprehend 
those  beautiful  symbols  found  in  nature,  on  earth  and  in 
heaven,  everywhere,  and  would  not,  or  did  not,  heed  them,  as 
they  call  with  their  ten  thousand  voices  to  jthe  discharge  of 
our  duty  to  the  Indians  and  plead  for  the  perfection  of  the 
character  of  both  the  red  and  white  race,  as  illustrated  in 
those  grand  sentiments  of  the  no  less  grand  old  chief  of  the 
Yummak  ma  kashapas.  "I  and  my  people  would  be  your 
friends,  beautiful  in  our  friendship  and  warm  in  our  love!" 
How  sad !  how  humiliating*  the  reflection  that,  during*  four 
centuries,  the  North  American  Indians  have  found  no  re 
sponsive  sentiment  in  the  White  Race,  except  in  Penn  and 
his  followers,  Oglethorpe  and  his  colony,  the  self-sacrificing* 
missionaries  and  a  few  noble  philanthropists,  thoug-h  the 
same  earnest  and  sincere  plea  was  heard  from  the  mouths 
of  every  tribe,  when  first  visited  by  the  whites,  echoing-  from 
the  Atlantic's  stormy  shores  in  the  east  to  the  Pacific's  rock- 
bound  coast  in  the  distant  west,  "I  and  my  people  would  be 
your  friends,  beautiful  in  our  friendship  "and  warm  in  our 
love;"  but  only  to  fall  upon  the 'ear  of  our  avarice  as  a  tink 
ling  cymbal,  since  deaf  to  all  else  but  the  gratification  of  our 
love  of  greedy  gain,  (that  stranger  to  truth  and  justice,  and 
untouched  by  any  emotion  of  humanity)  which  demanded 
the  extermination  of  the  Indians,  as  the  onlv  guarantee  to 
sure  possession  of  their  country  and  homes  ;  and  then  called 
for  obloquy  to  cover  their  memory  as  an  honorable  justifica 
tion  for  that  extermination.  And  though  Nature,  every 
where  in  all  its  phases  from  the  finite  to  the  infinite,  and  the 
infinitesimal  to  the  grand  aggregate  of  knowledge,  is  full  of 
instruction,  by  which  she  would  teach  us  our  duty  to  God, 
our  fellow-men,  and  to  ourselves,  yet  we  heeded  not  the 
symbolic  whispers  of  her  low,  sweet  plaintive  voice  pleading 
in  behalf  of  the  Red  Race;  and  in  so  doing,  forfeited  a  privf- 
lege  that  heaven's  angels  would  have  embraced  with  eager 
ness  and  joy,  for  the  gratification  of  our  frenzied  avarice. 
On  the  29th  of  May  following,  Oglethorre  held  a  council 
with  the  Muscogees  at  Savannah;  for  whom  and  all  their 
allies,  Long  Chief  of  the  Ocona  clan  of  Muscogees  spoke 
.and  welcomed  Oglethorpe  and  his  tittle  colony  to  their  coun- 


82  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

,  try  in  the  name  of  peace  and  friendship  by  presenting-  to 
him  large  bundles  of  the  skins  and  furs  of  wild  animals  in 
which  their  territories  then  abounded.  And  soon  so  great 
and  wide  extended  became  the  fame  of  Oglethorpe  and  'his 
followers  as  true  and  sincere  friends  to  the  Indian  race,  that 
the  chiefs  of  the  Cherokees,  from  their  distant  mountain 
homes,  came  to  see  and  confer  with  Oglethorpe  and  his 
colony,  to  them  a  prodigy,  a  white  man  and  great  chief  and 
yet  a  true  man  to  his  word  pledged  to  an  Indian.  Naught  like 
this  had  been  known  since  the  days  of  Penn  and  his  Quakers. 
Was  the  bright  morn  of  a  glorious  future  about  to  dawn  upon 
their  race  dispelling  the  long  night  of  darkness  that  had  for 
ages  obscured  their  moral  and  intellectual  vision?  Was  the 
White  Race  truly  to  prove  their  benefactor,  once  so  brightly 
shadowed  forth  in  the  precepts  and  practice  of  the  noble 
Penn  and  his  colony?  Indeed  it  appeared  as^the  second 
dawn  of  hope;  but  alas,  only  to  nicker  a  moment  as  the  feeble 
and  expiring  taper,  and  then  to  go  out  to  be  seen  no  more,  an 
illusive  dream  even  as  the  first  had  proven  to  be. 

In  August,  1739,  a  great  council  was  convened  at  Coweta 
in  the  Muscogee  Nation  by  Oglethorpe,  the  Indians'  undevi- 
ating  friend,  in  which  the  Muscogees,  Choctaws,  Chicka- 
saws,  Cherokees,  Yummakmakashapahs  and  many  others 
were  represented,  and  in  peace  and  harmony  equally  par 
ticipated.  The  faithful  and  honest  old  Tumoachi  stood 
among  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  various  and  distinguished 
chiefs.  Coweta  was,  at  that  time,  one  of  the  larg-e'st  towns 
of  the  Muscogee  Nation,  and  many  days'  travel  froin  Savan 
nah  through  the  deep  solitudes  of  a  vast  wilderness,  un 
trodden  by  the  foot  of  a  white  man  since  the  days  of  De  Soto's 
march,  two  hundred  years  before;  but  through  which  Ogle 
thorpe  and  his  little  band  of  followers  fearlessly  and  safely 
traveled,  to  fulfill  his  engagement  with  the  unknown  Indians 
there  in  council  to  assemble.  When  it  was  learned  that  he 
had  arrived  near  Coweta,  a  deputation  of  chiefs,  representa 
tives  of  the  respective  tribes  assembled,  met  and  escorted 
him  to  the  town  with  unfeigned  manifestations  of  pride  and 
joy.  The  next  day  the  council  convened,  and  remained  in 
session  several  days,  during  which  stipulations  of  peace 
and  friendship  were  ratified,  and  free  trade  and  friendly 
intercourse  to  all  established,  to  the  mutual  satisfaction 
and  delight  of  both  red  and  white;  after  which  the  Grand 
Finale  was  performed,  the  solemn  ceremonv  of  drinking  the 
"Black  drink,'.'  and  smoking  the  Pipe  of*  Peace;  in  all  of 
vyhich  the  noble  Oglethorpe  participated,  to  the  great  de 
light  and  satisfaction  of  the  admiring  Indians;  then,  after  the 
closing  ceremony  of  bidding  adieu,  all  to  their  respective 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  83 

"homes  returned  delighted  with  the  happy  results  of  the  coun 
cil.  Oglethorpe  was  ever  afterwards  held  in  grateful  remem 
brance,  and  loved  and  honored  by  all  the  southern  Indians; 
and  was  known  everywhere  as  the  Indians'  friend,  and 
everywhere  regarded  and  received  as  such  with  implicit 
confidence.  How  so?  Because  he  was  never  known  to 
wrong  them  in  a  single  instance;  therefore  their  admiration 
.and  confidence  for  and  in  him  had  no  limits. 

The  morn  of  the  southern  Indians'  Christian  era,  as 
professed  by  the  Protestant  world,  dawned,  according  to  an 
cient  Choctaw  tradition,  at  the  advent  of  Oglethorpe  to  this, 
continent  and  the  establishment  of  his  colony  on  the  banks 
•of  the  Savannah;  and  was  heralded  by  the  two  brothers  who 
so  justly  rank  among  earth's  illustrious  modern  great  as 
preachers  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God;  viz:  John  and 
Charles  Wesley,  who  came  with  Og'lethorpe  in  1733,  and  ac 
companied  him  to  his  councils  with  the  Indians,  and  there 
preached  the  glad  tidings  of  "Peace  and  Good  will  toward 
men."  Shortly  after,  John  Wesley  influenced  the  renowned 
preacher,  George  Whitfield,  to  also  come  to  America.  In  a 
letter  to  Whitfield,  John  Wesley  thus  wrote:  "Do  you  ask 
what  you  shall  have?  Food  to  eat,  raiment  to  wear,  a  house 
in  which  to  lay  your  head  such  as  your  Lord  had  not,  and  a 
crown  of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away."  Upon  the  reception 
of  which,  Whitiield  said  his  heart  echoed  to  the  call,  and  to 
which  he  at  once  responded;  and  upon  the  return  of  the 
Wesleys  to  England,  he  says  in  his  journal.  "I  must  labor 
most  heartily  since  I  came  after  such  worthy  predecessors." 

In  1734,  Tumoahchi,  with  his  wife  and  son  and  seven 
Muscogee  warriors  accompanied  Oglethorpe  to  George  II. 
and  before  whom  Tumoahchi  made  a  speech  in  that  shrewd 
and  captivating  manner  so  characteristic  of  the  North  Ameri 
can  Indians;  which  so  pleased  the  king  that  he  caused  the 
American  chief  and  warriors  to  be  loaded  with  presents  and 
even  sent  him  and  his  wife  and  son  in  one  of  the  royal  carria 
ges  to  Grovesend  when  he  embarked  to.Yeturn  to  his  native 
forest  home.  Shortly  after  his  return  home,  the  noble  old 
chief  was  taken  sick,  ancl  was  at  once  visited  by  W^hitfield, 
who  says:  "He  now  lay  on  a  Blanket,  thin  and  meager,  little 
else  but  skin  and  bones.  Senanki,  his  wife,  sat  by  fanning 
him  with  Indian  feathers.  There  was  no  one  who  could  talk 
English,  so  I  could  only  shake  hands  with  him  and  leave 
him."  In  a  few  days  after,  Whitfield  returned  to  -the  couch 
of  the  dying  chief  and  was  rejoiced  to  find  Tooanoowe,  a 
nephew  of  Tumoahchi  present,  who  could  speak  English. 
"I  requested  him,"  says  Whitfield,  "to  ask  his  uncle  whether 
he  thought  he  should  die?  He  answered' 'I  cannot  tell.'  I 


84  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

then  asked  where  he  thought  he  would  go  after  death?  He 
replied,  'to  heaven.'  But,  alas,  how  can  drunkards  enter- 
there?  I  then  exhorted  Tooanoowe,  who  is  a  tall,  proper 
youth,  not  to  get  drunk,  telling-  him  that  he  understood^Eng- 
lish,'and  therefore  would  be  punished  the  more  if  he  did  not 
live  better.  I  then  asked  him  whether  he  believed  in  a 
heaven,  'yes,'  said  he.  I  then  asked  whether  he  believed  in  a 
hell,  and  described  it  by  pointing  to  the  fire  He  replied,  'No.' 
From  whence  we  may  easily  gather  how  natural  it  is  to  all 
man-kind  to  believe  there  is  a  place  of  happiness,  because 
they  wish  it  to  be  so;  and  on  the  contrary,  how  averse  they 
are  to  believe  in  a  place  of  torment  because  they  wish  it  not  to 
be  so."  But  if  the  poor,  unlettered,  yet,  generous  and  noble 
hearted  Tumoahchi,  who  knew  nothing  of  the  sin  of  drunk- 
eness,  was  unfit  for  heaven  because  "how  can  a  drunkard 
enter  there"?  How  unfit  must  be  he  who  made  him  such,  by 
making  the  whiskey,  then  taking  it  thousands  of  miles  to  the' 
before  temperate  Indian  and  teaching  him  to  drink  it!  and 
how  inconsistent  with  reason  and  common  sense,  and  how 
insulting  to  the  God  of  -justice  it  must  be,  for  us  to  call  our 
selves  Christians  and  the  Indians  savages!  And  if  Tooanoo 
we  "would  be,  punished  the  more  if  he  did  not  live  better," 
since  "he  understood  English"  a  little,  what  will  be  the  fate 
of  us  whose  native  tongue  in  English,  and  who,  with  all  our 
boasted  attainments,  led,  influenced  and  taught  them  to 
adopt  and  practice,  by  precept  and  example,  our  "civilized" 
vices,  but  seldom  instructed  them  in  the  virtues  of  the  reli 
gion  of  the  Bible!  Does  not  the  just  and  merciful  Redeemer 
of  the  world  of  man-kind  regard  with  much  less  approbation 
all  external  professions  and  appearances,  than  do  thousands 
of  his  professedjollowers  found  among  our  own  White  Race? 
Did  he  not  prefer  the  despised  but  charitable  Samaritan  to 
the  uncharitable  but  professed  orthodox  priest?  And  does 
He  not  declare  that^hose  who  gave  food  to  the  hungry,  enter 
tainment  to  the  stranger,  relief  to  the  sick,  and  had  charity 
(all  of  which  are  to-day,  and  ever  have  been,  from  their 
earliest  known  history,  the  noted  characteristics  of  the 
North  American  Indians,  though  they  never  heard  of  the 
name  of  Jesus)  shall  in  the  last  day  be  accepted?  When 
those  who  boisterously  shout  Lord!  Lord,  valuing  themselves 
upon,  their  profess-ed  faith,  though  sufficient  to  perform 
miracles,  but  have  neglected  good  works  shall  be  rejected. 
And  though  we  have  scarcely  permitted  the  Indians,  though 
starving  and  pleading  for  moral,  intellectual  and  spiritual 
food,  to  pick  up  the  crumbs  that  fell  from  our  tables  loaded 
with  professed  virtues,  yet  we  have  displayed  a  wonderful 
talent  in  traducing  them  and  manifest  a  strange  desire  that. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  85 


they  should  be  falsely  handed  down  to  posterity  as 
not"  embraced   in  the  Hat  of   Him  who   said    "Let 


creatures 
us   make 


Never  did  a  North  American  Indian  acknowledge  that 
he  recognized  in  the  white  man  a  master;  nor  was  ever  an 
emotion  of  inferiority  to  the  white  man  experienced-  by  an 
Indian.  Nearly  four  centuries  of  unceasing  effort  by  the 
White  Race  have  utterly  failed  to  make  the  Indian  even  feel, 
much  less  acknowledge,  the  white  man  as  master. 

In  1741,  Bienville  was  superseded  by  Marquis  de  Van- 
dreuil,  to  whom  the  Chickasaws  sent  a  delegation  to  New 
Orleans  to  treat  for  peace.  But  Vandreuil  refused  to  treat 
unless  the  Choctaws,  allies  of  the  French,  were  made  parties 
to  the  treaty.  The  Chickasaws  then  made  an  effort  to  in 
duce  the  Chocta'ws  to  form  an  alliance  with  them,  supported 
by  the  English,  against  the  French.  But  their  design  was 
discovered  and  thwarted  by  the  secret  intriguing  of  Van- 
.dreuil  with  Shulush  Hum  ma,  (Red  Shoe),  then  a  noted  Choc- 
taw  chief  and  shrewd  diplomatist,  and  belonging  to  the  clan 
called  Okla  Hunnali,  (Six  People  and  living  in  the  present 
Jasper  county,  Mississippi,  who  had  been  favorably  disposed 
toward  the  English  for  several  years;  and  finally,  in  1745, 
through  personal  interest  alone  it  was  thought,  he  went  over 
to  the  English;  and,  at  the  same  time,  innuencing'a  .chief  of 
the  Mobelans  (properly,  Moma  Binah,  or  Mobinah,  a  clan  of 
the  ancient  Choctaws)  to  do  the  same  with  his  warriors,  and 
also  some  of  the  Muscogees,  all  of  whom  were,  at  that  time, 
allies  of  the  French.  Shortly  after,  Vandreuil  went  from 
New  Orleans  to  Mobile,  and  there  met  twelve  hundred  Choc- 
taw  warriors  in  council  assembled,  with  whom  he  made  re 
newed  pledges  of  friendship  bestowing  upon  them  many 
presents  of  various  kinds.  But  Shulush  Humma  stood  "aloof 
and  refused  to  participate  in  anv  of  the  proceedings;  and  to 
place  beyond  all  doubt  the  position  he  occupied,  he,  a  few 
weeks  after,  slew  a  French  officer  and  two  French  traders, 
who  unfortunate  ventured  into  his  village. 

Thus  the  Choctaws  were  divided  into  two  factions;  at 
first  peaceable,  but  which  finally  culminated  into  actual  civil 
war  through  the  instigations  and  machinations  of  both  the 
French  and  English.  And  thus  the  Chickasaws  and  the 
Choctaws,  blinded  to  their  own  national  interests,  were  led 
to  destroy  each  other,  the  one  in  behalf  of  the  English  and 
the  other  of  the  French;  while  both  the  English  and  French 
under  an  assumed  friendship,  used  them  as  instruments 
-alone  to  forward  their  own  selfish  designs  and  self-in 
terests,  though  to  the  destruction  of  both  the  misguided 
'Choctaws  and  Chickasaws.  Truly  misfortune  seems  to 


86  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

have  set  her  fatal  seal  upon  the  North  American  Indians,  and' 
doomed  them  to  eternal  misery  while  upon  earth,  in  contend 
ing-  with  the  White  Race  for  the  right  to  live  and  enjoy  life 
with  the  rest  of  mankind.  Unhappy  race!  What  heart  so- 
lost  to  every  emotion  of  sympathy  but  weeps  at  the  re 
hearsal  of  your  woes! 

In  1750,  still  infatuated  with  the  belief  that  the  White 
Race  sought  their  interests,  the  Choctaws  still  remained  in 
two  hostile  factions,  thirty  of  their  villages  adhering-  to  the 
French,  and  only  two  to  the  English,  who,  in  a  terrible  bat 
tle  which  ensued,  had  one  hundred  and  thirty  of  their  war 
riors  slain,  and  soon  after,  were  ag-ain  defeated  by  the 
French,  with  a  party  of  Choctaws,  and  compelled  to  sue  for 
peace,  while  the  English  stood  aloof  and  left  them  to  fight 
alone  ag-ainst  fearful  odds,  thoug-h  their  accepted  friends. 

Three  years  after  (1753),  De  Vandreuil  was  succeeded 
by  Kerleree,  who,  in  one  of  his  dispatches,  thus  spoke  of  the 
Choctaws:  "I  am  satisfied  with  them.  They  are  true  to 
their  plighted  faith.  But  we  must  be  the  same  in  our  trans 
actions  with  them.  They  are  men  who  reflect,  and  who 
have  more  logic  and  precision  in  their  reasoning  than  is. sup 
posed." 

How  true  it  is,  that  the  above  assertion  of  Kerleree,  in 
regard  to  the  Choctaws,  may  be  as  truthfully  affirmed  of  the 
entire  North  American  Indian  race.  And~  had  that  truth 
been  admitted  and  acted  upon  by  the-White  Race  in  all  their 
dealings  with  the  Red  Race  from  first  to  last,  the  bloody 
charges  that  to-day  stand  recorded  against  us  in  the  volume 
of  truth  would  not  have  been  written. 

November  3rd,  1762,  the  -King '  of  France  ceded  to  the 
King  of  Spain  his  entire  possessions  in  North  America 
known  under  the  name  of  Louisiana;  and  at  which  time,  a 
treaty  of  peace  was  signed  between  the  Kings  of  Spain  and 
France  of  the  one  party,  and  the  King  of  England  of  the 
other,  by  which  France  was  stripped  of  all  her  vast  landed 
possessions  to  which  she  had  so  long  and  tenaciously  laid 
claim  at  the  useless  and  cruel  destruction  of  thousands  of 
helpless  Indians  who  alone  held  the  only  true  and  just  claim. 
When  the  Indians  learned  of  this  treaty  of  cession,  and  were 
told  that  they  had  been  transferred  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  French  to  that  of  the  English,  whom  they  feared  and 
dreaded  ten  fold  more  than  they  did  the  French,  they  were 
greatly  excited  at  the  outrage,  as  they  rightly  termed  it;  and 
justly  affirmed  that  the  French  possessed  no  authority  over 
them  by  which  to  transfer  them  over  to  the  English,  as  if 
they  were  but  so  many  horses  and  cattle.  Truly,  as  human 
beings,  as  a  free  and  independent  people  and  as  reasoning 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  87 

men,  how  could  they  but  feel  the  degradation  of  being-  thus 
bartered  away  as  .common  chattels,  and  feel  the  deep  humi 
liation  that  followed  the  loss  of  their  national  character  and 
national  rights.  Yet,  how  little  did  they  imagine  the  still 
deeper  humiliation,  degradation  and  woe  that  were  in  store 
for  their  race!  How  little  did  they  believe  that  they  were 
soon  to  be  driven  away  by  merciless  intruders,  from  their 
ancient  and  justly  owned  'possessions  and  the  cherished 
graves  of  their  Ancestors,  to  wander,  they  knew  not  where, 
in  the  vain  search  of  a  pity  and  commiseration,  never  to  be 
found  among  their  heartless  oppressors  and  conquerors! 
Alas!  how  else  but  broken-hearted  can  the  surviving  little 
remnant  be,  when  no  words  of  consolation  and  hope  ever 
greet  their  ears !  How  can  they  be  industrious  when  that 
industry  but  brings  them  in  contact  with  the  authors  of  all 
their  misfortunes  and  woes !  How  can  they  forget  their 
wrongs  and  sow,  unless  it  be  to  sow  dragon's  teeth  with 
the  hope  that  warriors  might  spring  up  to  avenge  their  blood., 
that  vengeance  justly  claimed  !  Did  they  not  in  all  sincerity 
believe  themselves  wrongfully  oppressed?  which  they  truly 
were;  and  in  resisting  that  oppression,  did  they  do  more 
than  any  other  Nation,  under  similar  circumstances,  has 
done  and  will  ever  do,  that  claims  the  right  to  exist  as  a 
Nation?  They  contended  for  that  which  they  honestly  be 
lieved  to  be  their  birthright,  and  it  was,  both  by  the  laws  of 
God  and  man.  Could  they  have  done  otherwise,  when  they 
desired  and  sought  our  civilization  and  Christianity ;  but  we 
would  grant  it  to  them  only  upon  the  terms  of  yielding  up  to 
us  their  country,  their  nationality,  their  freedom,  their 
honor,  their  all  that  makes  life  worth  living?  Have  we  not 
treated  them  from  first  to  last  as  inferior  beings,  and  in  our 
bigoted  egotism  scorned  them  and  pushed  them  from  us  as 
creatures  below  our  notice?  Can  we  establish  a  just  plea 
upon  the  broad  foundation  of  truth  to  sustain  the  right  to 
treat  them  as  we  have  treated  them,  take  their  country  from 
them  by  the  strength  of  arbitrary  power,  and  call  it  honor 
able  purchase,  and  then  annoy  them  by  reiterated  extortions 
and  oppress  them  to  extermination? 

In  November,  1763,  the  Choctaws,  Chickasa\YS,  Chero- 
kees,  and  Muscogees  were,  through  their  representative- 
chiefs,  assembled  in  council  at  Augusta,  Georgia,  with  the 
representative  Governors  of  Virginia,  North  and  South  Car 
olina,  and  Georgia.  But  two  years  later,  August,  1765,  the 
Choctaws  and  Muscogees — inveterate  enemies — commenced 
a  fearful  and  devastating  war,  which,  acordingto  their  tradi 
tions,  continued  six  years  with  unabated  hostility;  and  dur 
ing  which  many  battles  were  fought  and  heavy  losses  sus- 


88  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

tained  on  both  sides,  yet  each  displaying-  the  most  undaunted 
and  heroic  bravery.  But  as  they  had  no  native  historians, 
the  cause,  the  progress,  the  successes,  the  defeats,  as  Dame 
Fortune  alternately  bestowed  her  favors  upon  the  one  and 
the  other,  will  never  be  known;  for  the  long-  period  of  those 
six  years  of  bloody  strife  is  wrapt  in  the  silence  of  the  un 
known  past,  and  all  that  now  may  be  written  is  contained  in 
"They  lived;  they  foug-ht."  Nor  has  much  more  been  re 
corded  concerning  the  vicissitudes  of  the  North  American 
Indian  race,  by  their  white  historians;  thoug-h  "they  killed, 
they  robbed"  is  but  a  counterpart  of  the  mutations  of  the 
White  Race  also. 

k  .  Be  it  as  it  may,  we  find  the  Choctaw  people,  amid  all  their 
vicissitudes  and  misfortunes,  occupying-,  all  along-  the  line  of 
their  kno\yn  history,  a  prominent  place  as  one  of  the  five  great 
southern  tribes,  who  have  been  justly  regarded  as  being-  the 
most  to  be  dreaded  in  war  of  all  the  North  American  Indians, 
for  their  skill  and  invincible  bravery;  and  the  most  to  be  ad 
mired  in  peace  for  the  purity  of  their  friendship  and  fidelity 
to  truth.  And  to  compare  the  present  enfeebled,  oppressed", 
broken-hearted,  down  trodden,  the  still  surviving-  little  rem 
nant,  to  their  heroic,  free,  independent,  and  justly  proud 
ancestors  of  two  centuries  ag-o,  or  even  less  than  one  cen 
tury  ago,  is  to  compare  the  feeble  light  of  the  crescent  moon 
lingering  upon  the  western  horizon  to  the  blaze  of  the  sun  in 
the  zenith  of  its  power  and  glory.  But  what  has  wrought 
the  fearful  change?  Who  hurled  them  from  their  once  high 
and  happy  state  down  to  this  low  and  wretched  state  of 
humiliation  and  slavery?  Truth  points  its  unerring  finger  to 
these  LJnited  States,  and  says  as  he  to  Israel's  ancient  king, 
"Thou  art  the  man."  What  the  difference?  None  in  princi 
ple.  The  one,  Israel's  king,  a  murderer,  to  gratify  a  beastly 
lust;  the  other,  America's  people,  tyrant,  to  gratify  a  beastly 
avarice.  And  yet  we  claim  to  advocate  the  right  of  freedom 
and  self  government  to  all  nations  of  people;  and  boldly  hurl 
our  anathemas  against  the  iron  heel  of  England's  oppression 
of  Ireland,  and  curse  the  greedy  avarice  of  a  heartless  and 
grasping  landlordism  that  for  years  has  sapped  the  vitals  of 
that  unfortunate  country  and  broken  the  spirit  of  its  noble 
people;  while  we  are  guilty  of  the  same  greedy  avarice  that 
has  broken  the  spirit  of  as  noble  a  people  as.  ever  lived;-  and 
against  whom  we  have  exercised  the  aggressive  tyranny,  and 
made  it  a  point  to  preserve  towards  them  an  attitude  the 
most  commanding  and  supercilious,  and  against  whom  we  have 
long  cherished  and  still  cherish  the  basest  and  most  unjust 
prejudice.  Alas,  how  inconsistent  are  we. 

Many   other  tribes  living   in  the  same  regions  are   men- 


v  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  89 

tioned  by  the  earhr  writers,  but  who,  in  comparison  to  num 
bers  and  prominence  as  a  people,  fell  far  below  the  Choctaws, 
Chickasaws,  Cherokees,  Muscogees,  Seminoles  and  Natchez; 
though  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  many  of  them  were 
offshoots  of  the  above  mentioned.  But  the  cruel  and  bloody 
scenes  that  marked  the  conflicts  of  the  whites  with  the  brave 
warriors  of  these  five  nations  of  the  North  American  Indians, 
before  they  overpowered  them  by  superiority  in  numbers, 
skill  and  weapons  of  warfare  and  drove  them  from  their 
•ancient  homes  under  the  false  plea  of  "fair  and  honorable 
purchase,"  scattering  along  the  whole  line  of  their  known 
history,  fraud,  dissimulation,  oppression,  destruction  and 
death,  clothe  the  character  of  this  wonderful  people  in  the 
wildest  romance  and  truly  render  them  worthy  heroes  "of 
fable  and  song;  of  whom  it  may  truly  be  said  that,  in  point  of 
numbers;  in  the  magnitude  and  grandeur  of  their  territories 
abounding  in  every  variety  of  game  that  could  render  them 
truly  the  paradise  of  the  Indian  hunter;  in  their  far  sighted 
sagacity;  in  their  peculiar  native  eloquence;  in  their  legends 
and  traditions  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation 
through  cycles  of  ages  unknown;  in  their  strange  and  mys 
terious  religious  rites  and  ceremonies;  in  all  that  strange 
and  peculiar  phenomena,  that  stamp  the  true  Native  Ameri 
cans  as  the  independent  aud  fearless  sons  of  the  forest,  un 
surpassed  in  daring  and  heroic  deeds  in  defense  of  their 
country,  the  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  Cherokees,  Muscogees, 
Seminoles  and  Natchez  stand  unsurpassed  by  any  other  of 
the  North  American  Indians,  or  any  other  unlettered  race  of 
people  on  earth. 

Pickett,  in  his  History  of  Alabama  states:  "In  1771,  the 
eastern  district  of  the  Choctaw  Nation  was  known  as  Oy-pat- 
oo-coo-la,  signifying  the  'Small  Nation;'  and  the  western  dis 
trict  was  called  Oo-coo-la  Falaya,  Oo-coo-la  Hanete  and 
Chickasaha,"  The  four  names  are  fair  samples  of  the  mis 
erable  corruption  of  the  languages- of  the  North  American 
Indians  every  where,  by  the  whites. 

And  in  the  above,  Pickett  is  greatly  in  error  in  the  word 
Oy-pat-oo-coo-la  signifying  "Small  Nation,"  if  he  uses  it  as 
a  Choctaw  or  Chickasaw  word.  In  the  first  place  there  is  110 
such  word  in  either  of  their  languages,  and  even  admitting 
there  is,  it  cannot  signify  "small  nation."  The  words  of 
both  for  small  nation  are  Iskitini  Pehlichika,  small  nation  or 
kingdom.  "And  the  western  district  was  called  Oo-coo-la 
Falaya,  and  Oo-coo-la  Hanete  and  Chickasaha."  It  is  evident 
also  that  these  three  names  are  corruptions  from  Choctaw 
words.  The  first  being  a  corruption  of  the  words  Okla 


90  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

Falaiah,  Tall  People;  the  second,    "Oo-coo-la  Hanete,"   from 
Okla  Hunnali,  People  Six,  or  Six' People. 

The  third,  Chickasaha,  from  Chikasah,  Rebellion,  all  of 
which  were  names  of  different  clans  of  the  ancient  Choctaws. 
There  was  also  an  ancient  clan  named  Okla  Jsskitmi,  People 
Small,  or  Small  People,  which,  no  doubt,  was  corrupted  to 
Oy-pat-oo-coo-la;  if  not,  some  linguist,  other  than  a  Choctaw, 
or  Chickasaw,  will  have  to  give  its  signification. 

Alas;  If  the  errors  of  our  race  were  confined  alone  to 
the  orthography,  orthoepy  and  signification  of  various  In 
dian  languages,  though  as  inconsistent  and  absurd  as  .they 
are  in  that  of  the  Choctaw,  we  might  be  excusable;  but 
when  they  enter  into  every  department  of  our  dealings  with 
that  people,  there  can  be  no  excuse  whatever  offered  in  justi 
fication  of  them. 

See  the  gross  errors  set  forth  in  the  publications  re 
garding  the  Indians  from  first  to  last,  clothed  in  scarcely  a 
word  of  truth  to  hide  their  hideous  deformity,  so  humiliat 
ing  to  justice,  and  all  in  direct  opposition  to  known  truth 
and  common  sense.  The  newspapers  and  periodicals  of  the 
present  day  are  full  of  the  same  old  stereotyped  edition  of 
vile  calumniations  and  base  falsehoods  against  that  helpless 
people,  the  latter  of  which  stand  in  close  and  worthy  prox 
imity  to  that  of  the  devil's  to  the  mother  Eve.  Even  that 
class  of  literature  devoted  to  the  instruction  af  the  young, 
books  and  papers  bearing  the  title  of  "School  History  of 
the  United  States,"  "Youth's  Companion,"  etc.,  are  contami 
nated  with  falsehoods  and  defamatory  articles  against  the 
Indians;  the  writers  of:  which  seem  determined  that  the 
memory  of  the  North  American  Indians  MUST  and  SHALL  de 
scend  from  generation  to  generation  to  the  one  which  shall 
be  the  fortunate  one  to  hear  the  tones  of  Gabriel's  mighty 
trumpet  sounding  a  truce  to  longer  defamation  of  the  Red 
Race;  and  thus  escape  the  nauseating  dose  which  its  prede 
cessors  bave  been  forced  to  swallow;  and  though  justice 
calls  upon  these  white  slanderers  of  the  Red  Race  to  turn 
their  attention  from  the  arduous  labor  attending  the  suc 
cessful  finding  of  a  few  defects  in  the  Indians,  to  the  correc 
tion  of  the  hideous  sins  of  their  own  race,  yet  they  heed  not 
her  voice. 

Before  me  lies  a  book  bearing  the  title,  "School  History 
of  the  United  States,"  under  the  signature  of  "W.  H.  Ven- 
able."  by  which  its  author  would  stuff  the  minds  of  the 
present  generation,  and  those  to  follow,  with  the  false  asser 
tions  and  self-imagined  erudition,  in  which  he  has  displayed 
as  much  knowledge  of  the  North  American  Indians  as  might 
reasonably  be  expected  to  be  found  in  a  Brazilian  monkey  if 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  91 

writing-  its  views  upon  the  characteristics  of  the  Laplanders 
in  their  icy  homes.  On  page  17  of  this  so-called  "Illumina 
tion  of  the  Youthful  Mind,"  in  the  matter  of  Indian  charac 
teristics,  is  found  the  following1  absurdities:  "The  Ameri 
can  Indians  were  fit  inhabitants  of  the  wilderness.  Children 
of  nature,  they  were  akin  to  all  that  is  rude,  savage,  and 
irredeemable.  Their  number  within  the  limits  of  what  is 
now  the  United  States  was  at  110  time,  since  the  discovery  of 
America,  above  four  hundred  thousand  individuals,  for  the 
Indian,  hopelessly  unchanging  in  respect  to  individual  and 
social  development,  was  as  regarded  tribal  relations  and 
local  haunts,  mutable  as  the  wind." 

"Where  ignorance  is  bliss,   'tis  folly  to  be   wise,"  there 
fore  his  "Ipse  dixit." 

Again,  (page  19)  he  affirms:  "Stratagem,  surprise,  and 
the  basest  treacherv  were  approved  and  practiced  even  by 
the  bravest."  But  what  of  the  White  Race?  Did  not  Wash 
ington  and  his  generals  "approve  and  practice  deception, 
surprise  and  stratagem"  upon  the  British  in  fighting  for  the. 
independence  of  these  United  States?  Did  not  Oglethorpe 
"approve  and  practice  stratagem  and  deception"  upon  the 
Spanish  fleet,  when  he  gave  a  Spanish  prisoner  his  liberty  if 
he  would  deliver  a  letter  to  one  of  his  own  men  who  .had 
deserted  and  fled  to  the  Spanish  ships,  the  particulars  of 
which  are  too  well  known  to  be  repeated  here?  Did  not  Lee 
and  Grant,  yea,  every  officer  from  general  down  to  captain, 
"approve  and  practice  stratagem,  deception  and  surprise," 
during  our  Civil  war?  and  when  an  advantage,  by  these 
means,  was  gained,  was  it  not  acknowledged  as  a  grand  dis 
play  of  superior  generalship  and  dubbed  "Military  Skill?" 
When  "practiced  and  approved"  by  the  whites,  they  are 
virtues;  but  when  by  the  Indians,  in  their  wars  of  resistance 
against  our  oppression  and  avarice,  they  at  once  become 
odious  characteristics.  But  when  and  upon  whom,  did  the 
Indians  approve  and  practice  stratagem,  surprise  and  the 
basest  treachery?  alone  upon  their  enemies  in  war;  never 
elsewhere.  But  we  have  alike  "approved  and  practiced 
stratagem  and  surprise"  in  our  wars  with  them  always,  and 
everywhere;  and  have,  in  numerous  instances,  approved 
and  practiced  the  basest  treachery,"  upon  them  by  false 
promises,  misrepresentations  and  absolute  falsehoods  of 
such  hideous  proportions  as  to  cause  the  devil  to  blush  at 
his^own  impotency  in  the  art,  when  trying  to  influence  them 
to  enter  into  treaties  with  us  by  which  we  would  secure  for 
ourselves  their  landed  possessions,  and  all  under  the  dis 
guise  of  declared  disinterested  friendship,  and  deep-felt 
interest  in  their  prosperity  and  happiness;  and  I  challenge 


92  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

anyone  to  successfully  refute  the  charge.  Yet  this  man 
would  contribute  his  mite  of  misrepresentation  and  false 
hood  to  assist  others  of  his  own  congeniality,  to  hand  down 
the  Indians  to  the  remotest  posterity  as  a  race  of  people  the 
most  infamous;  but  would  have  it  remembered  that  he  and 
hjs  fall  below  their  merits — the  white  "children  of  the 
Uord."  \ 

Therefore,  he  thus  continues  his  lecture  to  the  children, 
as  set  forth  in  his  ephemeral  history:  "Language  cannot 
exaggerate  the  ferocity  of  an  Indian  Battle,  or  the  revolting 
cruelty  practiced  upon  their  captives  of  war."  Surely  this 
sensitive  educator  of  the  young,  never  perused  that  truthful 
little  volume,  bearing  the  name  of  "Our  Indian  Wards"  as 
written  by  a  Christian  philanthropist,  W.  Manypermy!  But 
thus  he  continues;  "The  very  words  tomahawk,  scalping 
knife,  and  torture  scaffold  fill  the  fancy  with  dire  images; 
and  to  say  'as  savage  as  an  Iroquois  warrior'  is  to  exhaust  the 
power  of  simile."  But  in  impressing  the  youthful  "fancy 
with  dire  images''  while  studying  his  "School  History  of 
tomahawks,  scalping  knives  and  torture  scaffolds"  and  in 
delibly  stamping  upon  their  memories  his  emphatic  "to  say 
as  savage  as  'ait  Iroquois  warrior'  is  to  exhaust  the  powers 
of  simile,"  he  is  scrupulously  careful  not  to  mention,  or  even 
drop  a  hint,  in  regard  to  the  foul  massacre  of  the  friendly 
Cheyenne  chief,  Black  Kettle  and  his  band  by  Gen.  Custer 
and  his  soldiers,; X,ov.  27th,  1868;  of  which  Superintendent 
Murphy,  after  the  diabolical  massacre,  wrote  the  commis 
sioner  of  Indian  affairs;  "It  was  Black  Kettle's  band  of 
Cheyennes.  Black  Kettle,  one  of  the  best  and  truest  friends 
the  whites  ever  had  among  the  Indians  of  the  plains;"  and  of 
the  "horrible"  butchery  of  the  Piegan  Indians,  on  the  23rd 
of  January,  1870,  who  were  helplessly  afflicted  with  the 
small  pox,  and  guilty  of  no  offense  except  being  Indians,  but 
in  which  assassination,  one  hundred  and  seventy -three  In 
dians  were  slaughtered  in  cold  blood  by  the  whites,  without 
the  "loss  of  a  man:  ninety  of  whom  were  women,  and  fifty- 
five  of  them  children,  none  older  than  twelve  years,  and 
many  of  them  in  their  mothers'  arms;"  and  though  the 
butchery  <j|  these  unoffending  and  helpless  human  beings 
merits  the  execration  of  all  men,  yet  the  actors  in  the  bloody 
scene  lived  to  boast  among  their  fellows  "I  too  have  killed  an 
Indian,"  though' that  Indian  was  an  infant  in  its  mother's 
arms;  while  their  head  was  honored  as  the  "Great"  General 
Sheridan,  backed  by  General  Sherman,  at  whose  feet  syco 
phants  bow  and  humbly  solicit  a  smile  from  his  august  per 
sonage,  then  die  happy,  if  obtained,  but  in  despair,  if 
refused.  Merciful  God!  If  the  very  words  "tomahawlv, 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  93 

x 

scalping  knife  and  torture  fill  the  fancy  with  dire  images; 
and  to  say  as  savage  as  an  Iroquois  warrior  is  to  exhaust  the 
powers  of  simile,"  does  not  the  butcher  of  helpless  and  un 
offending  Indian  women  and  children  by  civilized  whites 
equally  "fill  the  fancy  with  dire  images"?  and  to  say  as  sav 
age  as  a  Sheridan  and  Sherman  in  the  blood-thirsty  wars  of 
exterminating  the  Indians  of  the  western  plains,  to  protect 
the  white  desperadoes  in  their  depredations  upon  that  help 
less  people,  and  thereby  stick  another  feather  in  their  cap  of 
war  fame  to  conciliate  shouts  of  the, .rabble,  music  more 
sweet  to  their  bloody  senses  than  that  of  heavenly  angels, 
"is  to  exhaust  every  power  of  simile."  In  the  name  of  truth, 
justice  and  humanity,  if  what  Mr.  Many  penny  has  revealed 
in  his  "  Our  Indian  Wards,"  a  copy  of  which  every  lover  of 
truth,  justice  and  humanity  should  purchase  and  read,  as 
jdue  to  the  interests  of  truth,  justice,  religion  and  humanity, 
is  not  enough  to  cause  an  indignant  God  to  visit  these  United 
States  with  his  avenging  hand,  then  indeed  they  have  noth 
ing  to  fear  in  regard  to  wrhat  they  must  do.  Be  it  as  it  may, 
there  is  abundant  reason  to  tremble,  if  we  would  reflect  that 
God  is  just. 

On  the  16th  of  February,  1763,  the  whole  of  Louisiana, 
for  which  they  had  so  long  struggled,  passed  entirely  from 
under  the"  dominion  of  the  French  to  that  of  the  Engiish  ; 
and  all  evidences  of  their  occupancy  of  the  sea  coast  of  Mis 
sissippi,  since  Iberville  first  landed  there  on  the  16th  of  Feb 
ruary,  1693,  are  now  only  remembered  as  matters  of  history 
and  traditions  of  the  long  past. 

In  1765,  through  the  solisitation  of  Johnstone,  then  act 
ing  as  governor,  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  convened  in 
feneral  council  with  him  at  Mobile,  at  wrhich  time  were  con- 
rmed  the  former  treaties  of  peace  and  friendship,  and  also 
regulations  of  trade  were  established  between  them  and  the 
English;  and  in  1777,  the  Choctawrs,  the  first  time  ever  be 
fore  sold  a  small  portion  of  their  country  then  known  as  the 
Natchez  District,  to  the  English  Superintendent  of  Indian 
Affairs,  which  lay  on  the  Mississippi  river  and  extended 
north  from  the  bluff  then  known  as  Loftus  Cliffs  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Yazoo  river,  110  miles  above. 

In  June,  1784,  the  Choctaws,  Chickasaws  and  Muscogees 
convened  in  council  at  Pensacola,  (corrupted  from  the  Choc- 
taw  words  Puska  Okla,  People  with  abundant  bread)  and 
there  made  a  treaty  of  peace  with  Spain. 

Soon  after,  Alexander  McGillervey,  the  famous  chief  of 
the  Muscogees,  as  representative  of  the  Coweta  claim  of  the 
Muscogees, ^together  with  the  Seminole.s,  Mobelans  (prop 
erly^,  Mobinahs)andTalapoosas  (corrupted  from  the  Choctaw 


'94  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

Words  Tuli  Pushi,   Iron  Dust)  concluded   a  treaty v  of  peace 
and  friendship  with  the  same  nation. 

At  this  time,  the  United  States  set  up  her  claim  over  the 
entire  territories  of'the  southern  Indians  by  virtue  of  the 
English  title,  though  the  Cherokees,  Choctaws  Chickasaws 
and  Muscogees,  whose  landed  possessions  were  more  exten 
sive  than  all  the  southern  tribes  combined;  but  out  of  which 
she  finally  ousted  them,  though  they  had  replenished  the 
feeble  ranks  of  her  army  with  their  warriors,  and  helped  her 
out  from  under  the  yoke  of  British  oppression  fighting-  un 
der  Gen.  Wayne  and  Gen  Sullivan,  only  to  have  her  yoke  of 
oppression  placed  upon  their  necks  in  turn  as  a  recompense 
of  reward  for  their  services  and  as  a  memento  of  our  "dis 
tinguished"  gratitude  to  them;  while  Spain  claimed,  at  the 
same  time,  the  lion's  part  of  their  territories  by  virtue  of  her 
treaties,  not  with  the  Indians,  the  legal  owners,  but  with' 
England  and  France;  while  the  Indians  In  whom  rested  the 
only  true  and  valid  title,  gazed  upon  the  scene  of  controversy 
over  their  ancient  domains,  as  silent  but  helpless  specta 
tors. 

That  the  Choctaws  were  once  a  numerous  people,  even 
years  after  the  destruction  of  Mobinah,  the  chief  town  of 
Tushkalusas  Iksa  or  clan,  by  De  Soto,  there  can  be  but  little 
room  for  doubt.  Their  ancient  traditions  affirm  they  were 
at  one  time  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  strong,  but  some 
allowance  perhaps  should  be  made  upon  that  statement, 
however,  their  territory,  as  late  as  1771,  extended  from  Mid 
dle  Mississippi  south  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico;  and  from  the 
Alabama  river  west  to  the  Mississippi  river,  embracing  as 
fine  a  country  as  the  eye  could  possibly  desire  to  behold; 
and  De  Soto  states  he  passed  through  towns  and  villages  all 
along- his  route  through  their  territory,  as  well  as  through 
the  territorities  of  other  southern  tribes.  Roman  states,  in 
his  travels  through  the  Choctaw  Territory  in  1771,  he  pass 
ed  through  seventy  of  their  towns.  Rev.  Cyrus  Byington, 
who  was  a  missionary  among  the  Choctaws  for  many 
years  previous  to  their  exodus  to  the  west,  and  had  traveled 
all  over  their  country  in  his  labors  of  love  and  mercy,  com 
puted  their  number,"  all  told,  at  the  time  of  their  removal,  at 
forty  thousand,  but  at  which  time  six  thousand  died  en  route 
many  with  cholera,  and  others  with  various  other  diseases 
contracted  on  the  road,  as  is  well  authenticated.  I  was  in 
formed,  when  traveling  over  their  country  in  1884,  by  an  old 
Choctaw  with  whom  I  was  personally  acquainted  when  living 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  that  many,  when  they  first  moved  to 
their  present  homes,  settled  contiguous  to  the  pestilential 
Red  river,  and  in  a  few  years  four  hundred  of  the  colony 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  95 

had  died,  and  the  rest  moved  away  from  that  stream  of  death 
.   to  other  parts  of  their  territory. 

Picket,     in  his   History   of  Alahama,     says:     "In   1771 
there  were  two  thousand  three  hundred  warriors   registered 
upon  the  superintendent's  books  at  Mobile,  while  two   thous 
ands  were  scattered  over  the  country,    engaged  in  hunting." 
But  that  did  not  weigh  the  value  of  a  poor  scruple  in  sustain 
ing  the  seemingly  advanced   position,    that   the   Choctaws   at 
that  time  only   numbered   about  forty-three   hundred    war 
riors;  as  it  is  safe  to  say,  the  French  did.  not  register  a   fifth 
of  the  warriors,  for  several  reasons:     First,  from  their  great 
aversion  to  their  numbers  being   known   to   the   whites;  sec 
ond,  their  dread  and  superstitious  fear  of  having  their  names 
written  in  the  "white   man's   books;"   third,   the   great   dis 
tance  that   the   homes   of   thousands   lay   from   Mobile,    but 
few  of  whom  ever   saw   the   place;   fourth,    the    missionaries 
who  traveled  all  over  their  country  found   their   villages   and 
towns  everywhere.;   And    if   the   French     had  twenty-three 
hundred  Choctaw  warriors'  names  registered  upon  the  pages 
of  their  books,  I  feel  confident,  from  my   own   knowledge   of 
the  Choctaws  over  seventy  years  ago,  in  saying  very  few;   if 
any,  of  the   owners   of   those   registered  names   knew   they 
were  recorded  there.     And  if  all  be  taken  into  consideration, 
the  six  thousand,  the  lowest  estimate,   slain   in   the   destruc 
tion  of  Mobinah,  then  the  great  number  that  must   have  per 
ished  in  their  wars  with   the  English   and  French,   as   allies 
first  to  the  one  and   then  to  the   other;  and  their   wars  with 
various  other  tribes;  and  the  many  that  were  killed  and  died 
from  disease  when   engaged   in  our  Revolutionary  war;  and 
the  six  thousand  that   died   on  their   removal   to  the    west  in 
1832-33;  and  the    multiplied  'hundreds   that   died   soon   after 
their  arrival  to  their  present   place  of   abode,  from    diseases 
contracted  en  route  and  from  not  being  acclamated    to   their 
new  country;  and    in  addition  to  all   this',  the  many    depress 
ing  influences  they  have   labored  under   since  they  have  had 
to  do  with  the  White  Race,  and  the  terrible  dispensation  un 
der   which   they  have  'lived,  they   must,  at   an   early   period 
have""  been  a  numerous  people,  or   long  since  they  would  have 
become  totally  eAtinct. 

"The  Severally  Bill!"  I  was  in  the  Indian  Territory 
and  read  a  letter  from  an  Indian  delegate  in  Washington 
City,  to  a  friend  in  the  Territory  and  was  forcibly  struck 
with  the  shameful  truth  of  one  sentence  "Congress  can  and 
will  pass  any  bill  to  destroy  the  Indians."  Yet  nothing 
strange"  in  this,  since  rascality  and  debauchery  characterize 
that  once  pure  and  noble  body,  if  even  half  be  true  that  is 
said  about  it,  by  those  who  have  seen  behind  the  curtains.  I 


96  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

also  read  another  letter  written  by  an  Indian  in  the  Territory 
to  a  delegate  of  his  people,  then  (Feb.   15,  1887,)  in  Wash 
ington  from  which,  by  request  and  permission,  I  copied  the 
following-  without  alteration  : 
"Dear  old  friend:" 

"Wounded  and  grieved  over  the  action*  of  Congress  and 
the  President,  who  gave  the  Indians  his  word  (which  should 
be  as  his  bond)  to  stand  by  us,  when  our  rights  were  trepass- 
ed  upon.  Behold  now,  his  actions  in  the  severally  bill.  Are 
there  no  honest  men,  citizens  of^  the  United  States?  Alas, 
even  the  highest  in  power  .has  no  regard  for  his  word  1 
There  must  be  very  little  honesty  among  them,  and  if  God 
forsakes  us,  we  will  soon  be  remembered  only  in  story.  God 
knows,  if  we  had  only  th&  power  that  the  United  States  have 
I  would  be  willing  to  resent  the  wrong  and  insult,  if  it  should 
be  at  the  sacrifice  of  every  drop  of  Indian  blood  that  is1  cir 
cling  in  our  race."  (All  praise  to  that  noble  and  patriotic 
spirit),  "Cleveland  thinking"  he  might  lose  the  next  nomina 
tion  for  President,  is  willing  to  sacrifice  his  word  or  honor 
(whatever  you  may  choose  to  call  it)  to  be  on  the  popular 
side.  Away  with  such  hypocrisy!  He  should  be  a  man  of 
some  principle  and  stamina,  but  he  lacks  all  of  it. 

"Dawes,  when  here,  said  he  would  do  everything  to  ad 
vance  our  cause;  that  he  was  surprised  to  see  the  intelligence 
and  evidences  of  progress  existing  among  us.  See  too,  what 
he  has  done!  God  will  surely  damn  such  hypocrites.  Poor 
Mr.  Brown,  I  feel  sorry  for  him,  standing  alone,  as  it  were, 
in  the  cause  of  humanity  and  justice;  but  'I  hope  he  will  not 
feel  disheartened  in  the  good  cause,  .but  will  gather  strength 
from  the  ruins  of  broken  treaties^  and  shattered  pledges, 
made  and  violated  by  his  so-called  great  and  magnanimous 
government.  All  honor  and  peace  be  his. 

"We  will  ever  feel  grateful  to  him  for  the  active  part  he 
took  in  our  behalf.  Had  there  been  a  few  more  honest  and 
fearless  men  like  him  in  Congress,  we  might  have  fared  bet 
ter.  ^  Inch  by  inch,  does  Congress  trespass  upon  and  violate 
the  solemn  vows  rt  bas  made.  Surely  such  an  outrage  is 
almost  enough  to  drive  us  to  raise  the  tomahawk,  and- die, 
every  one  of  us,  in  fighting  for  justice  against  such  high 
handed  tyranny  and  insupportable  oppression  of  our  help 
less  and  hopeless  race. " 

What  patriotic  heart  but  leaps  with  emotions  of  pride 
at  the  heroic  sentiments  expressed  in  the  above.  Truth, 
justice,  humanity,  Christianity,  our  honor  and  integrity  as  a 
professed  Christian  people,  backed  by  a  just  and  righteous 
God  above,  demand  of  us  to  proclain  our  fiat  to  the  scoun- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.         ,  9/ 

drels  that  to-day  so  curse  our  country  and  disgrace  us  as  a 
people,  in  a  tone  of  voice  that  shall  be  heard  and,  obe}red,  in 
the  imperative  command,  Halt! 

On  June  22nd,  1784,  the  Spaniards  convened  a  council 
at  Mobile,  Ala.,  in  which  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  were 
largely  represented,  also  a  few  other  smaller  tribes  came 
with  their  families.  As  usual  on  all  such  occasions,  the 
Spaniards,  unexcelled  only  by  the  Americans  afterwards, 
lavished  upon  the  Indians  their  flattery  and  presents,  each 
of  equal  value,  with  unwearied  tong-ues  and  unsparing-  hands, 
thus  to  induce  them  to  form  a  treaty  of  alliance  and  trade, 
which  wras  successfully  consummated.  The  last  article  of 
this  treaty  then  entered  -into,  confirmed,  in  the  name 'of  the 
xSpanish  King,  the  Indians  in  the  peaceable  possession  of  all 
their  territories  within  the  King's  dominions;  and  further 
more,  it  was  stipulated,  should  any  of  them  be  deprived  of 
their  lands  by  any  of  the  King's  enemies,  he  would  re 
possess  them  with  other  lands  within  his  territories  equal 
in  extent  and  value  to  those  lost.  But  as  stipulations  and 
promises,  never  intended  to  be  fulfilled,  and  cajolery 
and  flattery  to  deceive  them  into  a  trusting  belief  of  true 
friendship,  were  the  means  adopted  and  practiced  by  the 
foreign  nations  that  contended  with  each  other  for  a  portion 
of  the  North  American  Continent,  so  they,  as  the  vicissitudes 
of  war  dictated,  withdrew  their  interest  in  and  protection 
from  the  confiding  Indians  to  whom,  they  had  made  so  many 
fair  promis'es  of  protection,  and  manifested  such  high 
tentions  of  sincere  and  disinterested  friendship,  and 
hesitatingly  assumed  the  right  of  transferring  them  to  any 
nation  which  their  interest  demanded  without  a  care,  or  even 
a  thought,  of  the  interests  and  welfare  of  the  Indians;  thus 
conclusively  proving  that  they,  each  haunted  with  the  fear  of 
the  other,  using'  every  effort  to  secure  and  maintain  the  good 
will  of  the  Indians  only  for  the  purpose  of  interposing  them 
between  themselves  and  their  encroaching  rivals,  when  it 
was  to  their  interests  so  to  do. 

The  Spaniards  again  induced  thirty-six  of  the  most 
prominent  and  influential  chiefs  of  the  Choctaws  and  Chick 
asaws  to  visit  them  at  New  Orleans  in  1787,  where  they  were 
received  and  entertained  with  the  greatest  manifestations  of 
sincere  respect  and  friendship,  by  escorting  tliem  to  public 
balls  and  military  parades,  and  the  usual  bestowal  of  pres 
ents  and  flattery;  nor  did  it  ever  occur  to  the  Choctaws  and 
Chickasaws  that  all  this  was  but  for  the  purpose  of  rendering 
them,  their  more  easy  prey,  and  their  assumed  friendship  de 
signed  but  to  throw  them  off  their  guard,  and  thus  conceal 
their  real  intentions;  thus  they  were  induced  to  renew  their 


98  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

pledges  of  peace  and  friendship. to  the  Spaniards,  by  smok 
ing-  the  pipe  of  peace  in  confirmation  of  their  former  treaty, 
by  judging-  the  actions  of  the  Spaniards  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  integrity  and  honesty  of  their  own  hearts. 

The  first  treaty  made  with  the  Choctaws  by  the  United 
States  was  at  Hopewell,  on  January  3rd,  1786;  and  'between 
this  and  January  20th,  1825,  seven  additional  treaties  were 
made  with  them;  the  second  being'  December  17th,  1801,  in 
which  it  was  mutually  agreed  between  the  Choctaw  Nation 
and  the  United  States  Government,  "that  the  old  line  of  de 
marcation  heretofore  established  by  and  between  the  officers 
of  his  Brittanic  Majesty  and  the  Choctaw  Nation,  shall  be 
retraced,  and.  plainly  marked  in  such  a  way  aiidnnanner  as 
the  President  may  direct,  in  the  presence  of  two  persons  to 
be  appointed  by  the  said  nation;  and  that  the  said  line  shall 
be  the  boundary  between  the  settlements  of  the.  Mississippi 
Territory  and  the  Choctaw  nation." 

James  Wilkerson,  as  commissioner  of  the  United  States; 
and  Push-kush  Miko,  (Baby  Chief),  and  Ahlatah  Humma, 
(Mixed  Red,  i.  e.  Mixed  with  Red),  as  commissioners  of  the 
Choctaw  nation,  did  run  and  make  distinctly  this  division 
line,  and  made  a  report  of  the  same,  August  31st,  1803,  as 
follows:  "And  we,  the  said  commissioners  plenipotentiary, 
do  ratify  and  confirm,  the  said  line  of  demarcation,  and  do 
recognize  and  acknowledge  the  same  to  be  the  boundary 
which  shall  separate  arid  distinguish  the  land  ceded  to  the 
United  States,  between  the  Tom  big-bee,  Mobile,  and  Pascu- 
gola  rivers*  from  that  which  had  not -been  ceded  by  the  said 
Choctaw  nation."1 

The  names  of  the  ancient  Choctaws,  as  well  as  their 
entire  race,  as  far  as  I  have  been  enabled  to  learn,  were 
nearly  always  connative  referring1  generally  to  some  animal, 
and  often  predicating'  some  attribute  of  that  animal.  Such 
names  were  easily  expressed  in  sign  language;  as  the  ob- 
jectiveness  of  the  Indian  proper  names  with  the  result,  is 
that  they  could  all  be  signified  by  gesture,  whereas  the  best 
sign  talker  among  deaf  mutes,  it  is  said,  is  unable  to  translate 
the  proper  names  in  his  speech,  therefore  resorts  to  the 
dactylic  alphabet.  The  Indians  were  generally  named,  or 
rather  acquired  a  name,  and  sometimes  several  in  succession, 
from  some  noted  exploit  or  hazardous  adventure.  Names 
of  rivers,  creeks,  mountains,  hills,  etc..  were  given  with 
reference  to  some  natural  peculiarity;  for  the  Indian  had  "a 
literature  of  his  own,  which  grew  every  year  in  proportions 
and  value;  it  was  the  love  of  Nature,  which  may  be  developed 
in  every  heart  and  which  seldom  fails  to  purify  and  exalt. 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  99 

Ignorance  and  prejudice  call  the  Indians  savages.  I  call 
them  heroes.  You  and  I,  reader,  may  not  know  where  or 
how  they  live.  God  does. 

As  before  stated,  the  first  treaty  was  made  by  the  United 
States  with  the  Choctaw  Nation  on  Jan.  3d,  1786.  The  follow 
ing"  Articles  of  this  treaty  were  concluded  at  Hopewell,  on  the 
Keowee  River,  near  a  place  known  as  Seneca  Old  Town  be 
tween  Benjamin  Hawkins,  Andrew  Pickens,  and  Joseph 
Martin,  commissioners  plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  of  the  one  part,  Yockenahoma,  (I  give  the  names 
of  the  Choctaws  as  recorded  in  the  treaty,  and  also  give  their 
corrections  and  significations),  corruption,  Yoknahoma; 
Orig.,  Yoknihumma  Land,  Hoommar  , Red,  great  medal  chief 
of  Soanacoha,  corruption  of  Sanukoah,  pro.  as  Sar-nook-o-ah * 
(I  am  mad);  Yackehoopie,  corruption  of  Yakni  Hopaii  pro.  as 
Yark-nih,  (Land)  Ho-py-ye  (Land  of  the  war  chief,  leading 
chief  of  Bugtoogoloo,  corruption  of  Bok  Tuklo,  pro.  as  Boke 
(Creek)  Took-lo  (Two);  Mingohoopari,  corruption  of  Miko 
Hopaii,  pro.  as  Mik-o  (Chief)  Ho-py-ye  (Leader  as  War  Chief), 
leading  chief  of  Hashooqua,  corruption  of  Hashokeah,  pro. 
as  Harsh-oh-ke-ah  (Even  the  aforesaid);  Tobocoh,  corruption 
ofTobihEoh,  pro.  as  Tone-bih  Eoh  (All  Sunshine)  great 
medal  chief  of  Congetoo,  utterly  foreign  to  the  Choctaw 
language;  Pooshemastuby,  corruption  of  Pasholih-ubih,  pro. 
as  Par-sha-lih  (To  handle)  ub-ih  (and  kill)  gorget  captain  of 
Senayazo;  cor.  of  Siah  (I  am)  Yo-shu-ba  (as  ah)  Lost;  and 
thirteen  small  medal  chiefs  of  the  first-class,  -twelve'  medal 
and  gorget  captains,  commissioners  plenipotentiary  of  all  the 
Choctaw  nation,  of  the  other  part. 

The  commissioners  plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States 
of  America  give  peace  to  all  ,the  Ghoctaw  Nation,  and.re- 
ceive  them  into  favor  and  protection  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  on  the  following  conditions: 

Article  1st. — The  commissioners  plenipotentiary  of  all 
the  Choctaw  Nation,  shall  restore  all  the  prisoners,  citizens 
of  the' United  States  (useless  demand,  as  the  Choctaws  were 
never  at  war  with  the  United  States,  and  never  held  any 
citizen  of  the  United  States  as  a  prisoner,  but  always  were 
their  faithful  allies)  or  subjects  of  their  allies,  to  their  entire 
liberty,  if  any  there  be  in  the  Choctaw  Nation.  .  Thev  shall 
also  restore  all  the  negroes,  and  all  other  property,"  taken 
during  the  late  war,  from  the  o^tizens,  to  such  person,  ancTat 
such  time  and  place,  as  the  commissioners  of  the  United 
States  of  America  shall  appoint,  if  any  there  be  in  the  Choc 
taw  Nation. 

Article  2nd. — The  commissioners  plenipotentiary  of  all 
.the  Choctaw  Nation, 'do  hereby  acknowledge  the  tribes  and 


\     100  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

towns  of  the  said  Nation,  and  the  lands  with  the  boundary 
allotted  to  the  said  Indians  to  live  and  hunt  on,  as  mentioned 
in  the  Third  Article,  to  be  under  the  protection  of  the. 
United  States  of  America,  and  of  no  other  sovereign  what 
soever. 

Article  3rd.— The  boundary  of  the  lands  hereby  allotted 
to  the  Choctaw  Nation  to  live  and  hunt  on,  within  the  limits 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  is  and  shall  be  the  follow 
ing1,  viz.:  Beginning  at  a  point  on  the  thirty-first  degree  of 
north  latitude,  where  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  Natchez 
district  shall  touch  the  same  ;  thence  east  along-  the  thirty- 
first  degree  of  north  latitude,  being*  the  southern  boundary 
*  of  the  United  States  of  America,  until  it  shall  strike  the 
eastern  boundary  of  the  lands  on  which  the  Indians  of  the 
said  nation  did  live  and  hunt  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  Novem 
ber,  1782,  while  they  were  under  the  protection  of  the  King* 
of  Great  Britain:  thence  northerly  along  the  said  eastern 
boundary,  until  it  shall  meet  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
said  lands;  thence  westerly  along  the  said  northern  boun 
dary,  until  it  shall  meet  the  western  boundary  thereof: 
thence  southerly  along  the  same,  to  the  beginning;  saving 
and  reserving  for  the  establishment  of  trading  posts,  three 
tracts  or  parcels  of  land,  of  six  miles  square  each,  at  such 
places  as  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  think 
proper;  which  posts,  and  the  lands  annexed  to  them,  shall 
be  to  the  use  and  under  the  government  of  the  United  States 
of  America. 

Article  4th. — If  any  citizen  of  the  United  States,  or  other 
person,  not  being  an  Indian,  shall  attempt  to  settle  on  any  of 
s  the  lands  hereby  allotted  to  the  Indians  to  live  and  hunt  on, 
such  persons  shall  forfeit  the  protection  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  and  the  Indians  may  punish  him  or  not  as  they 
please. 

Article  5th. — If  any  Indian  or  Indians,  or  persons  resid 
ing  among  them,  or  who  shall  take  refuge  in  their  nation, 
shall  commit  a  robbery  or  murder,  or  other  capital  crime,  on 
any  citizen  of  the  United  States  of  America,  or  person  under 
their  protection,  the  tribe  to  which  such  offender  may  be 
long,  or  the  nation,  shall  be  bound  to  deliver  him  or  them  up 
to  be  punished  according  to  the  ordinances  of  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled:  provided,  that  the  punish 
ment  shall  not  be  greater  than  if  the  robbery  or  murder,  or 
other  capital  crime,  had  been  committed  by  a  citizen  on  a 
citizen. 

Article  6th. — If  any  citizen  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  or  person  under  their  protection,  shall  commit  a 
robbery  or  murder,  or  other  capital  crime,  on  any  Indian, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  101 

-such  offender  or  offenders  shall  be  punished  in  the  same 
manner  as  if  the  robbery  or  murder,  or  other  capital  crime, 
had  been  committed  on  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  of 
America;  and  the  punishment  shall  be  in  the  presence  of 
some  of  the  Choctaws,  if  any  will  attend  at.  the  time  and 
place;  and  that  they  may  have  an  opportunity  so  to  do,  due 
notice,  if  practicable,  of  the  time  of  such  intended  punish 
ment  shall  be  sent  to  some  one  of  the  tribe. 

Article  7th. — It  is  understood  that  the  punishment  of 
the  innocent,  under  the  idea  of  retaliation,  is  unjust,  and 
.shall  not  be  practiced  on  either  side,  except  where  there  is  a 
manifest  violation  of  this  treaty;  and  then  it  shall  be  pre 
ceded,  first  by  a  demand  of  justice;  and  if  refused,  then  by  a 
declaration  of  hostilities .  (But  wherein  is  this  to  benefit  the 
Choctaws,  if,  to  the  best  of  their  'judgment,  "this  treaty" 
was  violated  by  us,  and  their  demand  of  justice  was  refused? 
Could  they  hope  to  obtain  justice  "by  a  declaration  of  hostili 
ties"?  What  a  farce  is  such  a  futile  attempt  to  display  our 
wonderful  generosity  to  the  Choctaws,  when  we  have  openly 
violated  every  treaty  made  with  them,  whenever  it  was  to 
-our  interest  so  to  do,  a  truth  we  cannot  deny,  knowing  the 
folly  they  would  be  guilty  of  in  declaring  war  against  us 
when  \ve  were  as  a  thousand  to  one  of  them  in  every  particu 
lar  as  to  advantage.  Nor  have  we  neglected  to  use  those  ad 
vantages  from  1786  down  the  passing  years  to^the  present, 
to  the  utter  impoverishment  and  final  extermination  of 'the 
too  confiding  Indians). 

For  the  benefit  and  comfort  of  the  Indians,  and  for  the 
prevention  of  injuries  or  oppressions  on  the  part  of  the  citi 
zens  or  Indians,  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled 
shall  have  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  of  regulating  the  trade 
with  the  Indians,  and  managing  all  their  affairs  in  such  man- 
jier  as  they  think  proper. 

Then  wras  inaugurated  a  system  of  fraud  by  which  the 
Choctaws  were  completely  given  into  the  hands  .of  a  few 
soulless  white  traders  who  fleeced  their  victims  at  will. 

Article  9th. — Until  the  pleasure  of  Congress  be  known, 
respecting  the  8th  article,  all  traders,  .citizens  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  shall  have  liberty  to  go  to  any  of  the  tribes 
or  towns  of  the  Choctaws,  to  trade  with  them,  and  they  shall 
be  protected  in  their  persons  and  property  and  kindly 
treated. 

Article  10. — The  said  Indians  shall  give  notice  to  the  citi 
zens  of  the  United  States  of  America,  of  any  designs  which 
they  may  know  or  suspect  to  be  formed  in  any  neighboring 
tribe,  or  bv  any  person  whomsoever,  against  the  peace, 
trade,  or  interest,  of  th^  United  States,  of  America. 


102  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

/  \ 

Article  11. — The  hatchet  shall  be  forever  buried,  and  the 
peace  given  by  the  United^States  of  America,  and  friendship 
re-established  between  the  said  States  on  the  one  part,  and 
all  the  Choctaw  nation  on  the  other  part,  shall  be  universal, 
and  the  contracting  parties  shall  use  their  utmost  endeavors 
to  maintain  the  peace  given  as  aforesaid,  and  friendship 
established. 

In  witness  of  all  and  every  thing  herein  determined,  be 
tween  the  United  States  of  America  and  all  the  Choctaws,  we, 
the  underwritten  commissioners,  by  virtue  of  our  full  powers\ 
have  signed  this  definitive  treaty,  and  have  caused  our  seals- 
to  be  hereunto  affixed. 

Done  at  Hopewell,  on  the  Keowee,  third  dav  of  Jan 
uary,  1786  L.  S.  (Locus  Sigilli)  Place  of  the  Seal. 

BENJAMIN  HAWKINS, 
ANDREW  PICKENS,  , 
JOSEPH  MARTIN. 

Corruption:  Yockenahoma,  his  x  mark.  Original:  Yok- 
ni  Humma,  pro.  Yak-nih  Hoom-mah  Land  Red. 

Corruption:  Yokehoopoie,  his  x  mark.  Original:  Yak- 
ni  hopaii  (as,  hopy  ye).  Land  of  the  Oar-chief. 

Corruption:  Mingo  hoopaie,  his  x  mark.  Original:  Mi- 
kohopaii.  Leader,  as  War-chief. 


SECOND  TREATY. 

CONCLUDED  DECEMBER  I?TH,    1801,   BETWEEN  THE  CHOCTAW 
NATION  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

S" 

Thomas  Jefferson,  President  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  by  James  Wilkerson,  of  the  State  of  Maryland,, 
brigadier  general  in  the  army  of  the  United  States,  Benjamin 
Hawkins,  of  North  Carolina,  and  Andrew  Pickens,  of  Softth 
Carolina,  commissioners  plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States, 
on  the  one  part,,  and  the  Mingoes,  principal  men  and  ;war- 
riors  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  representing  the  said  Nation  in 
council  assembled,  on  the  other  part,  have  entered  into  the 
following  articles  and  conditions,  viz.: 

Article  1st. — Whereas,  the  United  States  in  Congress, 
assembled,  did,  by  their  commissioners  plenipotentiary, 
Benjamin  Hawkins,  Andrew  Pickens,  and  Joseph  Martin,  at 
a  treaty  held  with  the  chiefs  and  head  men  of  the  Choctaw 
Nation  at  Hopewell,  on  the  Keowee,  Julie  30th,  1786,  give 
peace  to  the  said  Nation,  and  receive  it  into, the  favor  and 
protection  of  the  United  States  of  America;  it  is  agreed  by 
the  parties  to  these  presents  respectively,  that  the  Choctaw 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  103 

Nation,  or  such  part  of  it  as  may  reside  within  the  limits  of 
the  United  States,  shall  be  and  continue  under  the  care  and 
protection  of  the  said  United  States;  and  that  the  mutual 
confidence  and  friendship  which  are  hereby  acknowledged 
to  subsist  between  the  contracting"  parties,  shall  be  main 
tained  and  perpetuated. 

Article  2nd. — The  Mingoes,  principal  men,  and  warriors 
of  the  Choctaw  Nation  of  Indians,  do  hereby  give  their  free 
consent  that  a  convenient  and  desirable  wagon-way  may  be 
explored,  marked,  opened,  and  made,  under  the  orders  and 
instructions  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  through, 
their  lands;  to  commence  at  the  northern  extremity  of  the 
settlements  of  the  Mississippi  Territory,  and  to  extend  from 
thence,  by  such  .route  as  may  be  selected  and  surveyed  un 
der  the  authority  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  until 
it  shall  strike  the  lands  claimed  by  the  Chickasaw  Nation; 
and  the  same  shall  be  and  continue  forever,  a  high-way  for 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  the  Choctaws;  and  the 
said  Choctaws  shall  nominate  two  discreet  men  from  their 
Nation,  who  may  be  employed  as  assistants,  guides,  or 
pilots,  during  the  time  of  laying-  out  and  opening  the  said 
high-way,  or  so  long*  as  may  be  deemed  expedient,  under  the 
direction  of  the  officer  charged  with  this  duty,  who  shall  re 
ceive  a  reasonable  compensation  for  their  services. 

Article  3rd. — The  twro  contracting  parties  covenant  and 
agree,  that  the  old  line  of  demarkation  heretofore  established 
by  and  between  the  officers  of  his  Britanic  Majesty  and  the 
Choctaw  Nation,  which  runs  in  a  parallel  direction  with  the 
Mississippi  river,  and  eastward  thereof,  shall  be  retraced 
and  plainly  marked,  in  such  a  way  and  manner  as  the  Presi 
dent  may  direct,  in  the  presence  of  two  persons  to  be  ap 
pointed  by  the  said  Nation;  and  that  the  said  line  shall  be 
the  boundary  between  the  settlements  of  the  Mississippi 
Territory  and  the  Choctaw  Nation.  And  the  said  Nation 
does,  by  these  presents,  relinquish  to  the  United  States  and 
quit  claim  forever,  all  their  right,  title,  and  pretension,  to 
the  land  lying  between  the  said  line  and  the  Mississippi 
river,  bounded  south  by  the  thirty-first  degree  of  north  lati 
tude,  and  north  by  .the  Yazoo  river,  where  the  said  line  shall 
strike  same;  and  on  the  part  of  the  commissioners  it  is 
agreed,  that  all  persons  who  may  be  settled  beyond  this  line 
shall  be  removed  within  it,  on  the  side  toward  the  Missis 
sippi,  together  with  their  slaves,  household  furniture,  tools, 
materials,  and  stock,  and  the  cabins  or  houses  erected  by 
such  persons  shall  be  demolished. 

Article  4th.— The  President  of  the  United  States  may, 
at  his  discretion,  proceed  to  execute  the  Second  Article  of 


104  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

this  treaty;  and  the  Third  Article  shall  be  carried  into  effect 
as  soon  as  may  be  convenient  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  and  without  unnecessary  delay  on  the  one 
part  or  the  other,  of  which  the  President  shall  be  judge;  the 
Choctaws  to  be  reasonably  advised,  by  order  of  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  of  the  time  when,  and  the  place 
where,  the  re-survey  and  re-marking-  of  the  old  line  referred 
to  in  the  preceding  Article  will  be  commenced. 

Article  5th. — The  commissioners  of  the  United  States 
for  and  in  consideration  of  the  foregoing  concessions  on  the 
part  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  and  in  full  satisfaction,  do  give 
and  deliver  to  the  Mingoes,  chiefs,  and  warriors,  of  the  said 
Nation,  at  the  signing  of  these  presents,  the  value  of  $2,000 
in  goods  and  merchandise,  net  cost  at  Philadelphia,  the  re 
ceipt  whereof  is  hereby  acknowledged,  and  they  further  en 
gage  to  give  three  sets  of  blacksmith  tools  to  the  said  Na 
tion. 

Article  6th. — This  treaty  shall  take  effect  and  be  obliga 
tory  on  the  contracting' parties,  as  soon  as  the  same  shall  be 
ratified  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  thereof. 

In  testimony  whereof,  the  commissioners  plenipoten 
tiary  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Mingoes,  principal  men, 
and  warriors  of  the  Choctaw  nation,  have  hereto  subscribed 
their  names  and  affixed  their  seals,  at  Fort  Adams,  on.  the 
Mississippi,  this  the  17th  day  of  December,  1801,  and  of  the 
independence  of  the  United  States  the  26. 

JAMES  WILKERSON, 
BENJAMIN  HAWKINS, 
ANDREW  Pic  KENS. 

Corruption:  Tuskana  Hopia,  his  x  mark.  Original: 
Tushka -hopnii,  Warrior  of  the  War  Chief. 

Corruption:  Toota  Homo,  his  x  mark.  Original:  Tobu 
hum  ma,  made  red. 

Corruption:  Ming*o  Horn  Massatubby,  his  x  mark. 
Original:  Miko  humma  ubi  (i,  as  ih)  Red  chief  killer. 

This  treaty  was  also  signed  by  twenty-two  other  Choc- 
taws,  whose  names  are  omitted. 


AGREEMENT. 

CONCLUDED    OCTOBER   17'rir,    1802,   BETWEEN'  THE   CHOCTAW 
NATION  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

A    provisional    convention,    entered   into   and    made    by 
Brigadier  General  James  Wilkerson,   of   the   State   of  Mary- 


HISTORY    OI^    THE    INDIANS  105 

land,  commissioner  for  holding-  conferences  with  the  In 
dians  south  of  the  Ohio  river,  in  behalf  of  the  United  States, 
on  the  one  part,  and  the  whole  Choctaw  Nation,  by  their 
chiefs,  -head  men,  and  principal  warriors,  on  the  other 
part . 

Preamble:  For  the  mutual  accommodation  of  the  par 
ties,  and  to  perpetuate  that  concord  and  friendship,  which  so 
happily  subsists  between  them,  they  do  hereby  freely,  vol 
untarily,  and  without  constraint,  covenant  and  agree: 

Article  1st.— That  the  President  of  the  United  States 
may,  at  his  discretion,  by  a  commissioner  or  commissioners, 
to  be  appointed  by  him,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  con 
sent  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  retrace,  connect, 
and  plainly  re-rnark  the  old  line  of  limits,  established  by  and 
between  his  Britannic  majesty  and  the  said  Choctaw  nation, 
which  begins  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Chickasaw-hay  river, 
and  runs  thence  in  an  easterly  direction  to  the  right  bank 
of  the  Tombigbee  river,  terminating-  on  the  same,  at  a  bluff, 
well-known  by  the  name  of  Hacha  Tiggeby  (corruption  of 
Hacha  toh  bichi.  You  are  very  white,)  but  it  is  to  be  clear 
ly  understood,  that  two  commissioners,  to  be  appointed,  by 
the  said  nation,  from  their  own  body,  are  to  attend  the  com 
missioners  of  the  United  States,  who  may  be  .  appointed  to 
perform  this  service,  for  which  purpose  the  said  Choctawr 
Nation  shall  be  reasonably  advised  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  of  the  particular  period  at  which  the  opera 
tion  may  be  commenced,  and  the  said  Choctaw  commission 
ers  shall  be  subsisted  by  the  United  States,  so  long'  as  they 
may  be  engaged  on  this  business,  and  paid  for  their  services, 
during  the  said  term,  at  the  rate  of  one  dollar  per  day. 

Article  2nd. — The  chiefs,  head  men,  and  warriors,  of  the 
said  Choctaw  nation,  do  hereby  constitute,  authorize,  and 
appoint,  the  chiefs  and  head  men  of  the  upper  towns  of  the 
said  nation,  to  make  such  alteration  in  the  old  boundary 
line  near  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  river,  as  may  be  conven 
ient,  and  may  be  done  without  injury  to  the  said  Nation. 

Article  4. — This  convention  shall  take  effect,  and  becorhe 
obligatory  on  the  contracting  parties,  as  soon  as  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  Senate,  shall  have  ratified  the  same. 

In  testimony  whereof,  the  parties  have  hereunto  set 
their  hands  and  affixed  their  seals,  at  Fort  Confederation,  on 
the  Tombigbee,  in  the  Choctaw  country,  the  17th,  of  Octo 
ber  1802,  and  of  the  independence  of  the  United  States  the 
twenty-seventh. 

JAMES  WILKEKSON. 

In  behalf  of  the  lower  towns  and  Chickasaw-hay. 
\ 


106  ,.    HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  ^ 

Corrupted:     Tuskona   Hoopoio,   his  x   mark.     Original:" 
Tushkahopaii.     Warrior  of  the  Prophet. 

'  Corruption:      Mingo   Hoopoio,    his   x   mark.       Original: 
Mikohopaii.     King-  of  the  War-chief. 

The  names  of  twelve  Choc  taws  are  omitted   who  signed 
this  treaty. 


AGREEMENT. 

>  CONCLUDED  AUGUST  31st,   1803,     BETWEEN    THE   CHOCTAW 
NATION  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

i     / 
To  whom  these  presents  shall  come:       , 

Know  ye,  that  the  undersigned  commissioners  plenipo 
tentiary  of  the  United  States  of  America,  of  the  one  part,  and 
the  whole  Choctaw  Nation  of  the  other  part,  being-  dulf  au 
thorized  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  by  the 
chiefs  and  head  men  of  said  Nation,  do  hereby  establish,  in 
conformity  to  the  convention  of  Fort  Confederation,  for  the 
line  of  demarkation  recognized  in  said  convention,  the  follow 
ing  metes  and  bounds,  viz:  Beginning  at  the  channel  of  the 
Hatche  at  the  point  where  the  line  of  limits  between  the 
United  States  and  Spain  crosseth  the  same,  thence  up  the 
channel  of  said  river  to  the  confluence  of  the  Chickasaw-hay 
(corruption  of  Chikasahha)  and  Buckhatannee  (corruption  of 
Buchchah,  a  range  of  hills)  and  Haiitah  (to  be. .bright)  rivers, 
thence  up  the  channel  of  the  Buchhatannee  to  Boque  Hooma 
(corruption  of  Bokhumma,  Red  Creek,  thence  up  said  creek 
to  a  pine  tree  standing  on  the  left  bank  of  the  same,  and 
blazed  on  two  of  its  sides,  about  twelve  links  southwest  of  an 
old  trading  path,  leading  from  the  town  of  Mobile  to  the 
Hewanee  towns,  much  worn,  but  not  in  use  at  the  present 
time.  From  this  tree  we  find  the  following  bearings  and 
distances,  viz:  south  54  degrees  30  minutes  west,  one  chain, 
one  link,  a  blackgum,  north  39  degrees  east,  one  chain,  75 
links,  water  oak;  thence  with  the  old  British  line  of  partition 
in  its  various  inflections  to  a  mulberry  post,  planted  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  main  branch  of  Sintee  Bogue,  (cor.  of  Sinti 
Bok  and  pro.  as  Seen-tih  Boke,  Snake  Creek)  where  it  makes 
a  sharp  turn  to  the  south  east,  a  large  broken  top  cypress 
tree  standing  near  the  opposite  bank  of  the  creek,  which  is 
about  three  poles  wide,  theaice  down  the  said  creek  to  the 
Tombigbee  and  Mobile  rivers  to  the  above  mentioned  line  of 
limits  between  the  tTnited  States  and  Spain,  and  with  the 
same  to  the  point  of  beginning;  and  we,  the  said  commission 
ers  plenipotentiary,  do  ratify  and  confirm  the  said  line  of 


HISTORY    OF    THK   INDIANS.  107 

demarkation,  and  do  recog'nize  and  acknowledge  the  same  to 
be  the  boundary  which  shall  separate  and  distinguish  the 
land  ceded  to  the  United  States,  between  the  Tombigbee, 
Mobile  and  Pascagola  rivers,  from  that  which  has  hot  been 
ceded  by  the  said  Choctaw  Nation.  (Tombigbee,  corruption 
of  Itombiikbi,  Boxmaker;  Mobile,  corruption  of  Momabinah, 
A  lodge  for  all;  Pascag'ola,  corruption  of  Puskaokla,  Bread 
people).  In  testimony  whereof,  wre  hereunto  affix  our 
hands  and  seals,  this  31st,  day  of  August,  1803,  to  triplicates 
of  this  tenor  and  date.  Done  at  Hoe-Buck-intoopa,  (corrup 
tion  of  Hoburk,  coward  intakobi  lazy)  the  day  and  year  above 
written,  and  in  the  27th  year  of  the  independence  of  the 
United  States. 

JAMES  WILKEKSON. 

""Corrupted:     Mingo   Pooscoos,    his   x     mark;     Original: 
Mikopuscus  (pro.  Mik-o  Poos-koosh)  Infant  King.  , 

Corrupted:     Alatala     Hooma,    his    x    mark.     Original: 
Alatalihhumma,  (pro.  Ar-lah-tah-lih  hoom.mah.) 
Witnesses  present:     Joseph  Chambers,  U.  S.  Factor. 
Young  Gaines,  Interpreter, 
John  Bowyer,  Capt.  2nd  U.  S.  Regt. 

We  the  commissioners  of  the  Choctaw  nation,  duly 
appointed,  and  the  chiefs  of  the  said  nation  who  reside  on  the 
Tombigbee  river,  next  to  Sintee  Bogue,  do  acknowledge  to 
have  received  from  the  United  States  of  America,  by  the 
hand  of  Brigadier  General,  James  Wilkerson,  as  a  considera 
tion  in  full  for  the  confirmation  of  the  above  concession,  the 
following  articles,  viz.;  fifteen  pieces  of  strands,  three  rifles, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  blankets,  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
of  powder,  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  lead,  one  bridle, 
and  man's  saddle,  and  one  black  silk  handkerchief.  (Thus 
we  have  an  exhibition  of  the  wonderful  generosity  expressed 
in  the  Government's  reiterated  "To  give  peace  to  all  the 
Choctaw  nation,"  and  the  meaning  of  "and  receive  them  into 
favor  and  protection  of  the  United  States  of  America," 
Wonderful  protection!  to  take  advantage  of  their  ignorance 
in  the  value  of  their  lands,  and  disposses  them  of  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  acres  for  a  few  pounds  of  powder  and  lead, 
a  few  blankets,  a  saddle  and  bridle,  and  lastly  though  not 
least,  "one  black  silk  handkerchief." 

Mingo  Pooscoos,  his  x  mark. 
Alatala  Hooma,  his  x  mark. 
Commissioners  of  the  Choctaw  nation. 
Corrupted:       Pio     Mingo,     his      x     mark          Original:' 
Pin  Miko.     Our  chief. 

Corrupted:     Pasa  Mastubby  Mingo,  his  x  mark.     Origi- 


108  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

nal:     Pisahmiahubih    Miko,    (pro.  Pe-sah-me-ah-ub-ih   Miko. 
To  see,  go  ahead  and  kill  the  chief.) 

In  November,  1805,  another  portion  of  their  country  was 
ceded  to  the  United  States;  and  in  October,  1816,  still  another 
portion;  and  October  18,  1820,  another  portion  was  ceded  for 
and  in  consideration  of  a  tract  of  country  west  of  the  Missis 
sippi  river,  being  between  the  Arkansas  and  Red  rivers,  the 
lines  of  which  were  to  be  ascertained  and  distinctly  marked, 
by  commissioners  for  that  purpose,  to  be  accompanied  by 
such  persons  as  the  Choctaws  might  select.  Again,  January 
20th,  1825,  they  ceded  another  portion  of  their  lands,  east  of 
the  Mississippi  river,  to  the  United  States.  Then  in  Sep 
tember,  1830,  the  climax  of  the  white  man's  greediness  as 
far  as  the  Choctaws  w.ere  involved,  was  reached,  by  forcing 
that  people  to  cede  the  last  acre  of  land  they  possessed  east 
of  the  Mississippi  river.  And  thus  by  hypocrisy,  deception, 
fraud,  misrepresentation  and  unblushing  falsehood,  has  the 
octopus  arm  of  white  avarice  seized  in  its  insatiable 
embrace  the  Indians'  country  from  Maine  to  California,  un 
til  scarcely  enough  is  left  them  upon  which  to  eke  out  a  mis 
erable  existence;  and  yet,  year  by  year,  generation  by 
generation,  the  grasp  widens  and  tightens,  and  creeps  fur 
ther  and  futrher  upon  them  until  with  its  stiff-necked,  in 
corrigible  brutishness,  its  hissing  is  heard,  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  vibrating  upon  that  harp  of  a 
thousand  strings  that  still  remains  in  tune  to  the  same  old 
howl  "Open  to  white  settlement,  open  up  to  white  settle 
ment." 


A  TREATY  OF  LIMITS. 

CONCLUDED  NOVEMBER   IbTH,    1805,  BKTWKICN  THK  CHOCTAW 
NATION  AND  THK  UNITED  STATES. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  President  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  by  James  Robertson,  of  Tennessee,  Silas  Dins- 
more,  of  New  Hampshire,  agent  of  the  United  States  to  the 
Choctaws,  commissioners  plenipotentiary  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  one  part,  and  [the  Mingoes,  chiefs,  and  war 
riors  of  the  Choctaw  Nation  of  Indians,  in  council  assembled 
on  the  other  part,  have  entered  into  the  following  agree 
ment,  viz. : 

Article  1st. — The  Mingoes,  chiefs,  and  warriors,  of  the 
Choctaw  Nation  of  Indians,  in  behalf  of  themselves  and  the 
said  Nation,  do,  by  these  presents,  cede  to  the  United  States 
of  America,  all  the  lands  to  which  they  now  have  or  ever  had 


HISTORY  OF  THK  INDIANS.  109 

claim,  lying- to  the  right  of  the  following  lines;  to  say,  Be 
ginning  at  a  branch  of  theHumecheeto  (Cor.  of.Humma  chitoh, 
being  greatly  red),  where  the  same  is  intersected  by  the 
path  leading-  from  Natches  to  the  county  of  Washington, 
usually  called  McClary's  path,  thence  eastwardly  along 
McClar^y's  path,  to  the  east  or  left  bank  of  Pearl  river, 
thence  on  such  a  direct  line  as  would  touch  the  lower  end  of 
a  bluff  on  the  left  bank  of  Chickasaw  hay  river,  the  first 
above  the  JJiyoo  wunnee  (corruption  of  Hiohlib,  Standing, 
uni,  berries)  towns,  called  Broken  Bluff,  thence  in  a  direct 
line  nearly  parallel  with  the  river,  to  a  point  whence  an  east 
line  of  four  miles  in  length  will  intersect  the  river  below  the 
lowrest  settlement  at  present  occupied  and  improved  in  the 
Hiyoo  wunnee  town,  thence  still  east  four  miles,  thence  in  a 
direct  line  nearly  parallel  with  the  river  to  a  point  to  be  run 
from  the  lower  end  of  the  Broken  Bluff  to  Falukta  bunnee 
(corruption  of  Falakna,  a  fox  squirrel,  and  bunna,  one  who 
wants)  on  the  Tom  big-bee  riyer,  four  miles  from  the  Broken 
Bluff,  thence  along  the  said  line  to  Falukta  bunnee,  thence 
east  to  the  boundary  between  the  Creeks  and  Choctawrs  on 
the  ridge  dividing  the  waters  running  into  the  Alabama  from 
those  running-  into  the  Tombig'bee,  thence  southwardly  along 
the  said  ridge  and  boundary  to  the  southern  point  of  the 
Choctaw  claim.  Reserving-  a  tract  of  two  miles  square,  run 
on  meridians  an4  parallels,  so  as  to  include  the  houses  and 
improvements  in  the  town  of  Fuket  chee  poonta,  (corrup 
tion  of  Fakit  chipinta,  and  pr6.  as  Fah-kit  che-pin-tah,  Tur 
key  very  small),  and  reserving  also  a  tract  of  5120  acres,  be 
ginning  at  a  post  on  the  left  bank  of  Tombigbee  river  op 
posite  the  lower  end  of  Hatch  a  tigbee  (corruption  of  Ha- 
chotukni — pro.  Har-cho-tuk-nih,  Loggerhead  turtle)  Bluff, 
thence  ascending  the  river  four  miles  front  and  two  back  ; 
one  half  for  the  use  of  Alzira,  the  other  half  for  the  use  of 
Sophia,  daughters  of  Samuel  Mitchell,  by  Molly,  a  Choctaw 
woman.  The  latter  reserve  to  be  subject  to  the  same  laws 
and  regulations  as  may  be  established  in  the  circumjacent 
country;  and  the  said  Mingoes  of  the  Choctaw,  request  the 
government  of  the  United  States  to  confirm  the  title  of  this 
reserve  in  the  said  Alzira  an,d  Sophia. 

Article  2nd. — For  and  in  consideration  of  the  foregoing 
cession  on  the  part  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  and  in  full  satis 
faction  for  the  same,  the  commissioners  of  the  United  States 
do  hereby  covenant  and  agree  with  the  said  Nation,  in  behalf 
of  the  United  States,  that  the  said  States  shall  pay  to  the  said 
Nation  fifty  thousand  and  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  follow 
ing  purposes,  to  wit,  forty-eight  thousand  dollars  to  enable 
the  Mingoes  to  discharge  the  debt  due  to  their  merchants  and 


110  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

traders  (thus  went  the  poor  Choctaws'  land  and  money,  to  a 
set  of  white  sharpers;)  and  also  pay  for  the  depredations 
committed  on  stock  and  other  property,  by  evil  disposed 
persons  of  the  said  Choctaw  Nation;  (but  who  were  the  "evil 
disposed  persons  of  the  said  Choctaw  Nation"?  No  other 
than  the  white  refugees  from  the  violated  laws  of  the  States, 
who  had  fled  to  the  Choctaw  Nation,  and  of  whose  character 
the  Choctaws  were  wholly  ignorant;  they  stole  horses  and 
kille.d  cattle,  not  belonging  to  the  Choctaws  for  they  feared 
them,  but  belonging  to  the  white  traders,  who  charged 
up  their  losses,  duly  exaggerated,  to  the  Choctaws,  thus 
they  were  swindled  and  robbed  by  the  shrewd,  but  not  too 
honest,  white  traders  through  a  credulous  government — the 
truth  in  a  nut  shell.) 5 twenty-five  hundred  dollars  to  be  paid 
to  John  Pitchlynn,  to  compensate  him  for  certain  losses  sus 
tained  in  the  Choctaw  Country,  and  as  a  grateful  testimonial 
of  the  Nation's  esteem.  And  the  said  States  shall  also  pay 
annually  to  the  said  Choctaws,  for  the  use  of  the  Nation, 
three  thousand  dollars,  in  such  goods  (at  net  cost  in  Phila 
delphia)  as  the  Mingoes  may  choose,  they  giving  at  least  one 
year's  notice  of  such  choice. 

Article  3d.— The  commissioners  of  the  United  States, 
on  the  part  of  the  said  States,  engage  to  give  to  each  of  the 
three  great  medal  Mingoes  Puckshuiinubbee  (corruption  of 
Apucksheubih)  Mingo  Hoomastubbee  (corruption  of  Humma- 
ubi,  Red  Killer)  and  Poosshamattaha  (corruption  of  Anuma- 
ishtayaubih,  a  messenger  of  death),  five  .hundred  dollars,  in 
consideration  of  past  services  in  their  Nation,  and  also  to  pay 
to  each  of  them  an  annuity  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
during  their  continuance  in  office.  It  is  perfectly  under 
stood,  that  neither  of  those  medal  Mingoes  is  to  share  any 
part  of  the  general  annuity  of  the  Nation. 

Article  4th. — The  Mingoes,  chiefs,  and  warriors  of  the 
Choctaws,  certify  that  a  tract  of  land,  not  exceeding  fifteen 
hundred  acres,  situated  between  the  Tombigbee  river  and 
Jackson's  creek,  the  front  or  river  line  extending  down  the 
river  from  a  blazed  white  oak,  standing  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Tombigbee,  near  the  head  of  the  shoal,  next  above  Ho- 
bukenloopa  (corruption  of  Hobachit  Yukpa,  a  laughing 
echo),  and  claimed  by  John  McGrew,  was,  in  fact,  granted  to 
the  said  McGrew  by  Opiomingo  Hesmitta,  (corruption  of  the 
words  Hopoamikohimmittah,  The  hungry  young  chief)  and 
others,  many  years  ago,  and  they  respectfully  request  the 
government  of  the  'United  States  to  establish"  the  claim  of 
the  said  McGrew  to  the  said  fifteen  hundred  acres. 

Article  5th. — The 'two  contracting  parties  covenant  and 
agree,  that  the  boundary,  as  described  in  the  second  article, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  Ill 

shall  be  ascertained  and  plainly  marked,  in  such  way  and 
manner  as  the  President  of  the  United  States  may  direct,  in 
the  presence  of  three  persons  to  be  appointed  by  the  said 
Nation;  one  from  each  of  the  great  medal  districts,  each  of 
whom  shall  receive  for  their  service  two  dollars  per  day  for 
his  actual  attendance;  and  the  Choctaws  shall  have  due  and 
reasonable  notice  of  the  place  where,  and  time  when  'the 
operation  shall  commence. 

The  first  article  is  presumed  to  be  meant.  The  second 
does  not  designate  a  boundary : 

Article  6th. — The  lease  granted  for  establishments  on 
the  roads  leading-  through  the  Choctaw  country,  is  hereby 
confirmed  in  all  its  conditions;  and,  except  in  the  alteration 
of  boundary,  nothing-  in  the  instrument  shall  affect  or  change 
any  of  the  pre-existing-  obligation  of  the  cortracting  parties. 

Article  7th. — This  treaty  shall  take  effect  and  become 
reciprocally  obligatory  so  soon  as  the  same  shall  have  been 
ratified  by  the, President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  by 
and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States. 

Done  on  Mount  Dexter,  in  Pooshapukanuk  (corruption 
of  Pashiakona,  Unto  the  dust)  in  the  Choctaw  country,  this 
the  6th  of  November,  1805,  and  of  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  of  America  the  thirtieth.  ' 

JAMKS  ROBE  TSON, 
SILAS  DINSML  Ni, 

Commissioners. 
Puchunmibbee,  his  x  mark 
Mingo  Hoomastubbe,  his  x  mark, 
Pooshamattah,  his  x  mark, 

Great  Medal  Mingoes. 
Chiefs  and  Warriors: — 

Corruption  Ookchummee,  his  x  mark;  original,  Okchulih, 
Tiller  of  the  land, 

Corruption  Tushamiuboee,  his  x  mark;  Tusuhahmutu- 
bih,  to  whoop  and  also  kill,  and  thirty-one  others. 


A  TREATY   OF    CESSION 

CONCLUDED,   OCTOBER  24TH,   1816,   BETWEEN   THE   CHOCTAW 
NATION  AND  THE  UNITED  STATICS. 

A  treaty  of  cession  between  the   United   States   of   America 

and  the  Choctaw  Nation  of  Indians. 

James  Madison,  President  of  the  United  States  of  Amer 
ica,    by    General    Coffee,    John    Rhea,    and    John    McKee, 


112  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

Esquires,  commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
duly  authorized  for  that  purpose,  on  the  one  part,  and  the 
Mingoes,  leaders,  Captains,  and  warriors,  of  the  Choctaw 
Nation,  in  general  council  assembled,  in  behalf  of  themselves 
and  the  whole  Nation,  on  the  other  part,  have  entered  into 
the  following-  articles,  which,  when  ratified  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Sen 
ate,  shall  be  obligatory  on  both  parties: 

Article  Isti — The  Choctaw  Nation,  for  the  consideration 
hereafter  mentioned,  cede  to  the  United  States  all  their  title 
and  claim  to  land  lying1  east  of  the  following1  boundary, 
beginning-  at  the  mouth  of  Oaktibuha  (corruption  of  O-ka, 
water,  it-tib-ih,  having  fought)  river,  the  Chickasaw  boun 
dary,  and  running  thence  down  the  Tombigbee  river,  until  it 
intersects  the  northern  boundary  of  a  cession  made  to  the 
United  States  by  the  Choctaws  at  Mount  Dexter,  on  the  16th 
of  November,  1805. 

Article  2nd. — In  consideration  of  the  foregoing  cession, 
the  United  States  engage  to  pay  to  the  Choctaw  Nation  the 
sum  of  six  thousand  dollars  annually,  for  twenty  years;  they 
also  agree  to  pay  them  in  merchandize,  to  be  delivered  imme 
diately  on  signing  the  present  treaty,  the  sum  of  ten  thou 
sand  dollars. 

Thus  we  again  see  the  Choctaws  swindled  out  of  their 
lands,  by  getting  only  as  many  thousands  of  dollars  for  their 
lands  as  they  were  worth  in  as  many  millions.  But  we  had 
taken  them  under  our  fatherly  protection,  and,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  they  must  pay  for  so  great  a  favor  and  so  great  a 
blessing. 

Done  and  executed  in  full  and  open  council,  (but  by 
much  misrepresentation  and  dissimulation,  as  will  be  here 
after  shown)  at  the  Choctaw  trading  house,  October  24th, 
1816,  and  of  the  independence  of  the  United  States  the  forty- 
first.  JOHN  COFFEE, 

JOHN  RHEA, 
JOHN  McKEE, 
Mushoolatubbe,  his  x  mark, 
Pooshamallaha,  his  x  mark, 
Pukshunnubbee,  his  x  mark, 

TREATY. 

CONCLUDED,  OCTOBER    18,    1820,     BETWEEN    THE    CHOCTAW 
NATION  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

A  treaty  of  friendship,  limits  and  accommodation,  be 
tween  the  United  States  of  America  and  the  Choctaw  Nation 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  113 

of  Indians,  began  and    concluded    at   the   treaty   ground,'   in 
said  nation,  near  Doak's  Stand,  on  the  Natchez  road. 

Preamble:  Whereas,  it  is  an  important  object  with  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  to  promote  the  civilization  of 
the  Choctaw  Indians,  by  the  establishment  of  schools 
amongst  them;  and  to  perpetuate  them  as  a  nation,  by  ex 
changing,  for  a  small  part  of  their  land  here,  a  country  be 
yond  the  Mississippi  river,  where  all,  who  live  by  hunting, 
and  will  not  work,  may  be  collected  and  settled  together: 
And  whereas,  it  is  desirable  to  the  State  of  Mississippi,  to 
obtain  a  small  part  of  the  land  belonging  to  said  nation;  for 
the  mutual  accommodation  of  the  parties,  and  for  securing 
the  happiness  and  protection  of  the  whole  Choctaw  nation, 
as  well  as  preserving  that  harmony  and  friendship  which  so 
happily  subsists  between  them  and  the  United  States,  James 
Monroe,  President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  by 
Andrew  Jackson,  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  Major  General 
in  the  army  of  the  United  States,  and  General  Thomas 
Hinds,  of  the  State  of  Mississippi,  commissioners  plenipo 
tentiary  of  the  United  States,  on  the  one  part,  and  the  Min- 
goes,  head  men,  and  warriors,  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  in  full 
council  assembled,  on  the  other  part,  hav&  freely  and  volun 
tarily  entered  into  the  following  articles,  viz.:  to  promote  the 
civilization  of  the  Choctaw  Indians,  by  the  establishment  of 
schools  among  them,  and  to  perpetuate  them  as  a  Nation, 
and  securing  the  happiness  of  the  whole  Choctaw  Nation: 

Article  1st. — To  enable  the  President  of  the  United 
States  to  carry  into  effect  the  above  grand  and  humane  ob 
ject,  the  Mingoes,  head  men,  and  warriors,  of  the  Choctaw 
Nation  in  full  council, assembled,  in  behalf  of  themselves  and 
said  Nation,  do,  by  these  presents,1  cede  to  the  United 
States  of  America,  all  the  land  lying  and  being  within  the 
boundaries  following,  to-wit:  Beginning  on.  the  Choctaw 
boundary,  eastpfPearl'river,'at  a  point  due  south  of  the  White 
Oak  spring,  on  the  old  Indian  path;  thence  north  to  said 
spring;  thence  northwardly  to  a  black  oak,  standing  on  the. 
Natchez  road,  about  forty  poles  eastwardly  from  Doak's 
fence,  marked  A.  J.  and  blazed;  thence,  a  straight  line  to  the 
head  of  Black  Creek,  or  Bogue  Loosa  (original  Bok  Lusa), 
thence,  down  Black  Creek,  or  Bogue  Loosa,  to  a  small  lake; 
thence,  a  direct  course,  so  as  to  strike  the  Mississippi  o'rre- 
mile  below  the  mouih  of  the  Arkansas  river;  thence,  down 
the  Mississippi  to  our  boundary;  thence,  around  and  along 
the  same  to  the  beginning. 

Article  3rd. — ,  To  prevent  any  dispute  upon  the  sub 
ject  of  the  boundary  mentioned  in  the  First  and  Second 
Articles,  it  is  hereby  stipulated  between  the  parties,  that 


114  HISTORY  OF  THK  INDIANS. 

the  same  shall  be  ascertained  and  distinctly  marked  by  a 
commissioner,  or  commissioners,  to  be  appointed  by  -the 
United  States,  accompanied  by  such  person  as  the  Choctaw 
Nation  may  select ;  said  Nation  having-  thirty  days  previous 
notice  of  the  time. and  place  at  which  the  operation  will  com 
mence.  The  person  so  chosen  by  the  Choctaws,  shall  act  as 
a  pilot  or  guide,  for  which  the  United  States  will  pay  him 
two  dollars  per  day,  whilst  actually  engaged  in  the  performa- 
tion  of  that  duty. 

Article  4th.  The  boundaries  hereby  established  be 
tween  the  Choctaw  Indians  and  the  United  States,  011  this 
side  of  the  Mississippi  river,  shall  remain  without  alteration 
until  the  period  at  which  said  Nation  shall  become  so  civiliz 
ed  and  enlightened  as  to  be  made  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
and  Congress  shall  lay  off  a  limited  parcel  of  land  for  the 
benefit  of  each  family  included  in  the  Nation. 

Yet,  that  "period  at  which  said  nation  shall  become  so 
civilized  and  enlightened  as  to  be  made  citizens  of  the  United 
States,"  never  was  realized,  since  "the  boundaries"  did 
not  "remain  without  alteration"  by  the  open  violation  of  said 
4th,  article  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  as  will  be  fully 
shown  and  established;  proving  that  our  professed  desire 
and  vociferous  declarations,  concerning  the  civilization,  the 
moral  and  intellectual  interest  of  the  Choctaws,  were  myths, 
palpable  falsehoods,  assumed  and  practised  to  deceive  the 
Choctaws  and  thereby  take  advantage  of  their  credulity,  as  it 
is  manifested  even  unto  the  present  day  with  unblushing 
boldness  in  our  dealing  with  the  entire  Indian  race,  feeling 
the  reproof  of  conscience  in  our  injustice  and  inhumanity  to 
that  unfortunate  and  helpless  people,  and  our  determination 
to  rob  them  of  their  last  acre  of  land,  as  a  wave  separated  for 
a  moment  by  the  course  of  a  ship  that  passes  through  it. 

Article  5th.— For  the  purpose  of  aiding  and  assisting  the 
poor  Indians,  who  wish  to  remove  to  the  country  hereby 
ceded  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  to  enable  them  to 
do  well  and  support  their  families,  the  commissioners  of  the 
United  States  engage,  in  behalf  of  said  States,  to  give  to  each 
warrior  a  blanket,  kettle,  rifle  gun,  bullet  mould  and  nip 
pers,  and  ammunition  for  hunting  and  defence,  for  one  year. 
Said  warrior  shall  also  be  supplied  with  corn  to  support  him 
and  his  family,  for  the  same  period,  and  whilst  travelling  to 
the  country  above  ceded  to  the  Choctaw  Nation."  (Mirabile 
dictu!  When  before,  in  all  the  annals  of  time,  was  there 
such  a  display  of  munificence  in  the  simple  manifestation  of 
an  expressed  desire  "to  promote  the  civilization  of  the  Chot- 
taw  Indians,  and  for  securing  their  happiness  and  protec 
tion."  The  bestowal  of  "a  blanket,  kettle,  rifle  gun,  bullet 


HISTORY  OF  TITE  INDIANS.  115 

mould  and  nippers."  Wonderful!  Indeed,  did  not  the 
angels  of  heaven  look  with  profound  astonishment  at  such  a 
display  of  human  magnanimity  in  its  effort  "to  promote  the 
civilization  of  the  Choctaw  Indians,"  and  bring-  them  into  the 
folds  of  Christianity?  Surely  the  devil  may  give  up  his  chase 
after  the  souls  of  the  Choctaws,  since  they  have  such  a  lov 
ing  and  powerful  protector  in  the  United  States  of  America. 
Magnanimous  United  States  !  Well  may  we  make  the  welkin 
ring  with  our  huzzas  of  Liberty,  freedom  and  equal  rights  to 
all  people  of  earth's  remotest  bound,  when  in  the  magnani 
mity  of  our  Christian  zeal  "to  promote  the  civilization  of  the 
Choctaws,"  we  made  that  munificent  bequest  of  "a  blanket, 
flap,  kettle,  rifle  gun,  bullet  moulds  and  nippers."  and  then 
drove  them  to  that  distant  wilderness,  as  far  from  the  means 
of  being  benefitted  by  the  influences  of  Christianity  as  we 
could  drive  them,  there  to  be  civilized  and  Christianized  by 
our  remarkable  munificent  gifts.) 

Article  6th. — The  commissioners  of  the  United  States' 
further  covenant  and  agree,  on  the  part  of  said  States,  that 
an  agent  shall  be  appointed,  in  due  time,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Choctaw  Indians  who  may  be  permanently  settled  in  the 
country  ceded  to  them  beyond  the  Mississippi  river,  and,  at 
a  convenient  period,  a  factor  shall  be  sent  there  with  goods, 
to  supply  their  wants.  A  blacksmith  shall  also  be  settled 
amongst  them,  at  a  point  most  convenient  to  the  population; 
and  a  faithful  person  appointed,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to 
use  every  reasonable  exertion  to  collect  all  the  wandering 
Indians  belonging  to  the  Choctaw  Nation,  upon  the  land 
hereby  provided  for  their  permanent  settlement. 

Article  7th. — Out  of  the  lands  ceded  by  the  Choctaw 
Nation  to  the  United  States,  the  commissioners  aforesaid,  in 
behalf  of  said  States,  further  covenant  and  agree  that  fifty- 
four  sections  of  one  mile  square  shall  be  laid  out  in  good 
land,  by  the  President  £>f  the  United  States,  and  sold,  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  a  fund,  to  be  applied  to  the  support  of  the 
Choctaw  schools,  on  both  sides  of  the  Mississippi  river. 
Three-fourths  of  said  fund  shall  be  appropriated  for  the 
benefit  of  the  schools  here;  and  the  remaining  fourth  for  the 
establishment  of  one  or  more  beyond  the  Mississippi;  the 
whole  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  to  be  applied  by  him, 
expressly  and  exclusively,  to  this  valuable  object. 
(But  what  was  the  result  of  this  appropriation  "fifty- 
four  sections"  of  their  land  to  the  establishing  and 
supporting  "of  the  Choctaw  schools,  on  both  sides  of  the' 
Mississippi  river."  In  ten  years  after,  when  hundreds  of 
dollars,  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  fifty-four  sections  of  their 


116  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

own  lands,;  had  been  used  in  establishing'  schools,  and  these 
schools  were  nourishing-  all  over  their  country,  I  speak  of 
that  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  though,  in  spite  of 
embarrassments,  adversities  and  misfortunes,  they  \vere 
making-  the  most  rapid  progress  in  civilization  and  Chris 
tianity,  a  quietus  was  placed  upon  everything-  by  the  United 
States  forcing'  them  to  sell  their  entire  land  possessions  to 
them,  and  driving-  them,  by  the  unmerciful  hand  of  arbitrary 
power,  to  the  distant  wilderness  in  the  west  where  they  had 
driven  the  former,  there  to  civilize  themselves  by  means  of 
a  "blanket,  flap,  kettle,  rifle  g"un,  moulds  and  nippers, 'v 
while  their  schools  and  the  "fifty-four  sections  of  land"  be 
came  thing's  of  the  past  to  the  Choctaw,  to  be  heard  of  no 
more  by  them  ;  and  thus  we  sacrificed  this  trusting-  people, 
our  faithful  allies,  to  our  avarice,  more  odious  in  all  its  feat 
ures  than  even  the  nefarious  proposal  which  Themistocles 
sug-g-ested  to  Aristides,  of  burning"  the  ships  of  the  allies  at 
the  very  time  in  which  they  were  engaged  in  fighting 
for  the  common  liberties  of  Greece;  since  he  was  blinded 
by  the  glare  of  military  glory,  but  we  by  a  sordid,  debas 
ing  and  degrading  avarice. 

Article  8th. — To  remove  any  discontent  which  may  have 
arisen  in  the  Choctaw  Nation,  in  consequence  of  six  thousand 
dollars  of  their  annuity  having'  been  appropriated  annually 
for  sixteen  years^by  some  of  their  chiefs,  for  the  support  of 
their  schools,  the  commissioners  of  the  United  States  oblige 
themselves,  on  the  part  of  said  States,  to  set  apart  an  addi 
tional  tract  of  land,  for  raising*  a  fund  equal  to  that  given  by 
said  chiefs,  so  that  the  whole  of  the  annuity  may  remain  in 
the  Nation,  and  be  divided  amongst  them.  And  in  order 
that  exact  justice  may  be  done  to  the  poor  and  distressed  of 
said  Nation,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  agent  to  see  that,  the 
wants  of  every  deaf,  dumb,  blind,  ,and  distressed  Indian, 
shall  be  first  supplied  out  of  said  annuity,  and  the  balance 
equally  distributed  amongst  every  individual  of  said  Nation. 

Article  9th. — All  those  who  have  separate  settlements, 
and  fall  within  the  limits  of  the  land  added  by  the  Choctaw 
Nation  to  the  United  States,  and  who  desire  to  remain  where 
they  now  reside,  shall  be  secured  in  a.  tract  or  parcel  of  land 
one  mile  square,  to  include  their  improvements.  Any  one 
who  prefers  removing,  if  he  does  so  within  one  year  from 
the  date  of  this  treaty,  shall  be  paid  their  full  value,  to  be 
ascertained  by  two  persons  to  be  appointed  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States. 

Article  1.0th.— As  there  are  some  who  have  valuable 
buildings  on  the  roads  and  elsewhere,  should  they  remove,  it 
is  further  agreed  by  the  aforesaid  commissioners,  in  behalf 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  117 

of  the  United  States,  that  the  inconvenience  of  doing  so  shall 
be  considered,  and  such  allowance  made  as  will  amount  to  an 
equivalent.  For  this  purpose,  there  shall  be  paid  to  the 
Mingo  Puckshenubbe  (original,  A-pak-foh-li-chih-ubih),  five 
hundred  dollars;  to  Harrison,  two  hundred  dollars;  to  Cap 
tain  Cobb,  two  hundred  dollars;  to  William  Hays,  two  hun 
dred  dollars;  to  O'Gleno,  two  hundred  dollars;  and  to  all  oth 
ers  who  have  comfortable  houses,  a  compensation  in  the 
.same  proportion. 

Article  llth. — It  is  also  provided  by  the  commissioners 
of  the  United  States,  and  they  agree  in  behalf  of  said  States, 
that  those  Choctaw  chief  sand  warriors,  who  have  not  received 
compensation  for  their  services  during  the  campaign  to  Pen- 
sacola,  in  the  late  war,  shall  be  paid  whatever  is  due  them 
over  and  above  the  value  of  the  blanket,  shirt,  flap,  and  leg- 
gins,  which  have  been  delivered  to  them. 

Article  12th. — In  order  to  promote  industry  and  sobriety 
.-amongst  all  classes  of  the  Red  People  in  this  Nation,  but 
particularly  the  poor,  it  is  further  provided  by  the  parties 
that  the  agent  appointed  to  reside  here,  shall  be,  and  he  is, 
hereby,  vested  with  the  full  power  to  seize  and  confiscate  all 
the  whiskey  which  may  be  introduced  into  said'  Nation,  ex 
cept  that  used  at  public  stands,  or  brought  in  by  the  per 
mit  of  the  agent,  or  the  principal  chiefs  of  the  three  dis 
tricts. 

Thus  was  the  law  of  the  Choc  taws  forbidding  the  intro 
duction  of  anv  kind  and  all  kinds  of  spirituous  liquors  into 
their  country  virtually  abrogated,  and  their  strenuous  efforts 
to  keep  the  hideous  hydra  in  its  proper  place,  among  its 
makers  and  worshippers  (the  white  man)  proved  unavailing 
as  the  door  was  thus  opened  for  the  white  smugglers — of 
whom  the  agents  were  leaders. 

Article  13th. — To  enable  the  Mingoes,  chiefs,  and  head 
men/  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  to  raise  and  organize  a  corps  of 
light  horse,  consisting  of  ten  in  each  district,  so  that  good 
order  may  be  maintained,  and  that  all  men,  both  White  and 
Red,  may  be  compelled  to  pay  their  debts,  it  is  stipulated 
and  agreed,  that  the  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars  shall  be  ap 
propriated  by  the  United  States,  for  each  district,  annually, 
and  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  agent,  to  pay  the  expenses  in 
curred  in  raising  and  establishing  said  corps;  which  is  to 
act  as  executive  officers,  in  maintaing  good  order,  and  com 
pelling  bad  men  to  remove  from  the  Nation,  who  are  not 
authorized  to  live  in  it  by  a.  regular  permit  from  the  agent. 

Article  14th. — Whereas  the  father  of  the  beloved  chief 
Mushulatubbee  (original  Mosholatubil,  with  whom  I  was 
personally  acquainted),  of  the  lower  towns,  for  and  during  his 


118  HISTORY  OF  .THE  INDIANS.   . 

life,  did  receive  from  the  United  States  the  sum  of  one  hun 
dred  arid  fifty  dollars,  annually;'  it  is  hereby  stipulated,  that 
his  son  and  successor  Mushulatubbee,  shall  annually  be  paid 
the  same  amount  during  his  natural  life,  to  commence  from 
the  ratification  of  this  treaty.  * 

Article'  15th. — The  peace  and  harmony  subsisting-  be- 
tw.een  the  Choctaw  Nation  of  Incfians  and  the  United  States, 
are  'hereby  renewed,  continued,  and  declared  to  be  perpet 
ual. 

Article  16th. — These  articles  shall  take  effect,  and  be 
come  obligatory  on  the  contracting  parties,  so  soon  as  the 
same  shall  be  ratified  by  the  President,  by  and  with  the  'ad 
vice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

In  testimony  whereof,  the  commissioners  plenipoten 
tiary  of  the  United  States  and  the  Mingoes,  headmen  and 
warriors  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  have  hereunto  subscribed 
their  names  and  affixed  their  seals,  at  the  place  above  writ 
ten,  this  the  18th,  of  October,  1820,  and  of  the  independence 
of  the  United  States  the  forty  fifth. 

ANDREW  JACKSON, 
THOMAS  HINDS, 

Commissioners.. 
Medal  Mingoes:— 

Corrupted:  Puckshenubbee,  his  x  mark.  Original: 
A-pak-foh-li-chihub-ih. 

Corrupted:  Poohawattaha,  his  x  mark.  Original:  Ar- 
noom-pah-ish-tam-yah-ub-ih . 

One  hundred  and  twenty-eight  names  of  Choctaws,  who 
signed  this  treaty  are  omitted. 


COUNTY  DISPUTE. 

THE  DISPUTE  IN  THE  RIGHT  OF  OWNERSHIP  OF  GREEK  COUNTY 
BETWEEN  THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  TEXAS. 

The  petition  of  the  Attorney-General  of  the  United 
States  affirms  that  according  to  the  treaty  of  Feb.  22,  1819 
made  by  the  United  States  and  the  King  of  Spain,  which  was 
ratified  two  years  later,  and  so  proclaimed  by  both  the  Uni 
ted  States  and  Spain,  and  that  by  the  third  article  of  the 
treaty  it  was  provided  and  agreed  that  "the  boundary  line 
between  the  two  countries  west  of  the  Mississippi  River 
shall  begin  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  at  the  mouth  of  the  Sabine 
River,  in  the  sea,  continuing  north'  along  the,' western  bank 
of  that  river  to  the  thirty-second  degree  of  latitude;  thence  by 
a  line  due  north  to  the'*degree  of  latitude  where  it  strikes  the- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  119 

Rio  Roxo  of  Natchitoches  or  Red  River;  then  following"  the 
course  of  the  Rio  Roxo  westward  to  the  degree  of  longitude 
100  west  from  London  and  23  from  Washington;  then  cross 
ing  the  said  Red  River  and  running  thence  by  a  line  due 
north  to  the  river  Arkansas:  thence  following  the  course  of 
the  southern  bank  of  the  Arkansas  to  its  source  in  latitude  42 
north,  and  thence  by  that  parallel  of  latitude  to  the  South 
Sea.--  The  whole  being  as  laid  down  in  Melish's  map  of  the 
United  States,  published  at  Philadelphia,  improved  to  Jan 
uary,  1,  1818. 

"The  two  high  contracting  parties  agreeing  to  cede  and 
renounce  all  their  rights,  claims  and  pretensions  to  the  ter 
ritories  described  by  the  said  line.  That  is  to  say,  the 
United  States  hereby  cede  to  his  Catholic  majesty  and  re 
nounce  forever  all  their  claims,  rights,  and  pretensions  to 
the  territories  lying  west  and  south  of  the  above  described 
line,  and  in  like  manner  his  Catholic  majesty  cedes  to  the 
United  States  all  his  rights,  claims  and  pretensions  to  any 
territories  east  and  north  of  the  said  line,  and  for  himself, 
his  heirs  and  successors-  renounces  all  claim  to  the  said  ter 
ritory  forever." 

"The  petition  states  that  at  the  date  of  the  conclusion  of 
the  treaty  aforesaid  Mexico  constituted  a  part  of  the  Spanish 
monarchy,  but  that  Mexico,  subsequently,  in  the  year 
1824,  became  and  was  established  as  a  separate  and  indepen 
dent  power  and  government,  and  the  boundary  line  defined 
and  designated  in  the  treaty  of  1819,  aforesaid,  thereby  be 
came  in  part  the  boundary  line  between  the  United  States 
and  Mexico,  all  the  territory  of  the  state  of  Texas  being*  then 
a  part  of  the  Mexican  territory. 

"The  Attorney  General's  petition  to  the  court  then  goes 
on  to  review  the  different  movements  of  the  United  States 
and  Texas  commissioners  to  establish  the  line  between  the 
disputed  territory,  and  which  all  resulted  in  a  failure  -to 
agree. 

"The  Attorney  General  further  states  that  the  said 
state  of  Texas  has,  without  any  right  or  title  thereto,  claimed, 
taken  possession  of,  and  endeavored  to  extend  its  laws  and 
jurisdiction  over  the  said  parcel  or  tract  of  land  herein  'be 
fore  described,  and  does  still  claim,  hold  possession  of,  and 
exercise  certain  jurisdiction  over  the  same,  and  has  excluded 
the  United  States  from  possession  of  and  jurisdiction  over 
the  same  in  violation  of  the  treaty  rights  of  your  oratrix  as 
aforesaid;  all  of  which  your  oratrix  charges  is  a  manifest  in 
vasion  of  her  sovereign  rights  and  tends  to  the  disturbance 
of  that  amity  and  peace  which  ought  to  exist  between  the 
authorities  of  the  United  States  and  the  state  of  Texas. 
f 


120  __        .HISTORY.  OF   THE   INDIANS. 

\  "The  area  of  the  disputed  territory  is  one  million,  five 
hundred  and  eleven  thousand,  five  hundred  and  seventy  six 
and  seventeen  one  hundreds  acres, of  land. 

"The  petition  futher  states  that  the  south  fork  of  Red 
river  as  now  named  and  delineated  on  the  maps,  is  the  Rio 
Roxo  or  Red  river  delineated  on  Melish's  maps,  described  in 
the  treaty  of  February,  22,  1819,  and  as  the  boundary  line  of 
said  treaty  to  the  point  where  the  100th  degree  of  west  longi 
tude  crosses  the  same. 

''And  your  oratrix  futher  states  that  under  and  by  virtue 
of  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  1819,  between  the  United  States 
and  Spain,  she  became  entitled  to  possession  of  and  jurisdic 
tion  over  all  that  parcel  or  tract  of  land  which  lies  between 
what  has  been  herein  designated  as  the  Prairie  Dog"  town 
fork  or  Main  Red  river,  and  the  north  fork  or  Red  river, 
and  is  more  accurately  described  as  the  extreme  portion  of 
the  Indian  territory  lying  west  of  the  north  fork  of  Red 
river,  and  east  of  the  one  hundreth  meridian  of  west 
longitude  from  Greenwich;  that  she  has  never  voluntarily 
abandoned  or  relinquished  such  claim  to  title  and  jurisdic 
tion,  but  has  continually  asserted  the  same  at  all  times  since 
the  ratification  of  said  treaty  of  1819  up  to  the  present  time, 
and  does  still  assert  the  the  same;  that  said  tract  of  land  was 
never  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  or  claim  of  Spain  subsequent 
to  the  treaty  of  1819  aforesaid,  nor  was  it  subject  to  any  claim 
or  jurisdiction  on  the  part  of  Mexico  after  her  independence 
from  Spain  was  secured  and  asserted." 

The  following  clause  in  the  petition  of  the  Attorney-Gen 
eral  states  that  "in  consideration  whereof,  and  for  as  much 
as  your  oratrix  can  only  have  adequate  relief  in  the  premises 
in  a  court  of  equity;  where  matters  of  this  nature  are  prop 
erly  cognizable,  and  in  this  court  by  original  bill,  to  the 
end  for  the  purpose  of  determining  and  settling  the  true 
boundary  line  between  the'  United  -States  and  the  state  of 
Texas,  and  to  determine  and  put  at  rest  questions  whi^h 
now  exist  as  to  whether  the  Prairie  Dog  Town  fork  or  the 
North  fork  of  Red  river,  as  aforesaid,  constitutes  the  true 
boundary  line  of  the  treaty  of  1819,  aforesaid,  and  whether 
the  tract  or  parcel  of  land  lying'  and  being  between  two  said 
streams  and  called  by  the  authorities  of  the  state  of  Texas 
Greer  county,  is  within  the  boundary  and  jurisdiction  of  the 
United  States  or  of  the  state  of  Texas." 

Dr.  Gideon,  Lincicum  who  lived  in  Columbus, Miss,  several 
years  prior  to  the  exodus  of  the  Choctaws,  was  present  at 
the  treaty  held  by  General  Jackson  and  General  Hinds  at  a 
place  known  as  Doak's  Stand,  in  the  Choctaw  nation,  in  the 
fall  of  1820..  The  object  of  the  United  States  in  holding  this 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  121 

Ireaty  was  to  exchange  all  that  country  where  the  five  civil 
ized  tribes  now  reside  south  of  the  Canadian  River  for  a  strip 
of  territory  from  the  lower  and  western  part  of  the  then 
Choctaw  nation,  known  as  the  Huchchalusachitoh — pro.  as 
asHuch-chah  (River)  loo-sah  (black)  che-toh  (big-.)  i.  e.  Big 
Black  River  country.  A  great  many  Choctaw's  were  in  at 
tendance,  and  after  General  Jackson  had  read  the  commis 
sion  and  the  President's  letter  to  them,  in  a  lengthy  speech 
he  explained  the  object  and  purpose  for  which  they  had  been 
called  together.  He  declared  to  them,  that^  "to  promote 
their  civilization  by  the  establishing  of  schools  among  them, 
and  to  perpetuate  them  as  a  nation,  was  a  constant  solicitude 
with  the  president  of  the  United  States."  :  (But  the  sequel 
soon  proved  that  ''solicitude"  to  be  false.) 

"To  enable  the  President  to  effect  this  great  national 
.and  very  desirable  object  to  accommodate  the  growing  state 
of  Mississippi  ^and  thereby  secure  greater  safet}r  and  protec 
tion  to  the  Choctaws  and  their  'seminaries  of  learning  at 
home,  it  was  proposed  bv  him  to  exchange  for  a  small  part  of 
their  lands  here,  a  large  country  beyond  the  Mississippi 
river,  where  all  who  live  by  hunting  and  will  not  work,  and 
who  by  the  nature  of  their  mode  of  life  are  widely  scattered, 
may  be  collected  and  settled  together  in  a  country  of  tall 
trees,  many  water  courses,  rich  lands  and  high  grass, 
.abounding  in  game  of  all  kinds — buffalo,  bear  and  deer,  ante 
lope,  beaver,  turkeys,  honey,  and  fruits  of  many  kinds,  in 
this  great  hunting  ground  they  may  be  settled  near  together 
for  protection  and  to  be  able  to  pursue  their  peculiar  vocation 
without  dang-er. 

'Another  great  benefit  to  be  derived  from  this  arrange 
ment  would  be  the  removal  from  among  the  people  at  home 
who  are  alreadv  inclined  to  progress  and  civilization  of  the 
bad  -example  of  those  who,  in  their  wild  wandering  propensi 
ties  do  not  care  for  improvement.  The  project  recom 
mends  itself  to  the  thinking  portion  of  the  industrious  com 
munity,  while  it  will  provide  ample  means  for  the  protec 
tion  of  the  careless  stragglers  of  the  Nation. 

'The  tract  of  territory  which  the  President  proposes  to 
exchange  for  the  Big  Black  river  country  here,  lies  between 
the  Arkansas  and  Red  rivers.  It  is  a  large  and  extended 
country.  Beginning  where  the  lower  boundary  line  of  the 
Cherokees  strikes  the  Arkansas  river,  thence  up  the  Arkan 
sas  to  the  Canadian  river  fork;  thence  up  the  Canadian  to  its 
source,  thence  due  south  to  Red  river,  thence  down  Red  riv- 
«r  to  a  point  three  miles  below%  the  mouth  of  Little  river 
which  enters  into  Red  river  from  the  north,  thence  on  a  di 
rect  line  to  place  of  beginning. 


1-22  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

'This  extensive  rich  territory  is  offered  in  exchange  by 
the  President  for  the  little  strip  of  land  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
present  Choctaw  Nation.  It  is  a  much  larger  territory  than 
the  whole  of  your  possessions  this  side  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  and  is  certainly  a  very  liberal  proposition.  What  say 
the  chiefs  and  Choctaw  people  to  this  great  offer? 

"After  the  pipe  lighters  had  finished  handing  the  pipes- 
around  and  order  was  again  restored,  Apushamatahah  arose, 
and,  addressing  himself  to  his  own  people  first,  told  them 
the  man  who  had  just  finished  his  big  talk  was  the  great 
warrior,  General  Jackson,  of  whom  they  had  all  so  of  ten  heard. 
Many  of  them  had,  no  doubt,  seen  him  and,  like  himself,  had 
served  under  him  in  many  successful  battles.  His  great 
character  as  a  man  and  warrior,  in  addition  to  the  commis 
sion  he  bore  from  the  President  of  the  United  States,  de 
manded  from  the  Choctaw  people  respectful  replies  from  his. 
propositions,  and  for  that  purpose  he  moved  that  .the  council 
adjourn  until  the  middle  of  the  day,  to-morrow,  which  mo 
tion  was  carried  and  the  council  adjourned. 

"The  chiefs  and  head  men  went  into  secret  council  that 
night,  where  they  very  deliberately  discussed  the  merits  of 
the  propositions  that  "had  been  made  by  the  United  States 
commissioners.  They  considered  it  a  wise  and  benevolent 
proposition,  and,  notwithstanding  that  the  land  they  offered 
to  exchange  the  large  tract  of  western  territory  for  was- 
worth  more  to  them  at  this  time  than  two  such  countries  as 
the  one  they  were  offering,  with  the  Choctaws,  the  thing 
stood  very  differently,  particularly  in  relation  to  the  fixing 
of  a  home  for  our  wandering  hunters  in  the  midst  of  a  game- 
country.  However,  good  as  the  proposition  is,  we.  must  in 
this  case  adopt  the  white  man's  rules  in  the  transaction  and 
get  all  we  can  from  them.  General  Jackson  is  a  great  man, 
but  in  his  talk  in  making*  the  proposition  to  exchange  coun 
tries  he  has  been  guilty  of  misrepresentations  which  he 
knows  are  such,  and  others  which,  perhaps,  he  is  not  ap 
prised  of  their  being  false.  Our  plan  is  to  meet  him  in  the 
treaty  with  his  own  policy  and  let  the  hardiest  reap  the 
profits.  If  we  can  do  no  better  we  will  take  them  at  the  offer 
already  made."  "This  much  and  the  appointment  of  Apush 
amatahah  to  do  the  talking,  next  day  was  the  result  of  the 
secret  council. 

"When  at  12  o'clock  the  next  day  the  council 'had  assem 
bled,  the  commissioners  inquired  of  the  chiefs  if  they  liad 
come  to  an y  conclusion  on  the  subject  of  the  propositions 
made  to  them  yesterday  in  relation  to  the  exchange  of  coun 
tries?  Apushamatahah  arose  and  said  that  the  chiefs  and 
leaders  of  his  people  had  appointed  him  to  reply  to  the  com- 


/  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  123 

missioners  on  the  subject.  He  remarked  that  he  fully  ap 
preciated  the  magnitude  of  the  proposition  and  his  incom- 
peteiicy  ito  do  it  justice,  especially  while  in  contact  with  two 
such  master  minds  as  he  would  have  to  deal  with.  He  fur 
ther  remarked  that  when  any  business  was  intended  to  be 
fairly  and  honestly  transacted  it  made  no  difference  as  to  the 
capacity  of  the  contracting-  parties.  One  party  might  be  a 
great  man  as  General  Jackson,  the  other  a  fool,  but  the  re 
sult  would  be  the  same.  The  wise  man  in  such  cases  would 
protest  the  rights  of  the  fool,  holding  him  firm  on  safe  gound. 
From  what  he  had  already  heard  he  had  discovered  that  the 
great  transaction  now  about  to  take  plnce  between  friendly 
nations,  was  not  to  be  conducted  on  those  equitable  princi 
ples,  and  that  it  would  not  be  safe  for  him,  fool  as  he  was,  to 
rely  upon  any  such  expectations.  He  was  to  come  to  the 
contest  with  such  powers  as  he  possessed,  do  the  best  he 
ould  ,  and  his  people  must  be  satisfied  and  abide  the  results 
nd  consequences. 

The  object  and  benefits  to  be  derived  by  the  United 
States  were  very  great  and  desirable,  or  they  would  not 
have  sent  two  of  their  greatest  warrior  generals  to  conduct 
the  treaty  in  their  behalf.  He  was  friendly  toward  the 
United  States,  and  particularly  to  their  two  distinguished 
agents,  for  he  had  served  under  them  and  side  by  side  in  the 
hour  of  peril  and  deadly  strife,  had  aided  them  in  the  acqui 
sition  of  Florida  and  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Muscogee 
country  with  his  manhood,  and  as  many  of  his  countrymen 
as  he  could  persuade  to  take  part  in  the  dangers  of  the  en 
terprise.  Under  all  these  considerations  he  intended  to 
strike  the  bargain  in  the  exchange  of  countries  with  them  if 
he  could.  He  thought  it  was  one  of  those  kind  of  swaps,  if 
it  could  be  fairly  made,  that  would  accommodate  both  par 
ties.  He  should  do  his  best,  and  he  hoped  to  succeed  in 
presenting  the  thing  in  such  a  form  as  to  convince  the  com 
missioners  that  'further  misrepresentation  would  be  entire 
ly  unnecessary. 'D He  then  sat  down. 

"General  Jackson  arose  and  gravely  remarked:  'Broth 
er  Push,  you  have  uttered  some  hard  words.  You  have  ac 
cused  me  of  misrepresentation,  and  indirectly,  of  the  desire 
to  defraud  the  red  people  in  behalf  of  my  government. 
These  are  heavy  charges,  charges  of  a  very  serious  charac 
ter.  You  must  explain  yourself  in  a  manner  that  will,  clear 
them  up  or  I  shall  quit  you.'  "Apushamatahah  then 'arose 
and  made  a  long  explanatory  speech,  but  its  length  precludes 
its  production  here. 

"The  closing  portion  was,  'I  shall  take  much  pleasure 
in.  my  explanation  to  render  a  plain  and  irrefutable  inter- 


124       .  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

pretation  of  what  I  have  said,  and  which  will  present  in  a 
very  clear  light  the  misrepresentations  in  relation  to  the 
quality  of  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  size  of 
the  country  on  this  side  of  the  great  river. 

'In  the  first  place,  he  speaks  of  the  country  you  wish  to 
obtain  in  the  swap  as  a  little  slip  of  land  at  the  lower  part  of 
ihe  present  Choctaw  Nation,  whereas  it  is  a  very  consider 
able  tract  of  country.  He  has  designated  the  boundaries  of 
it,  and  I  am  very  familiar  with  the  entire  tract  of  land  it  will 
cut  off  from  us.  * 

"In  the  second  place,  he  represents  the  country  he  wishes 
to  exchange  for  the  'little  slip'  as  being-  a  very  extensive 
country 'of  tall  trees,  many  water -courses,  rich  lands  and 
liigh  grass,  abounding  in -game  of  all  kinds,  buffalo,  bear, 
elk,  deer,  antelope,  beavers,  turkey,  honey  and  fruits  of 
many  kinds.'  I  am  also  well  acquainted  with  that  country. 
I  have  hunted  there  often,  have  chased  the  Comanche  and 
Wichita  over  those  endless  plains,  and  they  too  have  some 
times  chased  me  there.  I  know  the  country  well.  It  is  in 
deed  a  very  extensive  land,  but  a  vast  amount  of  it  is  poor 
and  sterile,  trackless  and  sandy  deserts,  nude  of  vegetation 
-of  any  kind.  As  to  tall  trees,  there  is  no  timber  anywhere, 
^except  on  the  bottom  lands,  and  it  is  low  and  brushy  even 
there.  The  grass  is  everywhere  short;  as  for  the  game,  it 
is  not  plenty,  except  buffalo  and  deer.  The  buffalo,  in  the 
western  portion  of  the  .tract  described,  and  on  the  great 
plains  into  which  it  reaches,  are  very  numerous  and  easily 
taken.  Antelopes,  too,  are  there,  and  deer  almost  every 
where,  except  in  the  dry  grassless;  sandy  desert  There 
are  but  few  elk,  and  the  bear  are  plenty  only  on  the  Red  riv 
er  bottom  lands.  Turkey  are  plentiful  on  all  the  water 
courses.  There  are,  however,  but  few  beaver,  and  fruit  and 
honey  are  a  rare  thing.  The  bottoms  on  the  river  are  gen- 
erally  good  soil,  but  liable  to  inundation  during  the  spring 
/•season,  and  in  summer  the  rivers  and  creeks  drv  up  or  be 
come  so  salty  that  the  water  is  unfit  for  use.  It  is  not  at  these 
times  always  salty,  but  often  bitter  and  will  purge  a  man 
like  medicine. 

'This  account  differs  widely  from  the  description  given 
by  my  friend  yesterday,  and  constitutes  what,  in  my  reply 
to  him,  I  styled  a  misrepresentation.  He  has  proven  to  me 
by  that  misrepresentation  and  one  great  error  that  he  is  en 
tirely  ignorant  of  the  geography  of  the  country  he  is  offering 
to  swap,  and  therefore  I  shall  acquit  him  of  an  intentional 
fraud.  The  testimony  that  he  bears  against  himself,  in  re 
gard  to  his  deficiency  of  a  knowledge  of  that  far-off  country 
manifests  itself  in  the  fact  that  he  has  offered  to  swap  to  me 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  \  125 

an  undefined  portion  of  Mexican  territory.  He  offers  to  run 
the  line  up  the  Canadian  river  to  its  source,  and  thence  due 
south  to  the  Red  river.  Now,  I  know  that  a  line  running" 
due  south  from  the  source  of  the  Canadian  would  never  touch 
any  portion  of  Red  river,  but  would  go  into  the  Mexican  pos 
sessions  beyond  the  limits  even  of  my  geographical  knowl 
edge.' 

"General  Jackson  interrupting  him,  said:  'See  here,. 
Brother  Push,  you  must  be  mistaken.  Look  at  this  map. 
It  will  prove  to  you  at  once  that  .you  are  laboring  under  a 
great  geographical  error  yourself,'  and  he  spread  out  the 
map. 

"Apushamataha  examined  it  very  minutely,  while 
General  Jackson  traced  out  and  read  the  names  of  the  rivers" 
for  him.  Apushamatahah  said:  'T#e  paper  is  not  true.' 
"He  then  proceeded  to  mark  out  on  the  ground  with  the 
handle  of  the  pipe  hatchet,  which  he  held  in  his  hand  while 
speaking,  the  Canadian  and  the  upper  branches  of  Red 
river,  and  said,  holding  the  end  of  the  hatchet  handle  on  the 
ground,  'there  is  the  north,'  then  rapidly  tracing  a  deep  line 
on  the  ground,  'here  is  the  south,  and,  you  see,  the  line  be 
tween  the  two  points  do  not  touch  any  portion  of  Red  river, 
and  I  declare  to  you  that  it  is  the  natural  position  of  the 
country  and  its  water  courses. ' 

"You  must  be  mistaken,  said  General  Jackson;  at 
any  rate,  I  am  willing1  to  make  good  the  proposition  I  have 
named.' 

"Very  well,'  replied  Apushamataha,  'and  you  must 
not  be  surprised  nor  think  hard  of  me  if  I  call  your  attention 
to  another  subject  within  the  limits  of  the  country  you 
designate  west  of  the  Mississippi,  which  you  dp  not  seem  to 
be  apprised  of.  The  lower  portion  of  the  land  you  propose 
to  swap  to  us  is  a  prett}T  good  country.  It  is  true  that  as  high 
up  the  Arkansas  river  as  Fort  Smith  the  lands  are  good  and 
timber  and  water  plenty,  but  there  is  an  objectionable  diffi 
culty  in  the  way.  It  was  never  known  before,  in  any  treaty, 
made  by  the  United  States  with  the  Red  people,  that  their 
commissioners  were  permitted  to  offer  to  swap  off  or  sell  • 
any  portion  of  their  citizens.  What  I  ask  to  know  in  the 
stipulations  of  the  present  treaty  is,  whether  the  American 
settlers  you  propose  to  turn  over  to  us  in  this  exchange  of 
countries  are,  when  we  get  them  in  possession",  to  be  con 
sidered  Indians  or  white  people?' 

"General  Jackson  replied  and  told  the  speaking  chief 
that,  'As  for  the  white  people  on  the  land,  it  was  a  mere 
matter  of  moon-shine.  There  were  perhaps  a  few  hunters- 


126  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

/ 

scattered  over  the   country,   and   I  will  have   them  ordered 
off.' 

'"I  beg-  your  pardon,'  said  Apushamataha,  'there  are  a 
great  many  of  them,  many  of  them  substantial,  well-to-do 
settlers,  with  good  houses  and  productive  farms,  and  they 
will  not  be  ordered  off.' 

"  'But,'  said  General  Jackson,  'I  will  send  my  warriors, 
and  by  the  eternal,  I'll  drive  them  into  the  Mississippi  or 
make  them  leave.' 

"  'Very  well,'  replied  the  chief,  'and  now  the  matter  is 
settled  as  far  as  the  land  west  of  the  Mississippi  river  is 
concerned.  We  will  now  consider  the  boundary  and  coun 
try  the  Choctaws  are  to  give  to  you  for  it,  and  if  wre  can 
agree  upon  that  the  trade  will  be  completed.  You  have  de 
nned  its  boundaries  and  they  include  a  very  valuable  tract  of 
country  of  considerable  extent,  capable  of  producing  corn, 
cotton,  wheat  and  all  the  crops  the  white  man  cultivates. 
Now,  if  we  do  agree  on  terms  and  run  this  line,  it  must,  as  a 
part  of  this  contract,  be  very  clearly  understood,  and  put  on 
paper  in  a  form  that  will  not  die  or  wear  out,  that  no  altera 
tion  shall  be  made  in  the  boundaries  of  that  portion  of  our 
territory  that  will  remain,  until  the  Choctaw  people  are  suf 
ficiently  progressed  in  the  arts  of  civilization  to  become  citi 
zens  of  the  States,  owning  land  and  homes  of  their  own,  on 
an  equal  footing  with  the  white  people.  Then  it  may  be 
surveyed  and  the  surplus  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  Choctaw 
people. ' 

/     "'That,'  •  said   General   Jackson,    'is    a   magnificent  ar 
rangement  and  we  consent  to  it  readily.' 

'An  adjournment  of  the  council  was  then  made  until  10 
o'clock  next  day  to  allow  the  chiefs  and  warriors  time  to  dis 
cuss  the  treaty ^  and  the  secretary  of  the  commissioners  for 
preparing  his  big  paper,  the  treaty,  ready  for  the  seal. 

"Next  day  at  the  appointed  time  the  council  met  and 
General  Hinds,  one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  United 
States,  made  a  long  talk  to  the  chiefs  and  warriors. 

"Apushamatahah  was  the  speaking  chief,  and  demanded 
the  following  additional  remuneration: 

1st.— 'That  the  United  States  furnish  each  of  those  who 
chose  to  go  to  the  new  country  a  good  rifle,  bullet  mould, 
camp-kettle,  one  blanket  and  powder  and  lead  to  last  one  year. 
Also  corn  for  one  year. 

2nd. — "Out  of  the  land  about  to  be  swapped,  fifty-four 
sections  of,  a  mile  square  shall  be  surveyed  and  sold  to  the 
best  bidder  by  the  United  States  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
a  fund  to  support  Choctaw  schools,  all  to  be  placed  in  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  127 

hands  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  be  dealt  out 
by  him  for  school  purposes  only  in  the  Choctaw  Nation. 

3rd. — "The  United  States  to  pay  for  military  services  of 
all  the  Choctaw  warriors  during-  the  campaign  to  Pensacola. 

4th. — 'Payment  to  all  having  good  houses  and  residing 
on  the  ceded  territory.' 

';A11  the  propositions  were  agreed  to  by  the  United 
States  commissioners.  The  commissioners  first  signed  the 
treaty,  them  Mushulatube,  Apukshinubi  and  Apushimataha, 
the  head  chiefs  of  the  upper,  middle  and  lower  districts  of 
the  Choctaw  Nation.  Then  100  leaders  and  warriors  signed 
with  their  names  or  x  mark.  All  were  pleased  and  satisfied. 

"Apushimataha  was  then  requested  to  speak.  His  effort, 
now  on  record,  would  equal  Daniel  Webster  in  any  of  his  fam 
ous  orations. 

"He  concluded  «as  follows":  'I  most  solemnly  declare 
that  on  my  part  the  sacred  words  'perpetual  friendship,' 
included  in  the  last  article  of  the  treaty,  shall  never  be  vio 
lated  or  suffer  the  slightest  infringement.  We  have  made 
many  treaties  with  the  United  States,  all  conducted  in  peace 
and  amacably  carried  out,  but  this  last  one,  the  greatest  of 
all.  has  been  peculiar  in  its  stipulations,  giving  another  and  a 
stronger  proof  of  the  fostering  care  and  proctecting  inten- 
titons  of  the  United  States  toward  their  Choctaw  friends. 
In  all  our  treaties  we  have  been  encouraged  by  them  to  in- 
situte  schools,  urging  us  to  prepare  ourselves  as  fast  as 
possible  to  become  citizens  and  members  of  that  great 
Nation.  In  the  treaty  which  has  been  concluded  to-day  the 
subject  of  schools  has  been  more  particularly  urged,  and 
appropriations  more  extensively  provided  than  any 
other  former  treaty.  The  applauding  murmurs  on  that 
subject  have  passed  through  the  camps  of  the  Red  people.  It 
meets  their  approbation.  They  will  most  certainly  succeed. 
It  is  a  peculiar  trait  in  the  Choctaw  character,  that  all  the 
national  movements  turn  out  to  be  successes.  -  I  am  pleased 
to  hear  so  many  speaking  favorably  of  school  institutions. 
It  tells  me  that  they  will  have  them.  It  is  a  national  senti 
ment,  and  I  here  venture  the  prediction,  for  I  am  considered 
a  sort  of  a  prophet  any  way,  that  the  time  will  come,  and 
there  are  many  children  and  some  grown  men  here  to-day, 
who  will  live  to  see  it,  when  the  highly  improved  Choctaw 
shall  hold  office  in  the  councils  of  that  great  Nation  of  white 
people,  and  in  their  wars  with  the  Nations  of  the  earth, 
mixed  up  in  the  armies  of  the  white  man,  the  fierce  war 
wlioops  of  the  Choctaw  warrior  shall  strike  terror  and  melt 
the  hearts  of  an  invading  foe.  Mind  that;  Apushimataha  has 
this  day  declared  it  and  his  words  of  prophecy  are  not  ut- 


128  HISTORY.  OF    THE    INDIANS. 

tered  foolishly.  To  the  chiefs,  leaders  and  warriors  of  my 
countrymen  I  may  say:  Return  to  your  homes  and  forget, 
not  the  words  of  this  great  treaty  to  which  so  many  of  you 
subscribed  your  names  with  your  white  brothers  to  the  same 
big  paper,  this  bright  day.  Nuktaniabilia,  perpetual  friend 
ship,  is  placed  on  that  paper.  You  have  all  agreed  to  stand 
to  it  and  manifested  vour  consent  by  having  your  names 
placed  on  the  big  paper,  where  they  will  remain  long  after 
you  have  all  paseed  away  to  the  good  hunting  ground.' 

Nuktaniabilia  are  corruptions  of  the  whites  and  are  not 
the  Choctaw  words  for  "perpetual  friendship."  The 

Original:  Biliahittibaiachuffah.  Pro.  Be-le-ah  (for 
ever)  it-tib-ai-ar-chuf-fah  (to  be  one  mind)  i.  e.  Perpetual 
friendship. 

How  easily  could  the  sentiments  and  desires  expressed 
by  the  Choctaw  people  through  their  noble  chief,  have  been, 
realized  but  for  that  base  venality  which  demanded  their 
country  alone  and  their  banishment  to  the  then  most  inhos 
pitable  region  then  known  upon  the  western  continent,  in 
open  violation  of  a  thousand  as  sacred  pledges  as  it  is  possi 
ble  for  man  to  make  to  man.  Surely  we  are  not  a  govern 
ment  of  law  but  of  brute  force  impelled  alone  by  that  venality 
that  knows  110  principle  of  virtue  whatever. 

See  the  low  duplicity  and  misrepresentation  adopted  by 
Jackson  to  mislead  Apushamataha,  in  regard  to  the  coun 
try  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  that  he  was  endeavoring  to 
exchange  with  the  Choctaws  for  a  portion  of  their  west;  and 
to-day,  after  three  quarters  of  a  century  has  past,  it  stands 
as  a  living  testimony  of  the  honesty  and  truthfulness  of  the 
noble  Choctaw  chief.  And  when  lie  pointed  to  the  white  set 
tlers  occupying  a  part  of  the  offered  land — mark  the  threat 
of  Jackson,  "I  will  send  my  warriors,  and,  by  the  eternal,  I'll 
drive  them  into  the  Mississippi  or  make  them  leave;"  which, 
whatever  name  Truth  and  Justice  deem  it  merits,  was  never 
executed;  and  after  remaining  five  years,  the  quiet  of  the 
Choctaws  was  again  disturbed  on  October  20th,  1825,  by  the 
voice  of  the  white  man  howling  in  Sinai  thunder  tones: 
"More  land!"  "More  land!"  Again  were  they  summoned 
from  their  peaceful  homes  by  the  arbitrary  voice  of  their 
"Great  Father  at  Washington" — great  in  the  unsurpassed 
ability  of  defrauding  helpless  Indians — to  cede  to  the  United 
States  that  portion  of  their  land  still  occupied  by  the  afore 
said  settlers  that  the  "truthful"  Jackson  had  sworn  "by  the 
eternal"  to  put  into  the  ''Mississippi  river  or  make  them 
leave."  The  United  States  got  the  land,  as  no  doubt,  it  was 
a  pre-arranged  plan  to  keep  the  whites  upon  it  until  the  proper 
time  arrived,  then  take  it;  therefore,  Jackson's  "into  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

Mississippi"  was  but  a  toot  of  his  own  horn,  understood 
alone  by  himself,  though  deceiving"  the  too  confiding  Apusha- 
mataha.  And  in  ten  years  after  A-push-a-ma-ta-ha  had 
made  the  treaty  of  1820  (the  last  he  ever  made)  the  United 
States  Government  had  defrauded  (the  word  might  be  used 
as  can  be  proven)  the  Choctaws  out  of  every  acre  of  their 
country  east'of  the  Mississippi .  Theold hero.had  died  in  Wash 
ington  City  six  years  before,  and  with  him  also  died:  "The  time 
will  come  when  the  highly  improved  Choctaw  shall  hold  office 
in  the  councils  of  that  great  Nation  of  white  people,  and  in  their- 
wars  with  the  Nations  of  the  earth,  mixed  up  in  the  armies 
of  the  white  man,  the  fierce  war  whoop  of  the  Choctaw  war 
rior  shall  strike  terror  and  melt  the  hearts  of  an  invading 
foe,"  and  buried  so  deep  down  under  the  dirt  and  rubbish  of 
the  white  man's  avarice,  that  left  no  hope  of  a  resurrection 
morn. 

When  stretched  in  his  tent  upon  his  bed  of  death  he  said 
to  Jackson  standing  near: 

"Original,  "Illi  siah  makinli  su  paknaka  ta;  pro.  Il-lih  se- 
ah  mar-kin-lih  soo  park-da'kah,ta;  signifying,  dead  I  am  as 
soon  as  me  above. 

"Original,  napoh-  chitoh  tokahiechih;  pro.  narn-poh  che- 
toh  to-kah-le-chih;  sig.  guns  big  shoot  off."  Which  was  done 
according  to  his  request. 

Verily  "Let  Hamlet"  also  "be  his  eulogist:" 
'How  noble  in  reason!     How  infinite  in  faculties! 
'In  form  and  moving  how  express  and  admirable:' 
"Let  Mark  Antony"  also  "write  his  epitaph:" 

'His  life  was  gentle;  and  the  elements 
So  mixed  in  him,  that  nature  might  stand  up 
And  say  to  all  the  world:     This  was  a  man'."1 

His  Motto, 

Onward  career  of  duty; 
His  Canopy, 

A  conscious  rectitude  of  purpose; 
His  lamp,  truth; 

His  Motto, 
Nil,  nil,  desperandum.     Never,  never,  despair! 


THE  CHOCTAW  CLAIM. 

Ever  since  the  dispute  between  Texas  and  the  United 
States  commenced  concerning  the  title  to  Greer  county,  the 
Choctaw  Nation  -had  two  of  its  ablest  men  in  Washington 
over-hauling  the  old  treaties  and  watching  the  movements  of 
both  disputants.  The  United  States  by  the  Doak's  Stand 


130  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

treaty  in  the  autumn  of  1820  ceded  all  its  territory  ^  to  the 
Chocta-ws  south  of  the  Canadian  river  to  Red  river  along-  the 
western  line  of  the  Indian  Territory.  The  Cherokees  had 
been  ceded  all  north  of  the  Canadian.  Texas  claimed  that 
the  Red  river  mentioned  in  the  treaty  of  1819  between  the 
United  States  and  the  King-  of  Spain  is  the  north  fork  of  Red 
,  The  United  States  claimed  that  the  south  fork  of 
river  is  the  true  Red  river.  This  is  where  the  dispute 
rarose . 

"Should  a  future  survey  be  made  to  determine  the  ques 
tions  of  boundary  lines,  and  the  south  fork  of  Red  river  be 
-declared  the  true  line,  the  Choctaw  Indians  would  certainly 
be  the  legal  owners. 

•''The  map  used  by  General  Jackson  in  the  tre'aty  at 
Doak's  Stand  was  doubtless  Melish's  of  1818.  That  map  is 
doubtless  on  file  in  the  Department  of  the  Interior  in  Wash 
ington  settle  the  controversy.  General  Jackson  promised 
to  make  g-ood  the  lines  shown  up  the  map  when  the  speaking- 
-chief  at  the  treaty  questioned  its  accuracy. 

~uThc  survey,  as  to  how  far  west  the  10th  meridian  runs 
lias  never  been  made  and  forty  years  have  passed  without 
•Jtbe  boundary  line  being*  known.  This  is  why  the  Choctaws 
Ihave  never  presented  their  claims  to  Greer  County. 

The  United  States  conveyed  to  the  "Choctaws,  on  the 
38th  of  October,  1820,  all  of  their  lands  west  of  Arkansas 
between  the  Canadian  and  Red  rivers,  that  was  within  the 
limits  of  the  United  States  at  that  time  ;  and  on  the  19th  of 
February,  1821,  the  United  States  conveyed  a  strip  off  of  the 
west  end,  of  the  same  lands  conveyed  to  the  Choctaws  by  the 
King-  of 'Spain,  in  an  exchange  for  the  then  Province  of  Flori 
da.  Hence  this  claim  of  the  Choctaw  Nation  on  what  is  now 
•loiown  as  Greer  County.  In  1855,  the  Choctaw  Nation  ceded 
to  the  United  States  all  their  lands,  then  in  their  possession 
lying-  west  of  the  100°,  for  the  consideration  of  $800,000.  Now 
the  Choctaws  claim,  and  justly  too,  it  seems,  that  they  did 
not  make  a  cession,  in  1855,  of  that  portion  of  the  land  which 
the  United  States  sold  to  the  King-  of  Spain,  without  their 
consent  and  for  which  they  have  never  received  a  dollar,  as 
it  was  not  in  their  possession  to  make  a  conveyance— it  then 
heing-  in  the  possession  of  Spain  and  thus  beyond  their  juris 
diction. 

Thus  the  United  States  deal  with  her  Indian  Wards, 
whom  she  had  beguiled  into  her  power. 

ARTICLE  OF  A  CONVENTION, 
Made  and   concluded  January   20th,   1825,    between  John  C. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  131 

Calhoun,  Secretary  of  War,  being-  specially  authorized 
therefor  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
undersigned  chiefs  and  head  men  of  the  Choctaw  Nation 
of  Indians,  duly  authorized  and  empowered  by  said 
Nation,  at  the  City  of  Washing-ton,  on  the  20th  day  of 
January,  1825, 

Whereas,  a  treaty  of  friendship,  and  limits,  and  accom 
modation,  having-  been  entered  into  at  Doak's  Stand,  on  the 
18th  of  October,  1820,  between  Andrew  Jackson  and  Thomas 
Hinds,  commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  United  'States,  and 
the  chiefs  and  warriors  of  the  Choctaw  Nation  ;  and, 

Whereas,  the  second  article  of  the  treaty  aforesaid  pro 
vides  for  a  cession  of  lands,  west  of  the  Mississippi,  to  the 
Choctaw  Nation,  in  part  satisfaction  for  lands  ceded  by  said 
Nation  to  the  United  States,  according-  to  the  first  article  of 
said  treaty;  and 

Whereas,  it  being-  ascertained  that  the  cession  aforesaid 
embraces  a  large  number  of  settlers,  citizens  of  the  United 
States;  and  it  being"  the  desire  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  to  obviate  all  difficulties  resulting  therefrom,  and 
also,  to  adjust  other  matters  in  which  both  the  United  States 
and  the  Choctaw  Nation  are  interested.  The  following- 
articles  have  been  agreed  upon,  and  concluded,  between 
John  C.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  War,  especially  authorized 
therefor  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  on  the  one 
part,  and  the  undersigned  delegates  of  the  Choctaw  Nation; 
•on  the  other  part: 

Article  1st. — The  Choctaw  Nafion  does  hereby  cede  to 
the  United  States  all  that  portion  of  land  ceded  to  them  by 
the  Second  Article  of  the  treaty  of  Doak's  Stand,  as  afore 
said,  lying-  east  of  a  line  beginning-  on  the  Arkansas,  one 
hundred  paces  east  of  Fort  Smith,  and  running'  thence,  due 
south  to  Red  river;  it  being-  understood  that  the  line  shall 
constitute,  and  remain,  the  permanent  boundary  between 
the  United  States  and  the  Choctaws;  and  the  United  States 
agreeing  to  remove  such  citizens  as  may  be  settled  on  the 
west  side,  to  the  east  side  of  said  line,  and  prevent  further 
settlements  from  being-  made  on  the  west  thereof. 

Article  2nd. — In  consideration  of  the  cession  aforesaid, 
the  United  States  do  hereby  agree  to  pay  the  said  Choctaw 
Nation  the  sum  of  six  thousand  dollars  annually,  forever; 
it  being-  agreed  that  the  said  sum  of  six  thousand  dollars 
shall  be  applied,  for  the  term  of  twenty  yearsA  under  the 
direction  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  to  the  sup 
port  of  schools  in  said  Nation,  and  extending-  to  it  the  bene 
fits  of  instruction  in  the  mechanic  and  ordinary  arts  of  life; 


132  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

when,  at  the  expiration  of  twenty  years,  it  is  agreed  that  the 
said  annuity  may  be  vested  in  stocks,  or  otherwise  disposed 
of,  or  continued,  at  the  option  of  the  Choctaw  Nation. 

Article  3rd.— The  eighth  article  of  the  treaty  aforesaid 
having-  provided  that  an  appropriation  of  lands  should  be 
made  for  the  purpose  of  raising  six  thousand  dollars  a  year 
for  sixteen  years,  for  the  use  of  the  Choctaw  Nation;  and  it 
being-  desirable  to  avoid-  the  delay  and  expense  attending-  the 
survey  and  sale  of  said  lands,  the  United  States  do  hereby 
agree  to  pay  to  the  Choctaw  Nation,  in  lieu  thereof,  the  sum 
of  six  thousand  dollars,  annually,  for  sixteen  years,  to  com 
mence  with  the  present  year.  And  the  United  States  fur 
ther  stipulate  and  agree  to  take  immediate  measures  to  sur 
vey  and  bring-  into  market,  and  sell,  the  fifty-four  sections  of 
land  set  apart  by  the  Seventh  Article  of  the  treaty  aforesaid,, 
and  apply  the  proceeds  in  the  manner  provided  by  the  said 
Article. 

Article  4th. — It  is  provided  by  the  Ninth  Section  of  the 
treaty  aforesaid,  that  all  those  of  the  Choctaw  Nation  who 
have  separate  settlements,  and  fall  within  the  limits  of  the 
land  ceded  by  the  said  Nation  to  the  United  States,  and  de 
sire  to  remain  where  they  now  reside,  shall  be  secured  in  a 
tract  or  parcel  of  land,  one  mile  square,  to  include  their  im 
provements.  It  is,  therefore,  hereby  agreed,  that  all  who 
have  reservations,  in  conformity  to  said  stipulation,  shall  have 
power,  with  the  consent  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  to  sell  and  convey  the  same  in  fee  simple.  It  is  fur 
ther  agreed,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  that  those 
Choctaws,  not  exceeding-  four  in  number,  who  applied  for 
reservations,  and  received  the  recommendation  of  the  com 
missioners,  as  per  annexed  copy  of  said  recommendation 
shall  have  .the  privilege,  and  the  right  is  herebv  given  to 
them,  to  select,  each  of -them,  a  portion  of  land,  not  exceed 
ing  a  mile  square,  anywhere  within  the  limits  of  the  cession 
of  1820,  where  the  land  is  not  occupied  or  disposed  .of  by  the 
United  States;  and  the  right  to  sell  and  convey  the  same, 
with  the  consent  of  the  President,  in  fee  simple,  is  hereby 
granted. 

Article  5th. — There  being  a  debt  due  by  individuals  of 
the  Choctaw  Nation  to  the  late  United  States  trading-  house 
on  the  Tombigbee,  the  United  States  hereby  agree  to  relin 
quish  the  same;  the  delegation,  on  the  part  of  their  Nation, 
agreeing  to  relinquish  their  claim  upon  the  United  States,  to 
send  a  factor  with  goods  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  Choctaws 
west  of  the  Mississippi,  as  provided  for  by  the  Sixth  Article 
of  the  treaty  aforesaid. 

Article  6th. — The  Choctaw  Ration  having-  a   claim  <  upon 


HISTORY    OF    THK    INDIANS.  133 

-the  United  States  for  services  rendered  in  the  Pensacola 
campaign,  and  for  which  it  is  stipulated  in  the  Eleventh  Ar 
ticle  of  the  treaty  aforesaid,  that  payment  shall  be  made,  but 
which  has  been  delayed  for  the  want  of  proper  vouchers, 
which  it  has  been  found,  as  yet,  impossible  to  obtain;  the 
United  States,  to  obviate  the  inconvenience  of  further  delay, 
and  to  render  justice  to  the  Choctaw  warriors  for  their  serv 
ices  in  that  cam paign,  do .  hereby  agree  upon  an  equitable 
settlement  of  the  same  and  the  sum  of  fourteen  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  seventy-two  dollars  and  fifty  cents; 
which,  from  the  muster  rolls,  and  other  evidence  in  the  pos 
session  of  the  third  auditor,  appears  to  be  about  the  probable 
amount  due,  for  the  services  aforesaid,  and  which  sum  shall 
be  immediately  paid  to  the  delegation,  to  be  distributed  by 
them  to  the  chiefs  and  warriors  of  their  Nation,  who  served 
in  the  campaign  aforesaid,  as  may  appear  to  them  to  be 
just. 

Article  7th. — It  is  further  agreed,  that  the  Fourth  Ar 
ticle  of  the  treaty  aforesaid,  shall  be  so  modified,  as  that  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  shall  not  exercise  the  power 
of  apportioning  the  lands,  for  the  benefit  of  each  family,  or 
individual,  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  and  of  bringing  them  un 
der  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  but  with  the  consent  of 
'the  Choctaw  Nation.  ; 

Article  8th. — Itappearing  that  theChoctaws  have  various 
claims  against  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  for  spolia 
tions  of  various  kinds,  but  which  they  have  not  been  able  to 
support  by  testimony  of  white  men,  as  they  were  led  to  be 
lieve  was  necessary,  the  United  States,  in  order  to  a  final 
settlement  of  all  such  claims,  do  hereby  agree  to  pay  to  the 
Choctaw  delegation,  the  sum  of  two  thousand  dollars,  to  be 
distributed  by  them  in  such  way,  among  the  claimants,  as 
they  may  deem  equitable.  It  being  understood  that  this 
provision  is  not  to  affect  such  claims  as  may  be  properly 
-authenticated,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  1802. 

Article  9th. — It  is  further  agreed  that,  immediately  upon 
the  notification  of  this  treaty,  or  as  soon  thereafter  as  may 
be  practicable,  an  agent  shall  be  appointed  for  the  Choctaws 
west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  a  blacksmith  be  settled  among 
them  in  conformity  with  the  stipulation  contained  in  the 
Sixth  Article  of  the  treaty  of  1820. 

Article  10th.  The  chief  Puckshenubbee,  (original,  Apuk- 
-shiubih)  one  of  the  members  of  the  delegation,  having  died 
•on  his  journey  to  see  the  Pres.  and  Robert  Cole  recommended 
by  the  delegation  as  his  successor,  it  is  here  agreed,  that 
the  said  Robert  Cole  shall  receive  the  medal  which  apper- 
lains  to  the  office  of  chief,  and,  also,  an  annuity  from  the 


134  EI.TORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

United  States  of  one  hundred  and  fifty   dollars   a  year,   dur 
ing  his  natural  life,  as  was  received  by  his  predecessor. 

Article  Ijth. — The  friendship  heretofore  existing-  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  the  Choctaw  Nation,  is  hereby 
renewed  and  perpetuated. 

Article  12th.— Tb-  e  articles  shall;  take  effect,  and  be 
come  obligbory  on  t*  contracting  parties  so  soon  as  the 
same  shall  be  ratified  by  the  President,  by  and  with  the  ad 
vice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  of  the  Unite  States. 

In  testiseiiy  whereof,  the  said  John  C.  Calhoun,  and  the 
said  delegates  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  havo  hereunto  set 
their  hands,  at  the  city  of  Washington,  the  20th  day  of  June, 
1825.  JOHN  C.  CALHOUN. 

Corrupted:  Mooshulatubbee,  his  x  mark.  Original:, 
Mosholihubih. 

ROBERT  COLE,  his  x  mark. 
DANIEL  McCuRTAiN,  his  x  mark. 
TUSHKA  ANUMPULI  SHALI  his  x  mark, 
.  Pro.  Tush-kah  (wrarrior)  Shah-lih  (messenger.) 
RED  FORT,  his  x  mark. 

Corrupted:     Nittuckachie,    his  x   mark.     Original:     Ni~ 
J:ak  (a,  as  ah)  a  chih— To  suggest  the  day. 

DAVID  FOLSOAI. 
J.  C.  MCDONALD,  Talkative  warrior. 

According  to  traditional  authority,  the  morning  star  of 
the  Choctaws'  religious  era,  (if  such  it  may  be  termed)  first 
lit  up  their  eastern  horizon,  upon  the  advent  of  the  two  great 
Wesleys  into  the  now  State  of  Georgia  in  the  year  1733,  as 
the  worthy  and  congenial  companions  of  the  noble  Oglethorpe; 
but  also,  it  flashed  but  a  moment  before  their  eyes  as  a  beau 
tiful  meteor,  then  as  quickly  went  out  upon  the  return  to 
England  of  those  champions  of  the  Cross,  leaving  them  only 
to  fruitless  conjecture  as  to  its  import;  nor  was  seen  again 
during  the  revolutions  of  eighty-five  long  and  weary  .years. 
Though  tradition  affirms,  there  were  several  missionaries 
(Roman  Catholic)  among  the  Choctaws  in  1735;  and  that  tha- 
Reverend  Father  Baudouin,  the  actual  superior  general  of 
the  mission  resided  eighteen  years  among  the  Choctaws. 
With  these  two  above  named  exceptions,  I  have  seen  no  rec- 
ord'of  the  White  Race  ever  manifesting  any  interest  in  the 
southern  Indians'  welfare  either  of  a  temporal  or  spiritual 
nature,  from  the  earliest  trading  posts  established  among 
them  in  1670  by  the  Virginia  and  Carolina  traders,  down 
through  slowly  revolving  years  to  that  of  1815;  at  which 
time  may  be  dated  the  establishment  of  the  first  Protestant 
mission  among  the  southern  Indians.  This  mission,  which 
was  named  Brainard,  was  established  among  the  Cherokees* 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  135 

"by  Rev.  Cyrus  Kingsbury,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Old 
School  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  in  Bostonr 
Massachusetts,  who  arrived  in  that  Nation,  in  company  with; 
his  assistant  laborers,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Williams,  January  13th r- 
1815. 

In  1818,  Mr.  Kingsbury,  in  company  with  Mr.  and  Mrs- 
Williams,  left  Brainard  in  the  charge  of  Rev.  Daniel  S.  But- 
trick  (who  arrived  there  January  4th,  1818,  and  remained  as 
a  missionary  among-  the  Cherokees  until  1847,  when  hi& 
health  failing-,  he  went' to  Dwig-ht  Mission  also  in  the  Chero 
kee  Nation,  where  he  died  June  8th,  1851)  andarrived  in  the~ 
Choctaw  Nation  near  the  last  of  June,  1818,  and  established 
a  mission  in  a  vast  forest  of  lofty  trees,  three  miles  south  of 
Yello  Busha,  a  river  (corruption  from  the  Choctaw  words. 
Yaloba  aiasha;  Tadpoles  abounding-)  and  about  thirty  miles- 
above  its  junction  with  the  Yazoo,  (corruption  of  the  Choc 
taw  word  Yoshuba — pro.  as  Yoh-shu-bah,  and  sig,  Lost),, 
and  400  miles  distant  from  Barnard,  which  he  named  Elliot,, 
in  honor  of  the  Rev.  John  Elliot,  that  distinguished  missionr- 
ary  among  the  Indians  of  the  New  England  States. 

They  went  from  Brainard  to  the  Tennessee  river,,  seven, 
miles  distant,  by  private  conveyance,  and  there  wrent  by  way." 
of  a  boat,  which  had  beenengaged  to  carry  them  to  the1 
Muscle  Shoals.  A  wragon  was  also  placed  upon  the  boat,,  by 
which  they  went  from  Muscle  Shoals  to  the  Chickasaw: 
agency,  two  hundred  miles  away,  where  they  abandoned  the: 
wagon,  andcrossed  the  country  on  horseback,  directed  alone- 
.by  little  paths  that  led  through  thickets  and  canebrakes,  and 
safely  arrived  at  the  Yalobaaiasha  settlement,  where  they 
were  hospitably  received  by  Capt.  Perry,  (a  half  breed)  and 
many  native  families.  On  the  following  Sabbath  Mr.  Kings- 
bury  held  a  'religious  meeting  and  proclaimed  salvation 
through  the  Son  of  God,  for  the  first  time  ever  proclaimed  in 
the  Choctaw  Nation  by  the  Pro'testant  minister.  Capt.  Perry 
also  supplied  them  with  a  house  until  they  were  able  to  build 
for  themselves. 

In  June,  1818,  Moses  Jewell  and  wife,  John  Kanouse  and 
wife,  and  Peter  Kanouse  left  New  York  for  New  Orleans, 
and  reached  the  Choctaw  Nation,  in  the  following  August.. 
The  first  tree  for  the  establishment  of  the  Mission  was 
felled  on  August  the  15th,  1818. 

The  Choctaws  seemed  to  comprehend  the  benevolent, 
designs  of  the  missionaries  and  received  them  with  every 
manifestation  of  friendship  and  good  will;  though  some  mis 
apprehension  was  indicated  owing  to  the  debased  lives  of  the 
white  men  (without  a  single  white  woman),  with  whom  the 


.  .      .,..  . 

13S  HISTORY   OF   THE  INDIANS. 


. 

had  long-  associated,  as  true  representatives  of  -the  r 
White  Race  in  toto.  "'   '  -y  ^    ^4$T--''- 

Soon  after  came  A.  V.  Williams  (brother  of   IJ.   S.  :>Wil- 
Tiams,  who  came  with  Cyrus  Kingsbury)  and  Miss   Varnum  -.•• 
and  Miss  Chase,  whom  Mr.  Kingsbury  met  in  New  Orleans, 
and  there   married   Miss   Varnum,  with  whom  he  had  been 
under  matrimonial  engagement  before  he  entered   the   mis 
sion.    'They  all  returned  to  Elliot  in  February,  1819;  then  a 
mission  church  was  organized  on  the  last  Sabbath  of  the  fol 
lowing-  March,   and   the   Lord's   supper   administered  —  the 
first  ever  witnessed  in  the   Choctaw  Nation.     Ten    persons  -. 
composed  the  number  of  that  church  (all  connected  with  the 
mission),  and  the  ten  partook  of  that  supper  —  a  strange  and 
incomprehensible   scene   to  the  Choctaws,  who  gazed  at  the  ' 
novel  sight  with  unassumed  wonder. 

Within  ten  months  from  the  time  Mr.  King-bury  and  , 
Mr.  Williams  and  Mrs  .  Williams  arrived  at  the  Ya-lo-ba-ai- 
a-sha  settlement,  seven  log  houses  had  been  erected,  and 
completed,  the  largest  20x22,  and  the  smallest,  12x16;  and 
also,  had  nearly  completed  a  mill,  stable  and  store-house, 
and  had  nearly  prepared  timber  enough  for  a  school  house, 
kitchen,  and  dining-room,  and  had  sawed  by  hand  9,000  feet 
of  cypress  and  poplar  plank  with  which  to  make  furniture, 
floors,  doors.  &c.,  the  principal  labor  of  all  which  was  done 
by  employed  Choctaws  directed  by  the  missionaries  —  so 
-eager  were  they  to  assist  their  white  friends  who  had  come 
to  live  among  them  and  bless  them  by  their  benevolent  teach 
ings;  and  before  the  school  house  was  completed,  eight 
children,  through  a  false  rumor  that  the  school  was  opened, 
were  brought  over  160  miles  to  be  entered.  And  thus  the 
mission,  without  a  school  house,  and  also  pressed  by  a  great 
.scarcity  of  provisions,  was  greatly  perplexed;  since,  if  the 
children  were  rejected,  an  unfavorable  impression  would  be 
the  inevitable  result,  and  if  they  were  received,  those  in  the 
neighborhood  would  claim  their  equal  rights  to  the  same  fa 
vor.  However,  it  was  resolved,  upon  due  -reflection,  to 
receive  them  as  the  less  of  the  two  evils,  and  a  little  cabin 
was'  appropriated  for  a  school  house,  and  the  school  opened 
on  the  19th  of  April,  1819,  with  ten  pupils 

On  the  first  of  August,  1819,  the  mission  was  strengthened 
by  the  arrival  of  Dr  Pride  and  Isaac  Fish,  who  was  a  farmer 
and  blacksmith.  Shortly  after,  the  Choctaws  convened  in 
national  council,  and  which,  Mr.  Kingsbury,  through  earnest 
solicitation  of  the  Choctaws,  attended.  The  subject  of 
schools  was  discussed  during  the  session  of  the  couricil,  in 
which  Mr.  Kingsbury  took  part,  and  among  the  other  things 
suggested,.  also  proposed  that  all  who  desired  to  have  a  schoo 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  137 

^established  among-  them  should  signify  that  desire  by  sub 
scribing  money,  or  live  stock,  as  they  preferred.  At  once  a 
^subscription  was  opened  in  the  council,  and  a  considerable 
amount  of  mony  was  subscribed;  Apakfohlichihubi  (sig.  One 
who  encircles  to  kill),  the  ruling-  chief,  giving  $200  of  the 
same,  while  others  gave  90  cows  and  calves,  with  the  promise 
-of  as  many  more  yearly,  which  was  faithfully  fulfilled;  and 
thus  the  mission  was,  at  once,  amply  stocked  with  cattle.  A 
farm  was  soon  opened  and  every  effort  made  to  prepare  for 
"the  reception  and  accommodation  of  as  many  pupils  as  might 
seek  to  enter  the  school. 

The  Chickasaws,  learning  of  the  school,  made  appli 
cation  for  their  children  to  attend  the  school,  also,  to  which 
the  Choctaw  chiefs,  though  knowing  that  the  children  of  the 
applicants  of  their  own  nation  could  not  all  be  accommodated, 
finally  give  their  consent,  fearing  if  they  refused  they  would 
wound  the  feelings  of  their  Chickasaw  friends,  but  with  the 
following  proviso:  That  all  Chickasaw  children  whose  father 
or  mother  were  Chickasaws,  would  be  received  into  the 
school,  and  no  others.  Such  was  the  zeal  manifested  for 
schools  and  churches  among  the  Choctaws,  from  the  opening 
-of  the  first  to  the  closing  of  the  last,  when  despoiled  of  their 
ancient  homes  and  driven  to  seek  others  in  the  distant  west. 

Soon  afterthe  opening  of  the  schooladeep  gloom  threw  its 
dark  mantle  over  the  mission  in  the  sudden  and  unexpected 
killing  of  aged  Chickasaw  woman,  named  Illichih  (pro.  as  II- 
lich-ih,  and  sig.  to  cause  to  die,)and  who  lived  about  two  miles 
from  Elliot  with  a  son  (20  years  of  age)  two  daughters  and 
two  little  grand-daughters,  and  had  endeared  herself  to 
the  missionaries  by  her  many  acts  of  kindness  and  much  val 
uable  assistance.  The  tragic  affair  happened  thus: 

A  Choctaw  girl,  who  lived  about  thirty  miles  distant, 
came,  a  short  time  before  Mr.  Kingsbury  arrived,  to  visit 
some  friends  living  near  where  Elliot  wras  located.  The  girl 
was  taken  sick,  and  an  old  Choctaw  woman — a  conjuring 
doctress — proposed  to  cure  her.  She  was  at  once  employed 
in  the  case.  After  giving  her  patient  a  variety  of  root  and 
lierb  decoctions,  internally  and  also  externally  applied  for 
several  days,  at  the  same  time  chanting  her  incantations  and 
going  through  her  wild  ceremonies  over  and  around  her  pa 
tient,  she  pronounced  the  girl  convalescent  and  would  re 
cover;  the  father  was  duly  informed  of  the  happy  change, 
and  came  to  take  his  daughter  home;  he  remunerated  the 
apparently  successful  physician  by  giving  her  a  pony,  and 
retired  for  the  night  intending  to  start  for  home  with  his 
daughter  the  next  day;  but  during  the  night,  the  daughter 
suddenly  became  worse  and  expired  in  24  hours.  It  was'  at 


1V38  HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS. 

once  decided  that  her  sudden  demise  was  the  result  of  a 
isht-ul-bih  (witch  ball)  shot  from  an  invisible  rifle  in  the 
hands  of  a  witch.  Without  delay  her  physician  was  con 
sulted,  who'pronounced  Illichih  to  be  the  witch  who  had  shot 
the  fatal  bullet.  Immediately  the  father  with  several  other 
men,  all  armed,  went  to  the  home  of  Illichih  and  entered  her 
cabin.  She  displayed  her  hospitality,  so  universal  among-  all 
Indians,  by  setting-  before  them  the  best  she  had  ;  and  after 
they  had  partaken  of  her  scanty  refreshments,  the  father 
suddenly  sprang-  to  his  feet  and,  seizing-  her  by  the  hair, 
cried  out.  "Huch-ish-no  fiopa  uno  chumpa;  aholh-kun-na 
.  chish-o  yokut,  cha  ish  ai  illih,  (your  life  I  boug-ht;  a  witch  you. 
are,  and  must  die.")  To  which  Illichih,  realizing-  her  inevit 
able  doom,  calmly  replied:  "Chomi  holubih,  cha  ish  moma 
yimmih"  (others  lie,  and  you  all  believe.")  In  a  moment  she 
was  stretched  upon,  the  floor  a  bleeding-  corpse. 

When  her  son,  who  was  absent  from  home  at  the  time  of 
the  trag-edy,  returned,  his  feeling's  may  be  imagined,  but  not 
described.  He  at  once  hastened  to  the  missionaries,  for 
whom  he  had  often  \vorked,  and  told  them  his  tale  of  woe. 
Mr.  Kingsbury  immediately  went  to  the  tragic  scene  of  death: 
He  found  the  mangled  corpse  of  his  old  friend  lying-  upon 
the  floor,  partially  covered  with  a  blanket,  with  the  two- 
daughters  and  grand-daughters  sitting  around  it  in  the 
deepest  grief,  and  their  wailing-s  but  feebly  expressed  the 
anguish  of  their  hearts.  Mr.  King-sbury  had  a  coffin  made,, 
and  the  missionaries,  with  the  five  children,  laid  poor  Illichih 
in  he  r  humble  grave,  there  to  await  the  resurrectipn  morn.. 
The  missionaries  performed  religious  ceremonies  at  the 
grave'  and  after  they  had  placed  the  coffin  in  its  last  resting" 
place,  the  relatives  and  friends  of. the  deceased  placed  all  her 
cloth  ing  and  the  little  money  she  possessed,  and  her  bedding-, 
upon  the  coffin  and  filled  up  the  grave — an  ancient  custom  of 
the  Choctaws,  as  well  as  of  all  North  American  Indians,  who 
believed  their  deceased  friends  will  have  need  of  those  thing's 
in  the  the  world  beyond  the  grave. 

Does  the  reader  exclaim  in  iiidig-nant  horror  atxthe  slay 
ing  of  Illichih,  "What  inhuman  wretches!"  But  be  not  too 
hasty  in  your  judgment  and  condemnation  of  the  acts  of  the 
then  unenlig'htened  Choctaws;  but  remember  our  professed, 
civilized  and  Christian  ancestors — the  "Pilgrim  Fathers"- 
stand  to-day  guilty  of  the  same  charge,  but  sixty  fold  more 
culpable  (professing  what  they  did)  than  the  Choctaws;  for, 
as  soon  as  the  Choctaws  had  been  instructed  in  the  impro 
priety  and  sinfulness  of  killing-  any  one  for  witchcraft,  no- 
life  was  ever  afterwards  sacrificed  to  avenge  the  death  of  a 
bewitched  relative  or  friend. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  1  39 

On  the  following-  Sabbath  after  the  tragic  death  of  Il-lich- 
ih,  Mr.  King-sbury  preached  from  the  appropriate  text, 
"The  dark  places  of  the  earth  are  full  of  the  habitation  of 
cruelty."  He  spoke  fearlessly  but  calmly  to  his  Choctaw 
audience  of  the  errors  and  wickedness  of  their  superstitions, 
and  the  abhorrence  of  the  Great  Spirit  in  the  slaying-  of  their 
own  people  through  the  belief  that  they  are  witches,  who 
listened  in  profound  silence-''  and  with  the  deepest 
attention;  and  though  a  few  old  women  in  the  Yalobaaiasha 
district  fell  as  sacrifices  before  the  superstition  of  witch 
craft,  after  the  establishment  of  the  Elliot  mission,  yet  by 
the  influence  and  exertions  of  the  missionaries  the  horrible 
practice  was  soon  forever  stopped.  Thoug-h  they  believed 
that  there  were  white  witches  also,  yet  they  never  attempted 
to  kill  a  white  witch,  upon  the  grounds  that  the  whites  eat  so 
much  salt,  that  a  witch  ball  fell  harmless  when  shot  against 
an  Indian  by  a  white  witch. 

But  the"  kindness  and  interest  displayed  by  the  mission 
aries  to  and  for  Il-lich-ih  quickly  spread  over  the  country, 
and  so  won  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  Choctaws  that 
all  who  were  in  affliction  sent  for  one  or  more  of  them;  and 
also  manifested  great  interest  in  their  teachings  and  anxiety 
for  the  success  of  all  improvements  both  in  churches  and 
schools,  as  suggested  by  those  men  and  women  of  God. 

But  alas,  it  is  a  melancholy  and  lamentable  truth  that  the 
most  that  the  North  American  Indians  (everywhere  over  this 
continent)  have  learned  from  the  whites,  the  missionaries 
alone  excepted,  has  been,  and  still  continues  to  be,  that  of 
their  follies  and  vices.  One  of  the  follies  so  incomprehensi 
ble  to  the  ancient  Choctaws  was,  and  still  is,  that  one  day,  near 
the  close  of  eaeh  year,  should  be  devoted  by  the  "pale-faces" 
to  eating  and  drinking,  dancing  and  frolicking,  carousing 
and  fighting,  called  Christmas;— incomprehensible,"  since  so 
inconsistent  with  what  the  missionaries  taught  them  what 
the  Bible  reasons  for  rejoicing  were,  and  in  what  way  they 
should  be  expressed  to  please  God,  as  the  advent  of  his  Son 
to  earth  to  redeem  man  and  bring  him  back  from  the  paths 
of  hi  i  and  folly  to  those  of  virtue  and  righteousness. 

In  1820,  Mr.  Kino-sou ry  started  from  -Elliot  for  the  pur 
pose  of  establishing  a  mission  near  the  It-oom  bih  river,  and 
arrived  at  the  home  of  David  Folsom,  sixty  miles  distant, 
and  then  known  by  the  name  of  "Puch-i  A-nu-si,"  (pro.  as 
Push-ih  (Pigeon)  Ar-noos-ih  (Sleep)  or  Pigeon  Roost)  from 
the  vast  numbers  of  that  beautiful  bird  that  formerly  roosted 
there.  There  Mr.  Kingsbury  secured  the  voluntary  assist 
ance  of  Colonel  Folsom  to  assist  him  in  the  selection  of  a 
proper  situation  for  the  contemplated  mission;  after  the  sec- 


140  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

ond  day's  travel  they  reached  Major  John  Pitchlynn's— -a 
white  man  who,  by  marrying-  a  Choctaw  woman,  had  been 
adopted  by  the  Choctaws  according-  to  their  custom,  and 
-who,  at  that  time,  was  acting-  as  interpreter  for' the  United 
States  Government,  and,  in  conjunction  with  Colonel  Folsom 
and  others,  was  a  zealous  advocate  of  the  civil  and  religious 
improvement  of  his  people;  while  both  expressed  the  utmost 
gratitude  to  Mr.  Kingsbury  for  his  interest  manifested 
toward  their  people,  and  the  bright  prospect  of  the  Choc- 
iaws'  future  as  presented  by  the  missionaries  in  schools  and 
their  preaching  among  and  in  behalf  of  their  long  neglected 
people. 

Alas,  how  'great  the  contrast  between  John  Pitchlynn, 
Nathaniel  Folsom,  Henry  Nail,  Lewis  LeFlore,  John  Col 
bert,  and  others,  who  over  a  century  ago,  voluntarily  united 
themselves  '  to  the  fortunes  of  the  Choctaws  in  toto, 
standing  firmly  and  fearlessly  to  the  interest  of  that  ap 
preciative  people  through  their  hopes  and  fears,  joys  and 
sorrows. 

After  many  days  riding  over  the  country,  Mr.  Kings- 
bury,  Col.  Folsom,  and  Major  Pitchlynn  selected  a  place  for 
•the  mission  station  on  a  high  point  overlooking  a  grand  prai 
rie  towards  the  south  and  west,  and  on  the  south 
banks  of  a  stream  flowing  into  a  stream  now  known  as  Tibi 
(corruption  of  the  Choctaw  word  It-tib-ih — to  fight  or  having 
fought),  where  they  at  once  erected  a  camp,  preparatory  to 
the  establishment  of  the  missionary  station— to  which  Mr. 
Kingsbury  gave  the  name  Mayhew.  A  log  cabin  or  two 
were  soon  erected  by  the  aid  of  the  neighboring  Choctaws, 
also  a  garden  and  cornfield  opened  and  planted,  when  Mr. 
Kingsbury  retraced  his  steps  to  Elliot  and  safely  arrived 
there  March  29th. 

Soon  the  news  of  the.  establishment  of  another  station, 
and  the  opening  of  another  school,  echoed  and  re-echoed 
throughout  the  Nation  with  astonishing  rapidity;  and  appli 
cations  were  immediately  made  from  various  parts  of  the 
Nation  for  stations  and  schools  also.  And  to  prove  the  sin 
cerity  of  their  applications,  councils  were  held,  and  appro 
priations  were  made  in  various  parts  of  the  Nation,  for 
churches,  schools,  blacksmith  shops,  etc.,  and  in  1820,  an 
nuities  were  appropriated  to  these  objects  to  the  amount  of 
six  thousand  dollars  annually  to  run  for  sixteen  years. 
These  annuities  were  for  large  tracts  of  land  sold  by  the 
Choctaws  to  the  United  States.  Their  country  was  at  that 
time  divided  into  three  districts,  know  as  the  western,  north 
-eastern,  and  southern;  called  Upper  Towns,  Lower  Towns, 
.and  Six  Towns.  Each  district  had  a  ruling  chief,  and  each 


\ 

HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  141 

town  a  subordinate  chief,  captain,  and  warriors,  who  man 
aged  the  local  affairs  of  the  people.  Elliot  was  located  in 
the  western  district,  over  which,  at  that  time,  Pushamataha 
fOri.  A-num-pah-ish-tarn-yah-ub-ih,  a  messenger  of  death)  was 
the  ruling)  chief;  Mayhew,  in  the  north  eastern,  over  which 
Puckshenubbee(Orig  A-piurk-fo-lich-ihub-ihTo  encircle  and 
kill)  was  the  chief  and  A-mb-sho-lihub-ih  of  the  southern. 

About  this  time  (1820)  the  mumps  followed  by  the 
measles  desolated  many  families  and  even  towns  and  villages 
in  different  parts  of  the  nation,  owing  to  the  ig'iiorance  of  the 
Choctaws  concerning  the  nature  of  the  new  diseases  and 
their  proper  treatment. 

In  the  same  year  Apakfohlichihubih  and  Amosholihubih, 
with  seven  other  chiefs,  visited  Elliot  and  were  highly  elated 
at  the  progress  of  the  pupils,  and  exhorted  the  children  in 
strains  of  native  eloquence  to  learn  the  teachings  of  the 
Holisso  Holitopa  (pro.  as  Ho-lis-soh  Ho-le-to-pah,  and  sig. 
Book  Holy  (Bible),  which  told  them  how  to  be  good.  In  a 
social  conversation  with  Amosholihubih  while  at  Elliot,  Mr, 
Kingsbury  referred  to  the  evils  resulting  to  his  people  by 
the  use  of  whiskey;  after  listening  attentively  for  some  time, 
he  replied:  UI  never  can  talk  with  you  good  missionaries 
without  hearing  something  about  the  drunkenness  and  lazi 
ness  of  the  Choctaws.  I  wish  I  had  traveled  over  the  white 
man's  country;  then  I  would  know  whether  my  people  are 
worse  than  every  other  people.-  But  I  am  determined  it  shall 
no  longer  be  thus  said.  I  will  summon  a  council,  have  a  big 
talk  and  stop  the  whiskey;  for  I  am  tired  ofhearing  my  people 
called  every  where  lazy  and  drunkards."  He  was  as" good  as 
his  word.^  The  council  was  convened;  the  "big  talk"  had, 
a'nd  the  whiskey  banished  from  the  Choctaw  Nation,  and 
kept  away,  until  the  Mississippi  Legislature  in  1830  abro 
gated  their  laws,  and  turned,  by  the  hand  of  arbitrary  power, 
the  corrupting  and  devastating  channel  of  Whiskey  river 
into  their  country,  as  the  quickest  means,  of  securing  their 
remaining  lands,  knowing  their  horror  of  the  white  man's 
laws  with  his  whiskey  as  the  protector  and  sustainer  of 
human  "Personal  Liberty." 

Early  in  the  year  1820,  an  English  traveller  from  Liver 
pool,  name\l  Adam  Hodgson,  who  had  heard  of  the  Elliot 
mission  when  at  home,  visited  the  mission,  though  he  had  to 
turn  from  his  main  route  of  travel  the  distance  of  sixty  miles. 
He,  at  one  time  on  his  sixty  miles  route,  employed  a  Choc- 
taw  to  conduct  him  ten  or  twelve  miles  on  his  new  way, 
which  he  did,  then  received  his  pay  and  left  him  to  finish  his 
journey  alone.  Of  this  Choctaw  guide  Mr.  Hodgson,  as  an 
example  of  noble  benevolence  and  faithful  trust,  states:. 


142  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

"After  going-  about  a  mile,  where  we  became  confused  in  re 
gard  to  the  correct  direction  and  were  halting  upon  two 
opinions,  my  guide  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  appeared  at 
my  side,  and  pointed  in  the  direction  I  should  go,  as  he  could 
not  talk  English.  I  thanked  him  and  again  we  parted;  but 
again  becoming  confused  by  a  diverging  path,  half  a  mile 
distant,  as  suddenly  and  unexpectedly,  appeared  again  my 
guide  who  had  still  been,  silently  and  unobserved,  watching 
my  steps.  Again  he  set  me  right,  and  made  signs  that  my 
course  lay  directly  toward  the  sun,  and  then  disappeared;" 
and  by  carefully  keeping  the  course  as  directed  by  the 
Choctaw,  Mr.  Hodgson  safely  reached  the  mission,  where  he 
was  warmly  received  by  the  missionaries.  Yet  the  Indian  is 
still  called  a  savage,  who  "cannot  be  educated  out  of  his  sav 
agery."  God  pity  such  ignorance,  and  forgive  their  duplici 
ty  in  assuming  to  be  enlightened  Christians,  and  yet  seek  to 
hand  down  to  the  latest  posterity  a  part  of  God's  created  In 
telligences — the  Red  Race — as  beings  incapable  of  being 
"educated  out  of  their  savagery." 

Mr.  Hodgson  was  duly  introduced  to  the  members  of  the 
mission,  and  then  to  the  school  of  native  American  pupils. 
and  expressed  his  surprise  as  well  as  heartfelt  gratifica 
tion  with  the  account  the  teachers  gave  of  the  uncommon  fa 
cility  with  which  they  acquired  knowledge.  After  remain 
ing  a  few  days,  Mr.  Hodgson  left,  and  was  accompanied  sev 
eral  miles  on  his  way  to  Brainard  by  Mr.  Kingsbury,  the 
missionary  station  established  five  years  previous,  among 
the  Cherokees  by  Mr.  Kingsbury  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wil 
liams,  as  before  stated. 

Mr.  Hodgson,  in  a  letter  written  shortly  after  he  left 
Elliot,  thus  spoke  of  his  interview  with  Mr.  Kingsbury  in 
his  own  room  at  Elliot:  "A  log  cabin,  detached  from 
the  other  wooden  buildings,  in  the  middle  of  a  boundless 
forest,  in  an  Indian  country,  consecrated,  if  I  may  de  allow 
ed  the  expression,  by  standing  on  missionary  ground,  and 
by  forming  at  once  the  dormitory  and  the  sanctuary  of  a 
man  of  God;  it  seemed  to  be  indeed  the  prophet's  chamber, 
with  the  'bed  and  the  table,  the  stool  and  the  candlestick. 

"It  contained,  also,  a  little  book-case,  with  a  valuable 
selection  of  valuable  books,  periodicals,  biographical,  and 
devotional;  among- which  I  found  many  an  old  acquaintance 
in  this  foreign  land,  and  which  enabled  Mr.  Kingsbury,  in 
his  few  moments  of  leisure,  to  converse  with  many,  "who 
have  long  since  joined  the  'spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,' 
or  to  sympathize  with  his  fellow-laborers  in  Staheite,  Africa, 
or  Hindoostan.  About  midnight  we  became  thirsty  with 
talking  so  much;  and  Mr.  Kingsbury  proposed  that  we 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  143 

walk  to  the  spring-,  at  a  little'  distance.  The  night  was 
beautifully  serene  after 'the  heavy  showers  of  the  preceding 
nig-ht;  and  the  coolness  of  the  air,  the  fresh  fragrance  of  the 
trees,  the  deep  stillness  of  the  midnight  hour,  and  the  soft 
light  which  an  unclouded  moon  shed  on  the  log-  cabins  of  the 
missionaries,  contrasted  with  the  dark  shadows  of  the  sur 
rounding-  forest,  impressed  me  with  feeling's  which  I  can 
never  forget."  In  regard  to  the  mission  family,  he  said: 
*kl  was  particularly  struck  with  their  humility,  with  their 
kindness  of  manner  towards  one  another,  and  the  little  at 
tentions  which  they  seemed  solicitous  to  reciprocate.  They 
spoke  very  lightly  of  their  privations,  and  of  the  trials  which 
the  world  supposes  to  be  their  greatest;  sensible,  as  they 
said,  that  these  are  often  experienced  in  at  least  as  great 
degree,  by  the  soldier,  the  sailor,  or  even  the  merchant. 

Yet,  in  this  country  these  trials  are  by  no  means  tri 
fling.  Lying  out  for  two  or  three  months,  in  the  woods, 
with  their  little  babes  in  tents  which  cannot  resist  the  rain 
here,  falling  in  torrents  such  as  I  never- saw  in  England, 
within  sound  of  the  nightly  howling  wolves,  and  occasionally 
visited  by  panthers,  which  have  approached  almost  to  the 
door,  the  ladies  must  be  allowed  to  acquire  some  courage; 
while,  during  many  season  of  the  year,  the  gentlemen  can 
not  go  20  miles  from  home  (and  they  are  often  obliged  to  go 
30  or  40  for  provisions)  without  swimming  their  horses  over 
four  of  five  creeks.  Yet,  as  all  their  inconveniences  are  suf 
fered  by  others  with  cheerfulness,  from  worldly  motives, 
they  would  wish  them  suppressed  in  the  missionary  reports, 
if  they  were  not  calculated  to  deter  many  from  engaging  as 
missionaries,  under  the  idea  that  it  is  an  easy,  retired  li^e. 
Their  real  trials  they  stated  to  consist  in  their  own  imper 
fections,  and  in  those  mental  maladies,  which  the  retirement 
of  a  desert  cannot  cure.  I  was  gratified  by  my  visit  to 
Elloit,  this  garden  in  a  moral  wilderness;  and  was  pleased 
with  the  opportunity  of  seeing  a  missionary  settlement  in  its 
infant  state,  before  "the  wounds  from  decent  separation  from 
kindred  and  friends  had  ceased  to  bleed,  and  habit  had  ren 
dered  the  missionaries  familiar  with  the  peculiarities  of  their 
novel  situation.  The  sight  of  the  children  also,  many  of 
them  still  in  Indian  costumes,  was  most  interesting.  I  could 
not  help  imagining,  that,  before  me,  might  be  some  Alfred  of 
this  western  world,  the  future  founder  of  institutions  which 
are  to  enlighten  and  civilize  his  country,  some  Choctaw 
Swartz  or  Elliot,  destined  to  r  disseminate  the  blessings  of 
Christianity  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Frozen  sea.  I  contrasted  them  in  their 
.social,  their  moral,  and  their  religious  conditions,  with  the 


144  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

straggling  white  hunters  and  their  painted  faces,  who 
occasionally  stare  through  the  windows,  or,  with  the  half- 
naked  natives,  whom  we  had  seeri  a  few  nights  before,dancing- 
around  their  midnight  fires,  with  their  tomahawks  and 
scalping  knives,  rending  the  -  air  with  their  fierce  war- 
whoops,  or  making  the  woods  thrill  with  their  wild  yells. 

"But  they  form  a  still  stronger  contrast  with  the  poor  In 
dians,  whom  we  had  seen  on  the  frontier,  corrupted,  de 
graded,  debased  by  their  intercourse  with  English,  Irish,  or 
American  traders.  It  was  not  without  emotions,  that  I 
parted,  in  all  human  probability  forever  in  this  world,  from 
my  kind  and  interesting  friends,  and  prepared  to  return  to 
the  tumultuous  scenes  of  a  busy  world  from  which,  if  life  be 
spared,  my  thoughts  will  qften  stray  to  the  sacred  solitudes, 
of  Yallow  Busha,  as  a  source  of  the  most  grateful  and  re 
freshing  recollections." 

Soon  afterMr.  Hodgson  left  Elliot,  a  re-enforcement  of 
missionaries  arrived  at  Elliot  and  Mayhew  from  Massachu 
setts,  viz:  Messrs.  Smith,  Cushman,  Bardwell,  with  their 
families,  Byington,  Hooper.  Misses  Frisselle  and  Thacher 
f rom  Pennsylvania.  They  travelled  together  as  far  as  Pitts- 
burg,  Pennsylvania,  where  (November  4th,  1820)  they  took 
passage  on  a  large  flat  boat  called, at  that  day,  an  Ark,  and 
reached  the  Walnut  Hills  (now  Memphis,  Tennessee)  about ' 
the  last  of  Decem'ber,  There  Mr. Cushman  and  his  family, 
and  Mr.  Hooper,  took  a  wagon,  and  safely  arrived  at  May- 
hew  after  being  about  three  weeks  upon  the  road;  while  Mr- 
Smith  and  family  and  Mr.  Byington  and  Miss  Thacher  re- 
vmained  on  the  boat  until  they  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Yoh- 
shu-bah  (Yazoo);  and  Mr.  Bardwell  and  his  family  and  Miss 
Frisselle  remained  at  the  Walnut  Hills  to  look  after  the  in 
terests  of  the  property  of  the  mission,  which  had  been  there 
deposited  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  Choctaw  packet  to  carry 
it  to  Elliot  and  Mayhew.  But  the  river  rising  to  such  a 
height  as  to  render 'it  impracticable  to  travel  by  water,  Mr. 
Bardwell,  after  waiting  many  days  for  the  falling  of  the  river, 
procured  horses  upon  which  he  and  his  family  and  Miss 
Frisselle  rode  to  Elliot  through  the  wilderness  by  the  way 
of  little  paths  alone. 

A  short  time  before  the  arrival  of  the  above  mentioned 
missionaries  at  Elliot  and  Mayhew,  Mr.  Loring  S.  Williams, 
who  came  with  Mr.  Kingsbury  to  the  Choctaw  Nation,  trav 
elled  over  .that  Nation  to  learn  the  views  of  the  Choctaw  peo 
ple  in  regard  to  the  establishment  of  churches  and  schools 
among  them,  and  whom  he  found  everywhere  delighted  with 
the  idea.  In  his  travels  he  visited,  among  many  others,  a 
point  on  the  Old  Natchez  Trace;  (to  which  I  will  again  refer) 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  '  145 

called  French  Camp,  about  half  way  between  Elliott  and 
Mayhew  where  he  eventually  settled  with  his  family,  opened 
a  school  and  both  preached  to  and  taught  the  Choctaws,  and 
God  greatly  blessed  him  in  his  glorious  work. 
i_IZ'In  tne  meantime,  Mr.  Kingsbury  met  all  their  chiefs  in  a 
great  council  near  and  explained  to  them  the  nature  and  de 
sign  of  the  missions  being  established  in  the  Nation;  and  to 
which  a  chief  thus  responded:  "I  be  not  used  to  make  a 
talk  before  white  man,  but  when  my  heart  feel  glad,  me  can 
say  it.  Me  and  my  people  have  heard  your  talk  before,  but 
never  understand  this  business  so  well  as  now,  that  the 
missionaries  WORK  FOR  CHOCTAWS  WITHOUT  PAY;  that  they 
leave  their  homes,  and  all  for  good  of  Choctaws.  We  are 
ignorant.  We  know  when  day  come,  and  when  night  come. 
That  be  all  they  know." 

Thus  was  manifested  the  eagerness  of  those  ancient 
Choctaws,  as  well  as  all  their  race  from  the  days  of  Elliot, 
the  early  Apostle  to  the  Red  man  of  North  America,  down 
to  Cyrus  Kingsbury,  the  Apostle  of  the  Choctaws; 
and  thus  it  would  have  been  down  to  the  pres 
ent  day,  but  for  the  interference  with  and  pulling 
down  the  labors  of  those  men  of  God,  by  the  hands  of  those 
white  men  of  the  devil,  whose  howls  are  heard  from  the  cen 
tre  to  circumference  of  the  land,  even  this  day,  "Open  up  to 
white  settlement !  Open  up  to  white  settlement !" 

But  now  missions  'beg-an  to  be  established  in  various 
parts  of  the  Choc  taw  Nation;  and  now  was  also  seen  the  long 
closed  gates  of  an  age  of  moral  and  intellectual  darkness, 
through  wrhich  even  the  wing  of  .conjecture  is  unable  to  ex 
plore  in  its  flight,  swinging  open  to  the  first  echo  of  the  ap 
proaching  footsteps  of  those  pioneers  of  the  Cross  bearing 
and  bringing  the  glad  tidings  of  peace  and  good  will  to  the 
Choctaws,  and  commending  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  to 
them,  not  more  by  their  learning  than  by  their  life;  and  of 
each  of  whom,  both  men  and  women,  it  truly  might  be  said, 
Israelites  "in  whom  there  is  no  guile."  But  the  ever  watch 
ful  and  closely  observing  Choctaws  at  once  learned  to  justly 
appreciate  the  simple  beauty  of  such  lives  as  theirs,  never 
before  seen  nor  even  heard  of,  in  all  their  knowledge  of  and 
intercourse  with  the  White  Race.  Consequently,  they  held 
them  in  great  respect  and  reverence;  and  even  to  this  day, 
though  all  have  passed  from  their  toils  below  to  their  rewards 
above,  Mr.  Cyrus  Kingsbury,  the  last  of  that  noble  little 
band  of  Christian  heroes  and  heroines,  dying  June  27th,  1871, 
aged  83  years,.  7  months  and  4  days,  while  their  names  live 
in  the  memory  of  the  present  generation  of  the  Choctaws; 
since,  in  all  the  years  of  their  long  lives  of  labor  and  love 


•\ 


146  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

among  them,  they  did  them  no  wrong-,  but  only  good,  and 
thus  proving  themselves  to  be  their  real  friends  and  bene 
factors,  who  came  to  them,  not  with  soldiers  and  guns  as 
their  emblems  of  peace,  friendship  and  good  will,  but  with 
the  Bible  alone  by  whose  doctrines  universal  friendship, 
peace  and  brotherhood  may  be  successfully  and  permanently 
established  among  all  man-kind,  of  all  nations  and  of  every 
tongue;  and  WAS  successfully  and  permanently  established 
between  the  missionaries  and-the  Indians  every  where  upon 
the  North  American  continent,  from  the  first  sermon 
preached  to  them  by  John  Elliot  down  the  flight  of  years  to 
the  last  sermon  preached  to  them  by  Cyrus  Kingsbury.  A 
truth  incontrovertible,  too,  clear  too  certain  to  admit  of  dis 
pute.  And  had  the  love  of  God  and  one  veneration  of  his  pre 
cepts,  as  set  forth  in  the  Bible,  governed  the  American  peo 
ple  in  all  their  dealings  with  the  Indians,  as  did  those  early 
missionaries  to  that  noble  race  of  God's  created  intelligences, 
they  would,  long  since,  have  been  a  part  and  parcel  of  our 
nationality  filling  their  nook  and  corner  of  our  confederacy 
with  gloriously  redeemed  manhood  and  womanhood  that 
would  to-day  triumphantly  stand  the  scrutiny  and  verdict  of 
the  civilized  and  Christian  world.  But  alas,  we  tried  to  force 
upon  them  the  falsehood  that  they  were  inferior  beings,  and 
justly  failed;  and  will  ever  fail  so  long  as  a  North  American 
Indian  lives  to  hurl  the  idiotic  notion  back  into  our  teeth, 
though  the  howls  of  the  modern  idiots,  who  still  strive  to 
diabolify  the  noble  but  unfortunate  Red  Race,  disturb  the 
quiet  of  earth  with  "No  good  Indian  but  a  dead  Indian," 
"Once  an  Indian,  always  an  Indian"  exterminate  the  red 
skins;  shoot  down  the  "bucks  as  rabid  wolves,"  followed  by 
the  doxology  upon  that  "Harp  aof  thousands  .strings."  "Open 
up  their  few  remainidg  acres  of  land  to  settlement  for  the 
children  of  the  Lord." 

Many  parents  and  friends  attended  the  closing  exercises 
of  the  first  session  of  the  Mayhew  school,  and  were  delighted 
at  the  improvement  of  tire  children,  and  the  day  was  a  happy 
one  both  to  parents  and  pupils.  Amasholih'ubih,  accompa 
nied  by  many  of  his  chieftains  and  warriors,  also  attended 
the  examination,  and  made  the  following  remarks  to  the 
school:  "Such  a  thing  was  not  known  here  when  I  was  a 
boy.  I  had  heard  of  it,  but  did  not  expect  to  see  it.  I  re 
joice  that  I  have  lived  to  see  it.  You  must  mind  your  teach 
ers,  and  learn  all  you  can.  I  hope 'I  shall  live  to  see  our 
councils  filled  with  the  boys  who  are  now  in  this  school,  and 
that  you  will  then  know  much  more  thah  we  know  and  do 
much  better  than  we  do."  And  he  did  live  to  see  it.  All  re 
turned  to  their  homes  highly  pleased.  At  the  opening  of  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  147 

next  session  of  the  school,  Amosholih'ubih  brought  two  of 
his  sons  and  a  nephew  to  enter  the  school:  also  an  aged  Choc- 
taw  man  brought  his  grandson  and  .daughter  to  enter  the 
school,  and  said  to  Mr.  Kingsbury:  "I  now  give  them  to 
you,  to  fake  them  by  the  hand  and  heart,  and  hold  them  fast. 
I  will  now  only  hold  them  by  the  end  of  their  fingers." 

To  the  examination  at  Mayhew  in  1822,  many  Choctaws 
came  from  a  long  distance,  and  the  whole  Nation,  from  cen 
tre  to  circumference,  seemed  awake  upon  the  subject  of  im 
provement,  morally,  intellectually,  and  religiously.  But 
alas,  the  devil  was  not  asleep,  but  secretly  busy  in  trying  to 
thwart  the  good  efforts  of  both  the  Choctaws  and  mission 
aries,  by  influencing  his  abandoned  white  subjects,  who  had 
fled  from  the  religious  restraints  of  their  homes  in  the 
States,  to  misrepresent  the  designs  of  the  missionaries,  and, 
in  a  few  instances,  succeeded  in  inducing  parents  to  take 
their  children  from  under  the  care  and  instruction  of  the 
schools.  But  many  Choctaws  came  the  distance  of  70  miles 
to  learn  the  truth  of  the  reports;  and,  as  might  be  expected, 
returned  satisfied  of  their  falsity,  and  better  pleased  with  the 
missionaries,  their  churches  and  schools,  than  ever  before; 
and  thus  was  the  devil  and  his  white  subjects  gloriously  de 
feated  in  their  nefarious  designs. 

Soon  after,  a  brother  of  Captain  Cole  (who  died  ten  or 
twelve  miles  east  of  Atoka  in  the  present  Choctaw  Nation, 
Indian  Territory,  in  the  year  1884,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
nearly  four  score  and  ten  years)  sent  five  children  to  school, 
and  a  few  months  later  sent  another,  but  the  school  was  so 
crowded  that  the  sixth  could  not  be  admitted,  and  for  causes 
not  known,  the  father  sent  and  took  awray  the  five  who  mani 
fested  the  greatest  sorrow7  in  having  to  leave  the  school. 
But  Captain  Cole,  after  more  room  had  been  provided,  sent 
a  petition  with  the  signature  of  himself  an'd  eight  chiefs 
urging-  the  propriety  of  returning  all  the  six  children  to  the 
school;  and  not  only  the  six  were  returned,  but  also  six 
others,  besides  application  for  two  others,  one  of  whom  was 
his  son,  whom  he  gave  to  the  missionaries,  with  the  words: 
"I  want  him  to  remain  with  you  until  he  obtains  a  good  edu 
cation,  if  it  takes  TEN  years." 

Mrs.  Kingsbury  died  at  Mayhew,  on  the  15th  day  of 
September,  1822,  and  wras  buried  in  the  Mayhew  cemetery — 
a  true  and  self-sacrificing  Christian  woman,  who  gave  up  all 
for  the  sake  of  assisting  to  lead  the  Red  man  of  North  Am 
erica  into  the  fold  of  her  Divine  Master.  Her  noble  husband's 
body  rests  from  its  earthly  labors,  in  a  Choctaw  cemetery 
near  Old  Boggy  Depot,  Indian  Territory,  among  the  people 
he  loved  so  well,  and  for  whose  good  he  labored  so  faithfully 


148  HISTORY 'OF    THE   INDIANS. 

for  53  long-  and  eventful  years.  She  left  two  little  boys, 
Cyrus  and  John,  the  last  mentioned  also  lies  in  the  same- 
cemetery  near  thegrave'of  his  noble  father;  the  former,  if  alive, 
I  know  not  where  he  is.  The  last  I  heard  of  him,  (years  ago) 
he  was  living-  in  Iowa..  Both  were  the  playmates  of  my  child 
hood's  years,  never  to  be  forgotten. 

Ah"!  How  those  names  stir  the  memories  that  still  clus 
ter  around  my  early  youth!  We  were  five  missionary  boys, 
Cyrus  and  John,  my  two  brothers  and  myself,  all  playmates 
at  that  ag-e  when  we  felt  that  we  were  "monarchs  of  all  we 
survey"  and  truly  we  reigned  rig-ht  royally.  But  with  added 
years  came  the  "truth  that  the  world  Avas  not  so  eag-erly 
moulded  to  our  wishes,  for  life  soon  taught  its  realities  to  us 
as  to  all  poor  humanity  whose  days  are  full  of  sorrow,  and 
lives  but  a  span.  But.it  rests  me,  to  pause,  here  and  there, 
in  the  midst  of  hurry  and  care,  to  sit  in  this  my  ang-le-nook, 
among-  the  present  Choctaws  Indian  Territory,  and  ponder 
o'er  the  joys  of  by-gone  clays,  when  I  was  a  lifth  part  of  the 
happy,  boyhood  group  that  each  day  gathered  together  in  the 
long  ago.  How  well  I  remember  it,  and  how  warm  my  heart 
grows  at  the  thought.  The  cold  adamantine  wall  that  has 
enclosed  me  in  my  contact  with  a  busy  and  seemingly  heart 
less  world  crumbles  to  dust -and  falls  away,  leaving  me  ag'ain 
a  tender,  confiding,  loving  boy.  Ah!  That  beautiful  long 
ago!  when  I  received  earth  as  full  of  sunshine  without  alloy, 
and  sweet  song  without  a  discordant  note. 

Those  were  days  wherein  the  world  seemed  to  have 
reached  its  perfection;  days,  when  all  things  seemed  in  uni 
son  with  harmony,  as  if  Nature  would  indulge  her  offspring; 
when  all  things,  animate  and  inanimate,  seemed  to  give 
signs  of  satisfaction  and  contentment;  and  even  the  horses 
and  cattle,  scattered  here  and  there  in  little  groups,  some 
reposing  on  the  green  sward  and  others  grazing  around, 
seemed  to  be  indulging  in  tranquil  thoughts.  Ah  !  the  mem 
ory  of  those  days  makes  me  long-  once  more  to  throw  myself 
into  the  arms  of  loving  Nature,  as  in  the  days  of  yore;  but 
not  as  she  smiles  in  well-trimmed  woody  groves  or  in  culti-, 
vated  fields  of  grain;  but  Nature,  as  she  was  in  that  age  when 
creation  was  complete  and  unadorned  by  human  hand.  Yes, 
I  would  go  again,  even  in  this  my  life's  far  decline — back  to 
the  land  whereof  none  then  the  history  knew  ;  back  even  to  . 
the  Red  man,  whom  I  am  not  ashamed  to  own  I  love;  to 
whom  civilized  vice  was  then  unknown;  where  on  every  side 
stretched  away  on  illimitable  forest  scarcely  to  be  distin 
guished  in  the  shadows  of  night  from  the  hills  beyond; 
while  the  flowing  streamlet,  here  and  there,  clearly  gleamed 
through  the  open  glades  as  the  ripple  of  night  breeze  gently 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  \149 

#> 

stirred  the  forest  leaves.  But  if  you,  whose  eyes  may  some 
-day  fall  upon  these,  my  written  thoughts,  I  pray  you  perse 
vere,  since  what  I  may  have  to  tell  you  may  not  be  without 
interest,  as  I  have  not  told  it  before  nor  will  I  again. 

Though  the  death  of  Mrs.  Kingsbury  was  a  great 
bereavement  and  trial  to  Mr.  Kingsbury,  yet  he  faltered  not 
in  the  cause  of  his  Divine  Master  among*  his  loved  Choctaws. 
But  two  weeks  after  he  started  upon  a  long-  journey  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  nation  to  find  suitable  points  for  estab 
lishing-  churches  and  schools  among-  the  Choctaws,  that  their 
children  mig-ht  receive  an  education  near  home,  and  also 
relieve  the  missions  from  all  expenses  except  that  of  the  sup 
port  of  teachers.  After  several  days  travel,  he  arrived  at  the 
home  of  the  celebrated  chiefs  of  the  Choctaws,  Apushamata- 
hahubih,  where  he  met  Mr.  Jewell;  thence,  they  journeyed 
together  to  a  point  one  hundred  miles  distant,  called  by  the 
Choctaws  Oktak  Falaiah  (Ok-tark,  (Prairie),  Far-lai-ah 
{Long.)  )  There  they  laid  the  foundations  for  the  establish 
ment  of  a  school,  which  was  afterwards  named  Emmaus,  and 
was  near  the  line  between  Mississippi  and  Alabama.  At  Ok 
tak  Falaiah  they  made  the  acquaintance  of  Henry  Nail,  an 
aged  white  man,  who  had  been  adopted  by  the  Choctaws  by 
his  marriage,  many  years  before,  to  a  Choctaw  woman.  He 
told  Mr.  Kingsbury  and  Jewell  that  he  had  twelve  children 
living  and  one  dead.  He  was  a  chief  among  the  Choctaws  for 
many  years,  and  is  the  progenitor  of  the  Nail  family  among 
the  Choctaws.  But  I  will  speak  of  him  again  more  definitely. 
Thence  the  two  missionaries,  in  company  with  Joel  Nail,  a 
-son  of  Henry  Nail,  who  lived  near  his  father  with  a  wife  and 
several  small  children,  went  to  Okla  Hunnali  pro.  Ok-lah 
(people)  Hun-nar-lih,  (Six).  While  en  route,  they  unexpect 
edly  came  upon  a  large  company  of  Choctaws  assembled  for 
.a  ball  play.  As  soon  as  they  ascertained  that  one  of  the 
white  men  was  "Na-sho-ba-An-o-wa,  (Nar-sho-bah,  (Wolf), 
Arn-o-wah  (Walking)  (a  name  given  to  Mr.  Kingsbury  by 
the  Choctaws,  though  one  foot  was  badly  deformed  by  the 
cut  of  a  scythe  when  a  boy)  of  whom  they  had  heard,  they 
postponed  their  ball  play,  and  both  chiefs  and  warriors 
gathered  at  once  around  him,  and  urgently  solicited  him  to 
give  them  "a  talk"  about  schools.  He  willingly  complied, 
-while  they  listened  with  the  deepest  interest  and  in  profound 
silence  to  his  propositions,  and  manifested  unassumed  joy  at 
the  prospect  of  a  school.  Mr.  Kingsbury  then  bade  them  a 
friendly  adieu,  and  the  three  continued  their  journey  thence 
to  Okla  Hunnali,  which  comprised  six  clans,  and  contained 
2164  inhabitants. 

Aboha  Kullo  Humma,   (pro.  Ar-bo-hah')    (House;   Kullo 


150  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  ^ 

(strong)  Humma  (red)  or,. in  our  phraseology — (Strong-  red 
house — but  in  the  Choctaw,  Red  Fort)  was  the  chief  of  Okla 
Hunnali.  The  clans  of  the  Choctaws  .were  all  perpetuated 
in  the  female  line.  When  a  man  married,  he  was  adopted 
into  the  family  of  his  wife,  and  her  brothers  had  more  au 
thority  over  her  children  than  her  husband;  therefore,  when 
a  lover  wished  to  marry  a  girl,  he  consulted  her  uncles,  and 
if  they  consent  to  the  marriage,  the  .father  and  mother  ap 
proved.  Those  of  the  same  clan  were  never  allowred  to  inter- 
marrv.  A  Choctaw  regarded  marrying  a  girl  of  his  own  clan 
with  the  same  horror  as  the  white  man  did  to  marry  his  own 
sister;  and  equally  so  did  the  Choctaw  girl. 

Aboha  Kullo  Humma  was hig-hly  elated  at  the  proposition 
of  Mr.  Kingsbuiw  to  establish  a  school  among  his  clans,  or  peo 
ple;  and  earnestly  importuned  Mr.  Kingsbury to  establish  two- 
inhis  district;  ajid  such  were  his  pleadings  that  Mr.  Kingsbury 
finally  agreed  to  write  a  letter  to  the;  Prudential  Committee, 
to  solicit  more  teachers,  and  Aboha  Kullo  Humma  also  wrote 
a  letter,  and  sent  it  with  Mr.  Kingsbury's,  a  true  copy  of 
which  I  here  insert: 

Six  TOWNS,  Choctaw  Nation,  October  18th,  1822/ 
BROTHERS: 

"The  first  law  I  have  made  is,  that  when  my  warriors 
go  over  the  line  among  the  white  people,  and  buy  whiskey, 
and  bring  it  into  the  Nation  to  buy  up  the  blankets,  and 
guns,  and  horses  of  the  Red  people,  and  get  them  drunk; 
the  whiskey  is  to  be  destroyed.  The  whiskey  drinking  is 
wholly  stopped  among  my  warriors.  The  Choctaw  women 
sometimes  killed  their  infants,  when  they  did  not  want  to 
provide  for  them.  I  have  made  a  law  to  have  them  pun 
ished,  that  no  more  children  be  killed."  ^ 

This  law  had  actually  been  passed  and  was  then  in  full 
force,  as  had  been  exemplified  in  the  case  of  a  woman  who 
had  been  tried  and  convicted  for  killing  her  infant,  a  short 
time  prior  to  Mr.  Kingsbury's  visit  to  Okla  Hunnali.  She 
was  tied  to  a  tree  and  whipped  by  the  officers  of  justice  until 
she  fainted;  and  not  only  the  woman  was  whipped,  but  her 
husband  also  received  the  same  punishment  for  not  restrain 
ing  his  wife  in  the  destruction  of  the  child.  But  thus  con 
tinues  Aboha  Kullo  Humma. 

"The  Choctaws  formerly  stole  hog's  and  cattle,  and  kill 
ed  and  ate  them.  I  have  organized  a  company  of  faithful 
warriors  to  take  every  man  w^ho  steals,  and  tie  him  to  a  tree, 
and  give  him  thirty-nine  lashes.". 

^        This  law  of  punishing  theft  by  whipping  has  never   been 
repealed;  but  has  been  amended  to  this  extent,  and  so  stands. 


HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS.  151 

to-day — being*  fifty  lashes  on  the  bare  back  for  the  first  theft; 
a  hundred  for  the  second, and  death  by  the  rifle  for  the  third. 

"The  Choctaws  have,  sometimes,  run  off  with  each  oth 
er's  wives.  We  have  now  made  a  law,  that  those  who  do  so, 
shall  be  whipped  thirty-nine  lashes;  and  if  a  woman  runs 
away  from  her  husband  with  another  man,  she  is  also  to  be 
whipped  in  the  same  manner.  The  number  of  men,  women, 
and  children  in  the  Six  Towns,  is  2164.  I  want  the  good 
white  people  to  send  men  and  women  to  get  up  a  school  in 
my  district;  I  want  them  to  do  it  quick,  for  I  am  growing  old 
and  want  to  see  the  good  work  before  I  die.  We  have  al 
ways  been  passed  by.  Other  parts  of  the  Nation  have 
schools;  we  have  not;  we  have  made  the  above  laws  because  we 
wish  to  follow  the  ways  of  the  white  people.  We  hope  they 
will  assist  us  in  getting  our  children  educated.  This  is  the 
first  time  I  write  a  letter.  Last  fall  the  first  time  we  make 
lawsi}  I  say  no  more.  I  have  told  my  wants:  I  hope  you 
will  not  forget  me."  "ABOHA  KULLO  HUMMA." 

It  is  a  truth,  though  unknown  to  thousands,  yet  contra 
dicted  by  thousands  who  do  know  it  that,  from  an  unwilling 
ness  to  admit  anything  which  the  truth  of  a  desire  in  the 
Indians  to  become  a  civilized  and  Christian  people,  Aboha 
Kullo  Humma's  letter  expressed  the  true  sentiments  of 
every  tribe  of  North  American  Indians,  to  whom  the  mis 
sionaries  have  gone,  from  the  days  of  the  missionary  Elliot 
down  the  flight  of  years  to  the  present.  Instead  of  the  bread 
of  eternal  life  for  which  they  so  earnestly  pleaded,  except  the 
few  crumbs  the  devoted  and  self-sacrificing  missionaries 
gave  them,  we  have  given  them  leaden  bullets;  while  the 
iron  wheel  of  our  merciless  venality  rolled  over  them,  ancl 
still  rolls  on  like  a  juggernaut  crushing  them  by  turns,  some 
quickly,  and  some  later  on,  to  us  it  mattered  not,  so  in  the 
end  all  were  crushed,  and  we  go  in  to  take  their  long  coveted 
land;  though  they  fled  hither  and  thither,  and  plead  for  mercy, 
yet  the  appeal  was  vain,  for  the  blind  fury  of  our  avarice 
(deaf  as  the  adder)  still  thunders  on  only  to  stop,  it  seems, 
when  the  last  of  the  Red  Race  shall  be  numbered  with  the 
past  and  our  cup  of  iniquity  be  full,  that  the  God  of  justice 
may  write  against  us — Tekel,  that  our  ship  of  State  may  also 
go  down  in  the  vorte  caused  by  the  sinking  of  theirs. 

From  1822,  to  the  time  they  were  dispossessed  of  every 
foot  of  their^ ancient  domains,  and  driven  away  to  a  then 
wilderness,  the  schools  increased  in  numbers,  and  the  ordi 
nances  of  religion  were  augmented,  and  a  deeper  interest 
manifested  every  where  over  their  country — never  witnessed 
before;  as  they,  previous  to  that  time,  had  had  intercourse 
with  the  debased  of  the  White  Race,  by  whom  they  had  been 


152  HISTORY    OF    THE^  INDIANS. 

taught  in  the  school  of  vice,  and  nothing-  but  vice:  therefore 
the  North  American  Indians  have  been  accused,  from  first 
to  last,  of  having-  no  conception  of  an  over-ruling  providence 
— the  Creator  of  all  things,  and  an  effort  has  been  made  to 
sustain  the  charge  in  that  they  believed  in  the  supernatural 
power  of  their  rain-makers,  their  fair-weather-makers,  and 
the  incantations  of  their  doctors.  But  the  charge  is  utterly 
false.  'Tis  true,  they  relied  on  their  rain-makers,  fair- 
weather-makers  and  the  conjuring  of  their  doctors,  through 
the  belief  that,  by  prayer  and  supplication,  those  person 
ages  had  been  endowed  with  supernatural  powers  by  the 
Great  Spirit,  (their  God  and  ours),  in  whom  all  Indians  be 
lieved,  and  with  greater  veneration  than  the  whites,  and  I  de 
fy  successful  contradiction.  They  sought  the  aid  of  the 
rainmakers,  doctors,  &c,  just  as  we  do  the  prayers  of  our 
preahers  in  behalf  of  our  sick,  and  for  our  rain,  etc.  Now, 
whatmore  did  or  do  the  Red  Race  than  the  White?  Noth 
ing.  Yet  the  Indians  must  be  called  infidels;  though  there 
are  today,  and  always  have  been,  ten  thousand  white  ifidels 
to  one  Indian,  and  always  will  be.  The  Indians  have  also 
been  called  savage,  and  are  still  so  called,  because  he  suf 
fered  himself  to  be  tortured  with  fear  and  anxiety  in  the 
belief  of  the  existence  of  witches  and  ghosts,  and  that  many 
were  slain  because  they  were  believed  to  deal  in  witchcraft. 
But  say  you,  "Remember  Illichih!"  I  do;  but  also  point  you 
back  to  Cotton  Mather.  The  slayers  of  poor  Illichih  knew  noth 
ing  of  the  injunctions  of  the  Bible,  and  were  called  savages; 
but  Cotton  Mather  was  an  expounder  of  the  Bible,  and  his 
adherents  the  professed  believers  of  its  teachings,  but  he 
and  they  are  called  Christians.  Now  judge  ye,  (if  ye  can  do 
so  impartially)  if  "savage"  is  recorded  in  heaven  against  the 
slayers  of  Illichih,  is  "Christian"  also  recorded  there  against 
the  slayers  of  those  charged  with  witchcraft  in  Massachu 
setts?  Is  it  just  that  the  North  American  Indians  alone 
must  still  be  held  up  to  view  by  the  stigmatizing  name  Sav 
age,  though  years  ago,  they  freed  themselves,  as  a  people,  of 
all  such  nonsense;  while  thousands  of  the  White  Race  among 
the  civilized  nations,  our  own  included,  are  to-day  the  slaves 
of  that  most  foolish  of  all  foolish  superstitions,  yet  demand 
to  be  called  civilized  and  a'Christian  people? 

Mayhew,  the  second  mission  established  among  the 
Choctaws,  as  before  stated,  was  located  on  the  eastern  bor 
der  of  a  magnificent  prairie  that  stretched  away  to  the  west 
and  south  in  billowy  undulations  presenting  a  scene  of 
fascinating  loveliness  unsurpassed,  when  arrayed  in  its 
dress  of  summer's  green,  dotted  with  innumerable  flowers 
of  various  colors;  and  the  country  in  all  directions  for 


^J  HISTORY    OF    THK   INDIANS.  153 

miles  away,  was  rich  in  all  the  boundless  extravagance  of 
picturesque  beauty,  where  Nature's  most  fascinating"  feat 
ures  everywhere  presented  themselves  carelessly  disposed 
in  wild  munificence,  unimproved,  and  indeed  unimprovable 
by  the  hand  of  art.  Truly  the  lovely  situation  of  that  mis 
sion  is  still  fresh  in  memory,  though  more  than  a  half  cen 
tury  has  passed  away;  and  to-day,  as  of  that  long  ago,  the 
eye  of  memory  sees  the  far  extending  prairie  on  the  south 
and  west,  and  the  boundless  forests  on  the  north  and  east, 
with  their  hills  and  vales  of  romantic  loveliness,  and  creeks 
and  rivulets  combining  to  give  a  moral  interest  to  the  pleas 
ure  derived  from  the  contemplation  of  Nature  in  her  bright 
est,  happiest  and  most  varied  aspect.  Ah!  the  imagination 
^could  but  fold  its  pinions,  and  stand  in  wondering  admira 
tion  amid  the  sublime  solitudes  of  the  grand  forests  of  that 
day,  while  hill  and  dale  seemed  as  entrancing  to  the  eye  with 
their  beautifully  draped  garments  of  green  as  the  weird 
music  of  the  winds  amid  their  branches  was  to  the  ears  of 
fairies  played  on  mystic  Memnon's  harp  tuned  to  audible 
minstrelsy  under  the  glancing  rays  of  the  morning  and  even 
ing  sun. 

Their  horses,  cattle  and  hogs,  which  they  possessed  in 
•great  numbers,  were  fed  alone  from  Nature's  ample  store 
house  filled  at  all  times  with  the  richest  varieties  of  proven 
der-grass,  cane,  acorns  and  nuts;  while  game  of  many  vari 
eties  roamed  over  their  forests  undisturbed  only  as  necessity 
demanded  their  destruction.  Birds  of  many  kinds,  and  of 
various  plumage,  added  their  enchantment  to  the  scene. 

The  missionaries  found  the  Cherokees,  Choctaws  and 
Chickasaws  in  their  native  state — that  of  mortality  unadorned; 
yet  struggling  into  the  dawn  of  civilization  as  those  who  had 
heard  afar  the  roar  of  the  world's  civilization  and  roved  im 
patiently  to  the  shore;  and  they  soon  learned  that  even  the 
despised,  defamed  and  down-trodden  Indian  rejected  not 
God's  law — improvement;  nor  was  wanting  in  ability,  while 
their  sentiments  found  .an  expositor,  and  every  feeling  and 
oracle  in  his  untutored  breast.  Therefore,  they  sought  to 
make  them  religious  through  their  best  feelings  rather  than 
their  worst;  through  their  gratitude  and  affections,  rather 
than  their  fears  and  calculations  of  risk  and  future  punish 
ment;  and  they  found  by  giving  them  the  least  advantage  of 
instruction  they  glided  into  refinement;  and  also  found  that 
there  was  that  sentiment  in  the  Indian  that  gives  delicacy  to 
thought,  and  tact  to  manner;  for  they  listened  and  caught 
knowledge  in  the  natural  way  of  beneficence  and  power  of 
God;  of  the  mystic  and  spiritual  history  of  man;  and  philan 
thropic  missionaries  were  charmed  by  their  attention.  How 


154  HISTORY  OF  THK  INDIANS.          •> 

true  that,  in  the  nature  of  man — the  humblest  to  the  hardest 
—there  is  something-  that  lives  in  all  of  the  beautiful  or  the 
fortunate  which  hope  or  desire  have  appropriated,  even  in  the 
vanities  of  a  childish  dream!  At  the  time  of  the  advent  of  the 
missionaries,  the  Cherokees,  occupied  the  now  State  of  Ten 
nessee,"  the  Chickasaws  the  north  part  of  the  now  State  of 
Mississippi,  and  the  Choctaws  the  south  part  including- 
also  the  western  part  of  the  now  State  of  Alabama  and  the 
eastern  part  of  the  now  State  of  Louisiana.  Those  early 
missionaries  (both  men  and  women),  who  offered  their  lives 
to  the  cause  and  thoug'ht  no  more  of  themselves,  were  of 
strong-  character,  firm  resolution  and  of  fine  tastes  and 
ideals;' and  of  those  missionary  women'it  may  be  truthfully 
added, 'the}T  were  intelligent  and  elegant  as  they  were  heroic; 
and  the  lovers  of  missionary  lore  oft  read  with  delight  the 
ideal  romance  of  their  lives. 

They  first  studied  and  made  themselves  acquainted  with 
the  various  dialects  of  the  Indians'  complicated  languages— - 
difficult  because  of  the  combination  of  signs  and  wrords  that 
cannot  be  reduced  to  any  known  rule;  they  administered  to- 
the  wants  of  the  sick  and  dressed  the  wounded;  they  braved 
sickness  and  death  and  p-reached  the  tiding-s  of  peace  oil 
earth  and  g-ood  will  to  men;  and  to-day,  thoug-h,  long-  since,.' 
all  have  g-one  to  receive  their  reward — a  blissful  immortality 
amid  eternity's  scenes — yet  their  names  and  deeds  of  right 
eousness  stand  triumphant  and  revered,  while  over  them  and 
those  whom  they -taught  and  led,  the  Choctaw,  the  Chicka- 
saw,  the  Creek,  the  Cherokee,  the  Seminole — waves  the 
white  banner  whose  only  symbol  is  the  Cross  of  the  World's- 
Redeemer. 

But  in  their  early  labors  of  love  among  the  above  named 
people  what  did  those  selfsacrificing  men  and  women  find? 
They  found  the  Indians  confidence  was  easily  gained,  and  as. 
easily  retained  by  just  and  humane  treatment,  they  found 
that  he  was  not  vicious  nor  bloodthirsty,  an  untamable 
savage,  as  he  was  and  ever  has  been  so  unjustly  represented 
to  be;  they  found  that,  unlike  his  white  defamer,  he  never 
was  profane.  He  took  not  in  vain  the  name  of  his  God,  the 
Great  Spirit,  nor  the  names  of  the  subordinate  deities,  to 
whom  his  religion  taught  him  the  supreme  Great  Spirit  dele 
gated  supernatural  powers  among  men.  Whatever  he  loved, 
he  called  it  good;  whatever  he  hated,  he  called  it  bad.  Of 
whiskey  he  said:  uO-ka-ki-a-chuk-ma,  Water"  not  good,  that 
was  all. 

They  found  the  men  to  be,  to  a  great  extent,  even  as  the 
whites,  good  husbands,  loving  fathers,  and  the  most  faithful 
of  friends;  the  women,  devoted  wives,  adoring  mothers,  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  155 

equally  true  as  friends,  and  both  men   and  women,   truthful 
to  the  letter,  all  scorning1  a  lie  and  a  liar. 

'They  found  among-  all  the  men  the  attributes  of  the 
heroes,  in  truth,  honesty,  fidelity  and  patriotism,  unsur 
passed  in  the  annals  of  the  human  race,  all  sustained  by  in 
controvertible  testimony  for  two  centuries  past;  yet,  with 
mair^  foibles  common  to  the  fallen  race  of  man,  but  with  few 
of  the  prominent  and  debasing"  vices  of  the  White  Pace. 

They  found  them  to  be  a  race  that  defied  the  tortures  of 
an  enemy  to  produce  a  groan,  to  shed  a  tear  or  manifest 
.pain.  Stake  man  or  woman  to  the  ground  and  burn  them  to 
death  by  degrees,  and  they  would  expire  without  a  moan 
chanting  his  or  her  death-song  defiantly  to  the  last  gasp.  t  '"; 
They  found  them,  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  word,  to  b:e 
communists.  Whatever  they  had  was  cheerfully  bestowed 
to  any  needy  of  their  tribe.  "Will  I  let  my  brother  suf 
fer  when  I  have  plenty?"  replied  an  Indian  to  a  white  man.  who 
advised  economy  by  saving-  his  superfluous  meat  against  the 
scarcity  of  winter  instead  of  dividing*  it  among1  his  fellows. 
His 'generosity  and  his  hospitality  were  extended  even  to  an 
enemy — whose  life  was  safe  if  he  entered  his  cabin  and  par 
took  even  a  drink  of  water;  for  the  Indian's  laws  of  hospital 
ity  were  inviolate.  ' ',' ' 
The  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  fell  upon  the  ear  of  the  Red 
man  as  a  bright  and  beautiful  elucidation  of  his  own  vague 
but  often  sublime  conceptions,  and,  under  the  mild  teaching's 
of  the  devoted  missionaries,  he  adapted  himself  to  the  spirit 
of  the  age  and  accepted  his  ne\v  surroundings  because  the 
power  which  led  him  on  to  civilization  was  that  of  the  Soldier 
of  the  Cross  instead  of  the  sword. 

The  missionaries  also  found  them  with  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil;  they  too  were  embued  with  the  eternal  princi 
ples  of  love  and  hate;  feeling  that  they  were  by  Nature  in 
tended  to  be  free,  yet  feeling  that  they  were  slaves  to  circum 
stances — alike  with  the  human  race— seeking  the  good  yet 
too  oft  finding  the  bad;  but  not  being  able  to  attribute  both 
the  good  and  the  evil  to  the  same  All-Wise  Being,  they  im 
agined  that  these  gods  were  alike  anxious  to  do  them  service 
—the  one  to  give  them  pain  and  sorrow,  and  the  other  pros 
perity  and  pleasure;  the  one  ever  thwarting  them  in  their 
undertaking,  the  other  encouraging  and  assisting  them; 
they,  therefore,  desired,  and  very  naturally,  too,  to  appease 
the  one  and  please  the  other,  and  this  desire,  as  a  natural 
consequence,  influenced  them  to  the  worship  of  both  the  god 
of  evil  and  the  god  of  good;  yet  those  holy  men  of  God  also 
found,  that  the  Indians'  thoughts  (the  wild  ivy  of  the  human 
mind)  could  be  trained  upward  until  they  too  were  hung 


156  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

around  by  the  tenderest  associations  and  the  recollections  of 
all  that  is"  sweet  and  solemn  in  man's  nature,  as  it  points  up 
wards  to  a  blissful  immortality  in  the  skies;  and  that  their 
spirits  and  hopes  at  once  began  to  mount  up  from  earth  in 
ihe  pathway  thus  indicated  by  the  light  of  truth;  to  reach 
the  blissful  home  so  timely  suggested  by  those  men  and 
women  of  God. 

But,  alas,  for  the  Choctaws ! 

The  white  man  soon  disturbed  the  long  and  deep  rest  of 
their  happy  lives,  not  for  their  moral  and  intellectual  im 
provement  and  advancement  in  Christian  civilization,  but 
.alone  for  their  banishment  from  their  ancient  domains  of  con 
tentment  and  bliss  to  impoverishment  and  humiliation  in  a 
•distant  wilderness  in  the  west,  with  the  injunction  "Root 
pig  or  die,"  where  there  was  actually  nothing  for  which  to 
root. 

There  were  many  things  which  served  to  awaken  in  the 
minds  of  the  early  missionaries  to  the  present  five  civilized 
tribes,  when  living  in  their  ancient  domains  east  of  the  Missis 
sippi  river,  sad  and  melancholy  reflections.  They  beheld  all 
around  them  indubitable  evidence  of  the  former  existence  of 
a  large  population  who  lived  long  prior  to  the  people  among 
whom  they  labored,  and  had  in  the  years  of  the  long  ago  per 
formed  their  part  upon  the  stage  of  life,  and  unremembered, 
passed  into  the  secret  chambers  of  oblivion.  They  felt 
that  they  walked  over  the  graves  of  a  long  succession  of  gen 
erations  ages  before  mouldered  into  dust;  the  surrounding 
forests  were  once  animated  by  their  labors,  (as  their  rude 
and  mouldering  fortifications  testified),  their  huntings  and 
wars,  their  songs  and  their  dances;  but  silence  had  drawn 
its  impentrable  vail  over  their  entire  history;  no  lettered  page, 
no  sculptured  monument  told  who  they  were,  whence  they 
came,  or  the  period  of  their  existence. 

But  how  strange  the  scene  presented  to  the  Cherokees  at 
Brainard,  to  the  Choctaws  at  Elliot,  and  the  Qhickasaws  at 
Monroe,  (the  names  given  to  the  missionary  stations,  the  first 
established  among  the  peculiar  but  appreciative  people  I)  How 
incomprehensible  to  them  was  the  conduct  of  the  pale  faces 
then  and  there.  How  different  from  all  others  they  had  ever 
seen  or  heard,  the  white  traders,  whiskey  peddlers,  strag 
glers  and  refugees  from  justice!  In  all  their  previous  know 
ledge  of  whose  race,  they  had  seen  the  same  motto  inscribed 
upon  all  their  flags— "Traffic  and  trade,  War  and  strife;" 
but  now  they  came  disrobed  of  every  appearance1  of  greedy 
gain  and  all  implements  of  war  and  strife,  and  teaching  the 
strange  tidings  of  peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to  man.  Nor 
were  the  missionaries  scarcely  less  astonished  to  find  the 


HISTORY    OF    THK    INDIANS  157 

people  who  had  been  represented  to  them  by  the  tongue  of 
calumny  as  a  set  of  savages,  to  be  quite  the  reverse — even  a 
remarkable  people  in  many  respects;  first,  for  their  native 
moral  principle,  their  innocence  of  all  hypocrisy,  lying-  and 
all  forms  of  deceit,  in  all  their  social  relations  with  each  other; 
secondly,  for  their  virtue,  their  fair-mindedness,-  their 
great  and  abiding  paternal  and  parental  aff ectioii;  thirdly, 
their  respect  for  the  right  of  property  and  the  sacredness  of 
human  character  from  slander  and  vituperation. 

This  is  not  an  over-drawn  picture.  Nowhere  among 
any  people  was  property,  life,  and  human  character  more 
sacred,  and  hypocrisy  and  lying  less  known,  than  among  the 
ancient  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw,  Cherokee  and  Muskogee 
people.  I  speak  from  personal  knowledge.  And  the  mis 
sionaries  found  them,  to  their  agreeable  surprise,  as  little 
meriting  the  title,  savag'es,  which  ignorance,  prejudice  and 
imbecile  egotism  had  applied  to  them,  as  any  race  of  unlet 
tered  people  that  were  ever  known  to  exist;  and,  in  viewing" 
them  in  the  light  of  a  true  catholic  spirit,  saw  much  that  was 
touching  and  beautiful  in  their  manners  and  customs.  They 
also  found  them  to  be  a  people  with  immovable  faith  in  a 
Supreme  Being,  and  possessing  a  great  reverence  for  powers 
and  abilities. superior  to  those  of  earth;  though,  to  some  ex 
tent,  materialistic  in  their  conception,  but  totally  ignorant  of 
the  white  man's  ideas  and  views  of  Christ  and  the  Father. 
They  regarded  the  Great  Spirit  as  the  source  of  general 
good,  and  of  whom  they  asked  guidance  in  all  undertakings, 
and  implored  aid  against  their  enemies,  and  to  whose  power 
they  ascribed  favors  and  frowns,  blessings,  successes  and 
disappointments,  joys  and  sorrows;  and  though  their  faith 
may  have  seemed  cold  to  us,  and  their  ceremonies,  frivolous, 
ridiculous,  and  even  blasphemous  in  our  eyes;  but  in  such 
lightas  they  had  truly  walked,  with  ready  and  sincere  acknowl 
edgement  of  human  dependence  on  super-human  aid  and 
mercy.  Can  we  say  as  much  for  ourselves?  Do  we  walk 
according  to  the  light  we  have  as  truly  and  faithfully  as  the 
unlettered  Indians  did? 

But  among  the  many  things  that  are  associated  with  the 
North  American  Indians  as  topics  of  conversation  and  sub 
jects  of  the  printer's  ink-more  talked  about  and  less  under 
stood-is  the  "Medicine  Man."  On  Nov.  14,  1605,  the  -first 
French  settlement  was  made  in  America,  on  the  north-east 
coast  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  they  gave  the  name  A'cadia  to  the 
country;  and  on  July  3,  1808,  Samuel  Champlain  laid  the 
foundation  of  Quebec.  The  character  "Medicine-Man"  had 
its  origin,  according  to  tradition,  among  those  early  French 
colonists  who  corrupted  the  word  "Meda" — a  word  in  the 


158  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

language  of  one  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  that  day  signifying 
chief,  into  "Medicine-Man,"  and  also  called  the  religious 
ceremonies  of  the  Indian  "making  medicine,"  which  was 
afterwards  called,  as  the  result,  "medicine,"  and  which  final 
ly  became  in  use  among  the  Indians  themselves,  and  has  so 
continued  to  the  present  day. 

It  was  a  religious  ceremony  for  the  propitiation  of  invisi 
ble  spirits  and  practised  by  all  of  the  North  American 
Indians,  with  scarcely  an  exception.  The  ancient  Choctaws 
and  Chickasaws  had  their  Medicine  Men,  with  many  of  whom 
I  was  personally  acquainted  in  the  years  of  the  long  ago. 

There  were  two  kinds  of  Medicine  (religious  ceremon 
ies)  among  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  the  same  as 
among  all  other  tribes  of  their  race,  the  tribal  medicine  and 
the  individual,  each  peculiar  to  the  individual  tribe  and  in 
dividual  person  of  that  tribe.  What  the  different  ingredients 
were,  which  composed  the  tribal  medicine,  no  one  knew,  or 
ever  tried  to  know,  except  he  who  secretly  collected  and 
stored  them  away  in  the  carefully  dressed,  highly  orna 
mented  and  sacred  deer-skin  sack;  yet  it  was  held  as  sacred 
in  the  hearts  of  the  entire  tribe  of  all  ages  and  sexes,  as  was 
the  ark  of  the  convenant  among  the  ancient  Jews.  And 
equally  so  was  that  of  the  individual,  whose  ingredients  were 
known  only  to  its  maker  and  possessor.  More  than  once  did 
my  boyish  curiosity  induce  me  to  ask  a  Choctaw  warrior 
what  was  in  his  medicine  sack,  but  only  to  get  the  repulsive 
reply:  None  of  your  business. 

Indeed,  the  mission  of  the  tribal  medicine  was  to  the  In 
dians  the  same,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  that  of  the  sa 
cred  ark  to  the  ancient  Jews  when  borne  through  the  wilder 
ness  in  those  days  of  their  historical  pilgrimage^  It  was  re 
garded  as  the  protector  of  the  tribe,  in  fact,  tfife  visible  em 
bodiment  of  the  promise  of  the  good  Great  Spirit  to  provide 
for  the  tribe  all  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  protect  them 
from  all  enemies.  So  too  was  that  of  the  individual  medicine 
which  he  had  made  fqr  himself  alone,  and  which  was  indeed 
a  part  of  his  life, — his  assurance  in  danger,  his  safety  in  bat 
tle,  and  his  success  amid  all  the  vicissitudes  of  his  earthly 
career.  If  the  sacred  and  secret  articles  that  composed  the 
contents  of  the  tribal  medicine  bag,  or  those  of  the  individual 
medicine  bag,  should  become  known  to  others,  than  the  one 
who  collected  and  placed  them  therein,  the  mystic  bag  at 
once  became  powerless— even  as  Sampson,  when  shorn  of 
his  hair  by  the  treacherous  hands  of  Delilah.  And  was  it 
captured  in  war  or  otherwise  fell  into  the  hands  of  an  enemy 
the  greatest  consternation  fell  upon  the  entire  tribe,  and  su 
per-human  efforts  were  made  to  recover  it.  If  they  failed  in 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  159 

this,  overtures   soliciting-  pearce,    even   to   humiliation,    were 
made  at  once  to  the  ememy. 

But,  if  an  individual  was  in  any  way  deprived  of  his, 
which  he  always  kept 'about  his  person,  he  -made  another. 
The  making  of  another  may  seem  an  easy  matter  to  the  un 
informed.  But  not  so.  It  entailed  upon  the  maker  a  long 
period  of  utter  seclusion  in  the  solitude  and  silence  of  the 
forest  far  away  from  the  abodes  of  man-kind,  with  long-  con 
tinued  fasting,  meditation  and  prayer,  followed  by  long-  pro 
tracted  labor  in  finding  and  securing  the  necessary  articles, 
such  as  earths  *of  different  colors,  the  ashes  of  various 
weeds,  bones  of  certain  birds  and  snakes,  and  various  other 
things  which  his  fancy  may  suggest.  These  were  placed 
in  a  vessel  of  water  prepared  for  the.  purpose,  and  the  vessel 
is  then  placed  upon  a  lire  and  the  contents  continually  stirred 
with  a  st^ck  as  it  became  more  and  more  heated.  During 
this  process  he  obtains  a  sign  from  some  developed  peculiarity 
which  he  regards  as  infallible,  and  which  enables  him  to  in 
terpret  signs  and  omens,  both  of  good  and  evil.  A  small 
portion  of  the  contents  of  the  vessel  was  placed  in  his  mystic 
sack  and  accompanied  him  every  where.  In  time  of  peace, 
the  tribal  medicine  was  placed  in  the  care  of  a  chief  noted 
for  his  bravery,  who  carefully  guarded  it  from  all  profana 
tion;  but  in  the  time  of  war,  the  war-chief  carried  it  in  front 
of  his  warrior  as  they  marched  upon  the  war-path.  The 
youthful  warriors  was  always  instructed  in  the  art  of  mak 
ing  medicine  by  the  aged  men  of  the  tribe,  of  which  he  made 
good  use  antl  never  forgot. 

The  philosophy  of  the  ancient  Indian  ever  taught  him 
to  concentrate  his  mind  upon  the  spirit  land;  and  that  the 
influences  which  surrounded  him  in  Nature,  above,  beneath, 
around,  are  sent  direct  by  the  spirits  that  dwell  in  an  invisi 
ble  world  above;  that  there  are  two  kinds  of  spirits — the 
crood  and  the  bad,  who  are  continually  at  war  with  each  other 
wer  him,  the  good  directing  all  things  for  his  prosperity 
and  happiness,  the  bad  directing  all  things  agaiiist  his  pros 
perity  and  happiness;  that  within  himself  he  can  do  nothing, 
as  he  is  utterly  helpless  in  the  mighty  contest  that  is  waged 
over  him  by  theigood  and  bad  spirits.  Therefore,  he  exerts 
his  greatest  energies  of  mind  and  body  to  the  propitiation  of 
of  the  bad  spirits  rather  than  the  good,  since  the  former  may 
be  induced  to  extend  the  sceptre  of  mercy  to  him,  while  the 
latter  will  ever  strive  for  his  good,  and  his  good  alone. 
Therefore,  when  he  is  fortunate  he  attributes  it  to  some  good 
spirit;  when  unfortunate,  to  some  bad  spirit.  So,  when  he 
-said  it  is  "good  medicine,"  he  meant  that  the  good  spirit  had 


160  HIST  OR  Y  O  F  THE  INDIANS. 

the  ascendency;  and  when  he  said  it   is   "bad    medicine"  he- 
meant  that  the  bad  spirit  had  the  ascendency. 

Therefore,  all  thing's  in  nature,  as  a  natual  consequence,, 
indicated  to  him  the  presence  of  the  spirits,  both  good  and 
bad, — as  each  made,  known  their  immediate  nearness 
through  both  animate  and  inanimate  nature.  The  sighing- 
of  the  winds;  the  flight  of  the  birds;  the  howl  of  the  lone  wolf; 
the  midnight  hoot  of  the  owl,  and  all  other  sounds  heard 
throughout  his  illimitable  forests  both  by  day  and  by  nip-ht, 
had  to  him  most  potent  significations;  and,  by  which,  he  so 
governed  all  his  actions,  that  he  never  went  upon  any  enter 
prise,  before  consulting  the  signs  and  omens;  then  acted  in 
conformity  thereto.  If  the  medicine  is  g'ood,  he  undertakes 
his  journey;  if  bad,  he  remains  at  home,  and  no  argument 
can  induce  him  to  change  his  opinion,  which  I  learned  from 
personal  experience. 

The  missionaries  found  the  precepts  of  the  Choctaw's 
to  be  moral;  and  also  that  they  respected  old  ag^e,  and  kept 
fresh  in  memory  the  wise  councils  of  theii;  fathers,  whose  les 
sons  of  wisdom  the  experience  of  the  past,  taught  their 
youthful  minds  to  look  upward,  and  whose  teachings  they 
did  not  forget  in  their  mature  years. 

Their  tenderness  to  and  watchful  care  of  the  aged  and 
infirm  was  truly  remarkable;  they  looked  upon  home  and 
regarded  their  country  as  sacred  institutions,  and  in  the 
defense  of  which  they  freely  staked  their  lives;  they  also  in 
culcated  a  hig-h  regard  for  parents,  and  were  always  cour 
teous  by  instinct  as  well  as  by  teaching;  they  held  in  high 
veneration  the  names  of  the  wise,  the  good,  and  the  brave  of 
their  ancestors,  and  from  their  sentiment  toward  the  dead 
grew  sweet  flowers  in  the  heart.  They  believed  that  interity 
alone  was  worthy  of  station,  and  that  promotion  should  rest 
on  capacity  and  faithfulness;  they  also  had  swift  and  sure 
methods  of  dealing  with  the  incorrigible,  official  or  private; 
nor  were  they  impatient  of  the  slow  processes 'of  the  years 
but  knew  how  to  wait  in  faith  and  contentment;  and  if  they 
were  not  as  progressive,  as  our  opinion  demands  in  its  rush 
for  gain  and  pompous  show,  they  had  at  least  conquered  the 
secret  oi  National  and  individual  steadfastness.  To-day  we 
are  a  prodigal  and  wasteful  people,  the  .Indians  are  frugal 
and  economical. 

In  14  months  after  the  location  of  the  mission  at  Elliot 
by  the  indefatigable  perseverance  of  Mr.  Kingsbury,  a 
sufficiency  of  houses  were  erected,  a  school  was  opened, 
and  that  then  young  pioneer  of  the  Cross  proclaimed  the 
Gospel  of  the'Son  of  God,  where  it  never  before  had  been 
proclaimed;  and  at  the  time  the  Chactaws  were  so  cruelly 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  161 

driven  from  their  ancient  domains  to  make  room  for  our  cruel 
and  unchristian  venality  called  "Progress,"  the  Ellliot  and 
May  hew  missions  together  with  the  eleven  other  established 
in  various  parts  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  were  in  a  flourishing 
condition;  and  this  earliest  effort  to  evangelize  this  worthy 
people,  was  highly  encouraging  from  the  readiness,  yea, 
absolute  eagerness,  on  their  part  to  receive  instruction. 
A  considerable  and  suitable  literature  both  educational  and 
religious  was  soon  prepared;  a  school  system  was  also  founded 
>  through  which  many  young  Choctaws,  both  male  and  female, 
received  the  elements  of  a  good  education.  Many  of  the 
useful  arts  of  civilized  life  were  introduced;  and  the  mission 
aries  had  gathered  many  Christian  congregations  of  whom 
not  a  few  had  received  the  good  seed  in  an  honest  heart. 
And  of  those  noble,  self-sacrificing  missionaries,  it  may  truly 
be  said,  "Their  works  do  follow  them;"  and  to-day  the  names 
Kinp"sburv,  Byington,  Williams,  Cushman,  Polly,  Hotchkins, 
Hawes,  Bardwell  and  Smith,  are  still  held  in  grateful  re 
membrance  by  the  Choctaws,  as  the  names  of  some  "of  those 
who  were  their  true,  their  noblest  and  best  earthly  friends, 
to  which  the  following  will  truthfully  attest. 

In  his  first  annual  report  of  the  Elliot  Mission,  bearing 
date  October  28th,  1819,  Mr.  Kingsbury  says:  (I  copy  from 
the  original  MS.)  "The  first  tree  was^  felled  on  the  13th  of 
August,  1818.  Since  we  arrived,  (himself  and  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Williams)  we  have  been  joined  by  the  following  persons; 

Mr.  Peter  Kanaise,     Mr.  John   Kanaise   and   wife,    car 
penter,     Mr.  Moses  Jewell  and  wife,     Mr.  N.Jersey,     Mr. 
N.   York,  'carpenter  and   millwright,     Mr.   A.  V.  Williams, 
laborer,     Mrs.  Kingsbury,     Miss   Chase,     Mr.    Isaac   Fisk,' 
blacksmith,     Mr.  W.  W.  Pride,  physician. 

"All  these  came  out  to  labor  gratuitously  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Choctaws. 

It  would  be  trespassing  unnecessarily  on  the  time  of 
the  secretary  to  detail  the  principal  circumstances  and  diffi 
culties  which  have  attended  the  progress  of  our  labors. 
They  have  been  similar  to  what  must  always  attend  sucji 
enterprises  in  an  uncivilized  country  far  removed  from  those 
places  where  the  necessaries,  comforts,  and  conveniences  of 
life  can  be  obtained. 

Since  our  arrival,  we  have  been  principally  occupied  in 
erecting  buildings.  This  devolved  upon  us  much  labor  and 
greatly  retareted  our  other  business,  but  by  the  blessing  of  a 
kind  Providence,  we  have  been  prospered  in  our  work,  much 
beyond  our  expectations. 

Within  about  fourteen  months  there  have  been  erected  at 


162  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

Elliott   seven     commodious   cabins   which    are   occupied   as 
dwelling-  houses.  / 

A  dining-  room  and  kitchen  contiguous,  (54  x  20)  with 
hewed  logs  and  a  piazza  on  each  side. 

-  A  school  house  36ft  x  34  hewed  logs;   and  finished  on  the 
Lancastrian  plan. 

A  millhouse  34  x  30ft,  and  also  a  lumberhouse  and 
granary,  each  18  x  20ft. 

A  blacksmith  shop,  stable,  and  three  outhouses,  all  of 
which  are  nearly  completed. 

On  the  plantation  between  30  and  40  acres  haAre  been 
cleared  and  fenced;  and  between  20  and  30  acres  have  been 
cultivated,  which  have  produced  a  considerable  quantity  of 
corn,  potatoes,  beans,  peas,  etc. 

Besides  the  above,  considerable  time  has  been  spent  in 
cutting-  roads  in  different  directions,  and  constructing  several 
small  bridges,  which  were  necessary  for  transporting-  with  a 
wag-on. 

The  stock  at  present  belonging-  to  the  mission,  consists 
of  7  horses,  10  steers,  75  ccws,  75  calves  and  young  cattle, 
and  about  30  swine.  Of  the  above,  54  cows  and  calves,  and 
6  steers  and  young  cattle  have  been  presented  by  the  Choc- 
taws  for  the  benefit  of  the  school. 

"There  is  no  private  property  attached  to  the  mission. 
All  is  sacredly  devoted  to  the  various  purposes  of  instructing- 
the  Choctaws.  t 

"Urged  by  the  importunity  of  the  natives,  the  school  was 
commenced  under  many  disadvantages  in  April  last,  with 
ten  pupils.  As  accommodations  and  means  of  support  have 
increased  the  school  has  been  enlarged,  and  there  are  fifty- 
four  students  who  attend  regularly— males  and  females. 
All  these  board  in  our  family.  They  are  of  different  ages— 
from  6  to  20,  and  could  not  speak  our  language  when  they 
came.  More  pupils'are  expected  to  join  the  school  shortly. 
In  addition  to  the  common  rudiments  of  education,  the  boys 
are  acquiring  a  practical  knowledge  of  agriculture  in  its 
various  branches,  and  the  girls,  while  out  of  school,  are  em 
ployed  under  the  direction  of  the  female  missionaries  in\dif- 
ferent  departments  of  domestic  labor.  We  have  also  a  full- 
blooded  Choctaw  lad  learning-  the  blacksmith  trade;  and 
another,  now  in  school,  wishes  to  engage  in  the  same  em 
ployment,  so  soon  as  there  is  opportunity.  All  the  children 
are  placed  entirely  under  our  control,  and  the  most  entire 
satisfaction  is  expressed  as  to  the  manner  they  are  treated. 

"The  school  is  taught  on  the  Lancastrian  plan,  and  the 
progress  of  the  children  has  exceeded  our  most  sanguine  ex 
pectations.  Thirty-one  began  the  A.  B.  C's.  Several  of  these 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  163 

can  now  read  the  Testament,  and  others  in  easy  reading-  les 
sons.  Most  of  them  have  also  made  considerable  prog-ress 
in  writing. 

"There  have  been  instances  of  lads  14  to  16  years  old,  en 
tirely  ignorant  of  our  language,  who  have  perfectly  learned 
the  alphabet  in  three  days,  and  on  the  fourth  day  could  read 
and  pronounce  the  abs.  We  have  never  seen  the  same  num 
ber  of  children  in  any  school,  who  appeared  more  promising-. 
Since  they  commenced,  their  attention  has  been  constant. 
No  one  has  left  the  school,  or  manifested  a  wish  to  leave  it. 

"Want  of  accommodations,  but  more  particularly  want  of 
funds,  has  obliged  us  to  refuse  many  children  who  wish  to 
enter  the  school.  If  adequate  means  can  be  obtained,  we 
design  to  increase  the  number  to  80  or  100.  It  is  our  inten 
tion  to  embrace  in  their  education,  that  practical  industry, 
and  that  literary,  moral  and  religious  instruction,  which  may 
qualify  them  for  useful  members  of  society;  and  for  the  ex 
ercise  of  those  moral  principles,  and  that  genuine  piety, 
which  form  the  basis  of  true  happiness. 

"The  expenditures  of  the  mission,  including  the  outfit 
and  traveling  expenses  of  the  missionaries,  and  exclusive  of 
their  services  (which  have  all  been  gratuitous)  have  been  more 
than  $9000:  About  $2000,  of  this  has  been  on  account  of 
buildings.  It  has  been  our  constant  endeavor  to  impress  on 
the  people  of  this  nation  the  advantages  of  instruction,  and 
the  propriety  of  their  contributing  towards  the  education 
of  .their  own  children;  and  by  commencing  on  a  labored  and 
extensive  scale  for  their  improvement  we  have  drawn  forth  a 
spirit  of  liberality  as  unexpected  as  it  is  encouraging. 

"At  a  council  in  August,  which  by  invitation  I  attended, 
the  natives  subscribed  ninety-five  cows  and  calves,'  and  more 
than  $1300  in  cash  kfor  the,  benefit  of  the  school.  At  a  lower 
town  district,  in  September,  they  unanimously  voted  to 
appropriate  $2,000  (their  proportion  of  the  money  due  from 
the  United  States  for  the  last  purchase  of  land)  to  the  sup 
port  of  a  school  in  that  district.  It  has  been  proposed  in  this 
district  to  make  a  similar  appropriation  for  the  benefit  of 
this  school. 

"These  measures  disclose  the  disposition  of  the  Nation 
and  evince  that  under  the  influence  and  direction  of 
the  Executive  a  fund  might  be  established,  which  eventu 
ally  would  be  adequate  to  the  instruction  of  the  Nation, 
We  feel  a  confidence  that  in  future  treaties  with  the  Nation, 
this  subject  will,  without  any  suggestion  of  ours,  receive 
that  attention  which  its  consideration  demands." 

"To  bring  this  people,"  continues  that  true  Christian, 
"within  the  pale  of  civilization  and  Christianity  is  a  great 


164  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  s 

work.  The  instruction  of  the  rising-  generation^  is  unques 
tionably  the  most  direct  way  to  advance.  Nothing1  is  now 
wanting-  to  put  the  great  mass  of  children  in  this  Nation,  in 
a  course  of  instruction  but  efficient  means. 

It  may  be  puoper  to  observe  that  the  Chickasaws  are 
anxious  to  have  similar  institutions  in  their  Nation;  and 
two  more  are  earnestly  desired  and  much  needed  by  the 
Choctaws.  For  the  support  of  one  of  them,  two  thousand 
dollars  for  17  years  annually  ($34,000)  have  already  been  ap 
propriated  by  the  Choctaws.  It  is  the  intention  of  the  Amer 
ican  Board  to  commence  one  or  more  of  the  establishments  as 
soon  as  they  can  command  the  means.  It  is  therefore  desir 
able  that  the  one  already  commenced  here  should  be  comple 
ted  without  delay  and  placed  on  a  permanent  foundation. 

Before  closing-  this  report,  I  beg"  leave  to  remark  on  two 
points  relative  to  the  improvement  of  the  Choctaws. 

First:  We  think  the  introduction  of  a  few  respectable 
mechanics  of  good  moral  character,  would  be  of  great  ad 
vantage  in  civilizing  and  introducing  industry  among  them. 
We  have  a  blacksmith  of  this  description,  who  came  out  at 
the  expense  of  the  American  Board,  and  the  profits  of  his- 
work  are  devoted  to  the  support  of  this  establishment.  Many 
of  the  mechanics  found  in  the  Indian  countries  are  of  little 
advantage  in  any  respect;  and  the  conduct  of  some  is  an  out 
rage  on  barbarism  itself. 

Second. — "Could  the  missionaries  be  relieved  from  the 
labor  of  erecting  the  buildings,  it  would  enable  them  much 
sooner  to  direct  their  attention  to  the  improvement  of  a 
plantation  and  other  necessary  preparations  for  commencing 
the  school. 

"With  sentiments  of  sincere  respect,  I  am,  dear  sir,, 
your  obedient  and  very  humble  servant, 

CYRUS  KINGSBURY. 

From  a  letter  (now  before  me)  written  to  the  then  young 
missionary,  Rev.  Cyrus  Kingsbury,  bearing  date,  October, 
2nd,  1819,  I  take  the  following  extract:  "In  a  situation  like 
yours,  it  must  be  an  unspeakable  comfort  to  know  that  you 
have  the  prayers  of  God's  people.  Many  are  daily  supplicat 
ing  the  Throne  of  Grace  for  you,  and  the  object  in  which  you 
are  engaged;  but  I  presume  you  can  hardly  realize  the  extent 
of  the  interest  which  is  awakened  for  our  missions  among 
the  Southern  Indians.  The  eyes  of  all  our  churches  are 
turned  toward  them  with  the  earnest  expectation,  which  is 
the  offspring  of  faith  and  prayer.  The  Indian  character  in 
the  estimation  of  even  those  who  have  hitherto  deemed 
them  too  savage  to  be  civilized;  and  those  who  acknowledged 
the  excellency  of  many  of  the  native  traits  of  their  character, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  165 

were  faithless  as  to  the  practicability  of  making-  them 
good  citizens,  are  now  convinced  by  the  experiments  made  at 
Brainard,  (among-  the  Cherokees)  that  the  Indians  can  be 
educated,  become  good  citizens  and  devout  Christians. 
Another  evidence  that  had  the  whites  exercised  the  same 
credulity  in  giving1  heed  to  the  voice  of  truth  that  so  long-  and 
loudly  appealed  to  them  in  behalf  of  the  Indian  race,  as  they 
were  credulous  to  the  voice  of  falsehood,  the  unfortunate 
Indians  would  not  have  so  suffered  at  the  hands  of  ignorance. 
But  continues  the  writer: 

"Truly,  you  have  seen  more  to  rejoice  your  heart  than  is 
witnessed  by  one  in  ten  of  our  New  England  ministers.  You 
have  witnessed  the  Christian  devotion  of  characters  once  de 
graded.  You  have  witnessed  the  wilderness  and  the  solitary, 
place,  in  one  yeai'j  became  glad  'before  you,  and  the  desert 
blossom  as  the  rose.  After  such  experience  of  the  smiles  of 
lieaven  do  not  faint  or  become  discouraged.  God's  promises 
are  established  in  truth,  and  they  are  all  yours.  Blessed 
promises!  Thus  far  the  Lord  has  favored  you  more  than 
any  Indian  missionary  for  sixty  or  seventy  years  past.  The 
public  are  waking-  up  with  wonderful  rapidity  to  the 
wants  of  the  Indians.  You  may  be  distressed  and  perplexed 
for  a  season,  but  it  will  not  last  always.  The  Lord  will  come 
and  will  not  tarry." 

But  it  does  not  fall  within  the  present  plan  of  this  work 
to  enter  fully  into  the  history,  in  all  its  particulars,  of  those 
worthy  and  interesting-  missions  of  seventy  years  ago  among 
the  Choctaws,  to  them  the  dawn  of  hope;  the  return  of  spring 
after  a  long-  and  dreary  winter, — but  only  to  present  certain 
aspects  and  features  of  them,  which  shall  exhibit  the  hand 
of  God  as  eng-ag-ed  to  renovate  and  bless  a  long-  oppressed 
Nation,  and  preparing-  for  it  a  gracious  visitation.  Shortly 
after  the  necessary  houses  for  dwellings,  school  and  church 
purposes,  had  been  erected  and  all  things  had  settled  down 
to  systematic  business,  and  the  missionaries  to  give  their 
whole  attention  to  their  ministerial  labors,  there  was  a  mov 
ing  of  the  Jong  stagnant  waters, — a  presentment  of  coming: 
chang-e;  and  soon  a  mental  activity  that  presaged  emancipa 
tion  of  the  Choctaws  from  the  long-,  dark  night  of  spiritual 
gloom  that  had  brooded  over  their  minds  during  ages  un 
known. 

For  the  first  few  years  the  good  and  glorious  work  of 
reform  went  on  for  the  most  part  quietly  though  steadily. 
Then  there  was  manifested  a  greater  spirit  of  inquiry,  not 
only  about  the  truth  as  a  matter  of  speculation,  but  after 
salvation  through  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  truly 
affecting  to  see  the  deep  and  unaffected  interest  manifested 


166  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

by  those  unlettered  warriors,  as  they  listened  for  the  first 
time  to  the  wonderful  story  of  the  Cross — a  theme  to  them 
incomprehensible  and  almost  beyond  human  belief.  That  a 
friend  might  peradventure  die  for  a  friend  was  to  them  a 
possible  thing-;  but  for  a  father  to  give  his  only  son  to  die  for 
the  benefit  of  his  enemies,  and  that  son  also  be' willing  to 
accept  the  ordeal  of  dying  the  most  excruciating  death  that 
their  mutual  enemies  might  be  benefitted  thereby,  seemed 
too  incredible  for  belief,  and  filled  them  with  wondering  as 
tonishment.  Yet  hundreds  of  them  yielded  to  the  regener 
ating  influences  and  power  of  the  Divine  Spirit  years  before 
they  were  driven  from  their  ancient  homes  to  seek  others  in 
a  distant  wilderness  that  the  progress  of  the  white  man  in 
his  strife  for  gain  might  not  be  impeded  by  their  presence, 
and  lived  the  exemplary  lives  of  the  true  Christian,  and 
died  the  death  of  the  righteous  in  bright  hopes  of  a  blissful 
immortality. 

The  first  conversion  among*  the  full-blooded  Choctaws 
was  that  of  an  aged  man,  who  lived  near  Col.  David  Folsom, 
chief  of  the  Ch'octaws,  named  Tun-a  pin  a-chuf-fa,  (Our  one 
weaver)  h'therto  as  ignorant  of  the  principles  of  the  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ  as  it  is  possible  to  conceive.  He  manifested 
an  interest  in  the  subject  of  religion  about  six  months  before 
any  other  of  his  people  in' the  neighborhood,  and  soon  began 
to  speak  publicly  in  religious  meetings,  and  gave  evidence, 
by  his.  daily  walk  and  conversation,  of  a  happy  and  glorious 
change,  to  the  astonishment  of  his  people,  who  could  not 
comprehend  the  mystery.  The  old  man,  but  now  a  new 
one,  lived  the  life  of  a  true  and  devoted  Christian  the  few 
remaining  years  of,  his  life,  and  then  died  leaving  bright 
evidence  of  having  died  the  death  of  the  righteous.  When 
he  was  received  into  the  church,  he  was  baptised  and  given 
the  name  of  one  of  the  missionaries,  viz.:  William  Hooper, 
by  his  own  request,  to  whom  Mr.  Hooper  had  endeared  himself 
by  many  acts  of  kindess  conferred  upon  the  aged  and  appr£- 
ciative  Chocta\v. 

Shortly  after  he  professed  religion,  he  dictated  a  letter 
to  Col.  David  Folsom,  his  nephew,  which  was  written  and 
translated  into  English  byMr.  Loring  Williams,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  copy: 

"AI-IK-HUM-A;  Jan.  30,  1828,"  (A  place  of  learning.) 

"BROTHKK: — Long  time  had  we  been  as  people  in  a  storm 
which  threatened  destruction,  until  the  missionaries  came 
to  our  land;  but  now  we  are  permitted  to  hear  the  blessed 
Gospel  of  truth.  You,  our  brother  and  chief,  found  for  us  a 
good  and  bright  path,  and  we  would  follow  you  in  it.  You 
are  as  our  good  father,  and  vour  words  are  good.  Your 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  167 

messengers  (the  missionaries),  that  you  sent  to  us,  we  hear. 
When  we'  think  of  our  old  ways,  we  feel  ashamed.  This 
blessed  day  I  have  given  a  true  talk.  The  black  and  dirty 
clothes  I  used  to  wear  I  have  taken  off  and  cast  away.  Clean 
and  good  clothes,  I  now  put  on.  My  heart,  I  hope,  had  been 
made  new.  My  bad  thoughts  I  throw  away.  The  words  of 
the  great  Father  above  I  am  seeking  to  have  in  my  mind. 

The  missionaries,  in  the  Choctaw  Nation,  salute.  The 
missionaries,  chiefs,  and  people,  I  salute.  O  my  chief,  I, 
your  uncle,  salute  you.  I  am  your  warrior.  You  must  re 
member  me  in  your  love.  The  letter  which  I  send  you,  you 
must  read  to  your  captains,  leaders,  and  warriors.  As  I  feel 
today,  I  wish  to  have  all  my  Choctaw  brothers  feel.  I  am 
the  first  of  the  Choctavvs  that  talk  the  good  talk.  My  chief, 
as  you  go  about  among  your  people,  you  must  tell  them  this, 
the  dark  night  to  me  has  gone,  and  the  morning  has  dawned 
upon  me.  The  missionaries  at  Mayhew,  I  salute  you.  Mr. 
Kingsbury,  when  this  letter  you  see,  you  will  forward  it  to 
Miko  (chief  )Folsom.  TUNAPINACHUFFA. 

Soon  after  the  writing  of  this  letter,  Mr  Williams  visited 
the  venerable  ex-chief  and  reil*  cd  warrior  of  the  Choctaws. 
As  he  drew  near  the  humble  log  cabin  of  the  aged  Choctaw, 
his  attention  was  attracted  by  the  voice  of  singing.  He  halt 
ed  a  moment  to  listen.  It  was  the  aged  Tunapinachuffa 
singing  a  song  of  Zion ;  and  when  Mr.  Williams  came 
up  he  found  him  sitting  at  the  opposite  side  of  his  little 
cabin,  resting  his  head  on  one  hand  and  holding  a  catachism 
in  the  other,  holding  holy  and  sweet  communion  with  his 
newly  found  Savior;  and  so  absorbed  was  he  in  his  medita 
tions,  that  the  presence  of  Mr.  Williams  was  not  known,  un 
til  announced  by  the  barking  of  the  dogs;  and  yet,  so  deep 
and  pleasant  was  his  reverie,  that  he  remained  seemingly 
unconscious  of  everything  around  him  until  Mr>  Williams 
came  to  his  side  and  spoke  to  him.  He  then  looked  up, 
sprrng  to  his  feet  and  greeted  Mr.  Williams  with  unfeigned 
manifestations  of  the  greatest  joy;  and,  at  once,  inquired 
after  Mr.  Kingsbury  with  expressions  of  the  greatest  affec 
tion  ;  then  requested  Mr.  Williams  to  tell  Mr.  Kingsbury, 
that  "he  did  love  the  Savior  with  all  his  heart  and  soul;"  that 
''he  took^reat  delight  in  the  Sabbath,  and  loved  to  pray." 
that,  "to-day  heaven  is  near;  it  is  not  for  away — I  know  it  is 
near — I  feel  it."  Mr. ,  Williams  and  the  new  born  babe  in 
Christ,  though  feeble  alone  with  the  weight  of  nearly  three 
score  years  and  ten — the  Psalmist's  allotted  period  of  man's 
earthly  sojourn — joined  in  a  song'  together,  in  praise  to  Him 
who  has  said:  "Come  unto  me,  ye  that  are  heavy  laden,  and 
I  will  give  you  rest;  and  then  Tunapinachuffa  offered  up  a 


168  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

i 

prayer  to  Him  who  is  the  Indian's  God  as  well  as  the  white 
man's. 

Mr.  Williams  stated,  in  speaking-  of  the  interview  with 
the  venerable  Choctaw,  that,  he  prayed  with  the  deepest 
sincerity  for  his  family;  then,  that  all  his  people  "mig-ht  be 
united  to  Christ  in  peace  and  love  as  with  an  iron  chain;  and 
that  they  mig-ht  take  hold  of  the  Savior  with  their  hands." 
At  morning1  and  at  nig-ht  this  redeemed  Choctaw  child  of:  God 
called  his  household  around  the  family  altar,  nor  ever  per 
mitted  business  or  company  to  interfere  with  those  sacred 
devotions. 

But  Tuna  pin  a  chuffa  was  not  an  isolated  case.  Hun 
dreds  of  similar  cases  could  be  mentioned  among  the  young-, 
as  well  as  the  aged,  of  those  Choctaw  converts  under  the 
teachings  of  the  missionaries  when  living  in  their  ancient 
possessions. 

After  the  conversion  of  Tuna  pin  a  chuffa,  a  great  and 
wonderful  change  for  the  better  was  soon  seen  in  not  only 
Tuna  pin  a  chuffa's  district,  but  also  in  other  districts — 
both  in  outward  appearance  and  moral  condition.  The  men 
soon  began  to  acquire  habits  of  industry,  cultivating  cotton 
and  enlarging  their  corn  fields.  Temperance  rapidly 
gained  ground, all  over  the  Nation;  and  in  nearly  every  house 
throughout  the' country  soon  were  found  the  cotton  card, 
the  spinning  wheel  and  the  loom,  with  here  and  there  black 
smith  and  wood-shops. 

Soon  large  quantities  of  various  cotton  cloths  were  made 
by  the  Choctaw  mothers  and  daughters;  while  the  father  and 
son  raised  corn,  sweet  potatoes,  peas,  beans,  and  various 
kinds  of  vegetables;  and  their  willingness  to  work  ran 
parallel  with  their  progress  and  advancement  in  Christian 
knowledge.  Nor  was  there  any  difficulty  experienced  by  the 
missionaries  in  hiring\Choctaws  to  work  for  them,  both' men. 
and  women,  and  even  boys  and  girls;  many  of  the  men  with 
their  families,  went  to  the  adjoining  States  and  picked  cotton 
for  the  white  farmers,  after  they  had  gathered  their  own 
crops.  As  cotton  pickers,  both  in  quantity  and  quality,  day 
by  day,  they  had  no  superiors;  therefore,  the  white  farmers 
paid  them  one  dollar  per  hundred  pounds,  and  also  boarded 
them;  and  a  thousand  have  been  known  to  leave  their  Nation 
at  one  time  to  pick  cotton  in  the  States;  and  before  they  were 
driven  to  the  wild  wilderness  far  away  to  the  west  by  the 
inexorable  law  of  the  whites,  that  "Might  is  Right,"  when 
dealing  with  the  North  American  Indian;  fifty,  yea  a  hun 
dred  and  fifty,  drunken  white  men  could  be  found  in  the 
coritigudus  States,  to  where  one  Choctaw  would  be  found  in 
the  Nation  most  distant  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  white 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  169 

settlements.  Much  has  been  said  to 'prove  the  drunken 
Indian,  to  be  a  friend  incarnate;  and  though  I  have  seen 
drunken  Indians,  yet  my  experience  has  taught  me  that  a 
drunken  white  man  is  far  worse  than  a  drunken  Indian,  and 
more  to  be  feared  ten  to  one,  than  the  Indian. 

AfterTunapinachuffa,  followed  the  con  version  of  Col.  David 
Folsom,  and  many  other  leading-  men  of  the  Nation,  together  • 
with  the  common  warriors  and  their  wives;  and  to  that  extent 
was  the  interest  in  the  subject  of  religion  manifested  by  all 
that  a  special  meeting  was  appointed  in  the  woods  by  the 
missionaries;  and  at  which,  Col.  David  Folsom  and  others, 
together  with  the  now  zealous  and  good  old  Tunapinachuffa, 
took  an  active  part.  Though  there  were  few  Choctaws 
present,  yet  the  Spirit  of  God  was  there;  and  one  evening  an 
unusual  solemnity  seemed  to  pervade  the  entire  little  com 
pany  of  worshippers,  and  so  deeply  felt  by  old  Tunapina- 
chuifa,  that  he  was  unable  to  longer  restrain  himself.  He 
arose  and  commenced  an  exhortation  to  his  people  present, 
-and  continued  for  thirty  or  more  minutes  in  such  sublime 
Indian  eloquence  (Nature's  gift  untarnished  by  human  art) 
.such  deep  pathos",  and  such  irresistible  arguments,  as  are 
seldom  heard  anywhere. 

At  the  close  of  his  inimitable  and  indescribable  exhorta 
tion,  he,  in  a  persuasive  tone  of  voice,  said:  "All  you  who 
desire  and  are  willing  to  receive  these  Good  Tidings  from 
above  into  your  hearts  and  go  with  me  to  the  good  land 
above,  come  and  sit  on  this  log."  What  a  moment  was  that  to 
the  noble-hearted  and  pious  missionaries  who  were  so  for 
tunate  as  to  be  present  !  Who  can  justly  describe  it?  Firs1^: 
one,  and  then  another  and  another,  came  forward  and  took 
their  seats  on  that  forest  log,  until  it  was  covered,  thus  mani 
festing  and  openly  avowing  their  determination  to  serve  the 
living  God;  and  there  and  then  twelve  adults  became  living, 
active  witnesses  for  the  cause  of  the  world's  Redeemer. 
That  little  religious  meeting,  in  the  -deep  solitudes  of  a  Mis 
sissippi  forest,  closed;  but  the  tidings  of  its  strange  pro 
ceedings  and  its  more  wonderful  results  spread  far  and 
wide,  and  it  became  the  subject  of  conversation  and  inquiry 
for  miles  away;  and  soon  was  awakened  such  a  feeling  of 
curiosity  and  desire  to  learn  more  of  this,  to  them  strange 
and  incomprehensible  thing,  that  other  meetings  were  ap 
pointed,  to  which  hundreds  gathered, and  the  result  was  they 
-were  multiplied  all  over  the  land  and  scores  flocked  to  and 
around  the  standard  of  Christianity. 

But  this  interest  was  confined  for  several  months,  al 
most  exclusively,  to  the  northern  part  of  the  Nation  contigu 
ous  to  Mayhew,  whence  the  missionaries  went  out  among  the 


170  HISTORY    OF    THB   INDIANS. 

Choctaws  and  taught  and  preached  to  them.  The  converts, 
were  at  first  gathered  into  one  church  organization  though 
widely  separated;  hence  their  sacramental  meetings,  were 
held  in  the  woods  under  the  wide  extended  branches  of  the 
mighty  forest  oaks  of  that  day — God's  natural  temples — 
where  many  hundreds  would  congregate  and  spend  several 
days  worshipping  God;  and  a  more  humble  and  devout  as 
sembly,  of  worshippers  of  the  living  God  (without  an  indif 
ferent  or  idle  spectator)  was  never  anywhere  beheld  than 
were  those  worshipping  Choctaws.  At  "one  of  these  forest 
meetings,  where  the  wind,  (nature's  harp)  sighing  amid  the 
thick  and  wide  extended  limbsfof  the  giant  forest  trees,,  had 
for  ages  untold  received  no  response  but  that  of  the  defiant 
war-hoop,  now  was  mingled  the  praise  of  human  tongues  in 
anthems  sweet  with  nature  to  nature's  God;  ninety  Choc 
taws  both  men  and  women,  were  enrolled  in  the  army  of  the 
Cross;  and  at  another  over  a  hundred, 

Messrs.  Williams,  Smith,  Howse  and  Bardwell,  shortly 
after  the  establishment  of  the  May  hew  mission,  took  charge 
of  the  one  established  in  the  southern  part  of  the  Nation 
among  a  clan  of  Choctaws  called  Okla  Hunnali,  (people  Six), 
distant  seventy  or  more  miles  from  Mayhew,  leaving  Messrs. 
Kingsbury,  (to  whom  the  Choctaws  gave  the  name  Na-sho-ba 
No-wah  (Walking  Wolf),  Byingtoii  (whom  they  named  La- 
pish  O-la-han-chih,  Sounding  Horn),  Cushman  and  a  few 
others  at  Mayhew. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  revival  meetings  in  the  north 
ern  part  of  the  Nation,  several  new  converts,  in  company 
with  Col.  David  Folsom  and  a  few  missionaries  of  the  May- 
hew  mission,  made  a  journey  to  the  Okla  Hunnali  mission  to 
attend  a  religious  meeting  previously  appointed.  The  Choc 
taws  of  that  district,  expecting  them,  came  in  large  numbers 
from  the  surrounding  villages  to  the  appointed  place  to  wel 
come  them,  and  manifested  the  greatest  delight  regarding  it 
as  great  favor  conferred  upon  them  by  their  friends  who  had 
come  so  far  to  attend  their  meetings.  They  assembled 
without  ostentation,  yet  in  all  the  paraphernailia  of  Choctaw 
custom,  presenting  a  novel  appearance  to  the  eye  of  the 
novice.  But  the  "tidings  of  great  joy — peace  on  earth  and 
good  will-to  man" — to  the  red  as  well  as  the  white,  proclaimed 
and  urged  upon  them  with  such  evidence  of  truth,  sincerity 
and  deep  feeling,  was  to  them  something  new  indeed,  unseen 
and  unfelt  before. 

Calm  reflection  assumed  (as  at  the  meetings  in  the  north 
ern  section  of  the  Nation)  the  place  of  thoughtlessness  and 
indifference,  (for  an  Indian  can  and  does  reflect  as  well  as  a 
white  man),  and  soon  were  seen  on  many  a  painted  face 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  171 

trickling"  tears  (though  not  given  to  .weeping1)  forming  little 
channels  througii  the  vermilion  as  they  coursed  their  way 
down.  And  this  meeting"  was  also  blessed  with  a  gracious, 
visitation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  many  precious  souls 
(though  Choctaws)  were  gathered  into  the  fold  of  the  Great 
Shepherd  as  had  been  done  in  the  northern  portion  of  their 
country.  At  once  a  mighty  change  began  all  over  their 
Nation  wherever  the  missionaries  went,  who  truly  might  be 
termed  the  Apostles  of  God  to  the  Choctaws;  and  soon,  one 
by  one  their  ancient  customs  and  habits  were  forever  laid 
aside,  culminating  in  a  general  change  of  things  well  adapt 
ed  to  their  then,  it  may  be  truthfully  stated,  progressive 
condition.  But  among  the  most  prominent  features  indicat 
ing  a  speedy  reformation  at  this  time  (1826),  was  the  enact 
ing  of  a  law  forever  banishing  that  curse  of  all  curses  O-ka 
Humma  (Red  Water)  or  properly  OkaHo-mi  (Strong  Water) 
which,  like  that  of  the  Medes  and  Persians  changeth  not, 
stands  to-day  unrepealed,  and  will  so  continue  as  long  as 
they  are  permitted  to  exist  as  a  Nation. 

Many  of  the  ancient  Choctaws  were  a  depts  in  the  art  of 
singing  their  native  airs,  of  which  they  had  many;  but  all 
effort  to  induce  one  of  them  to  sing  alone  one  of  his  favorite 
songs  was  fruitless.  They  invariably  replied  to  the  solicitation 
in  broken  English,  "Him  no  good."  Then  sing  me  a  war- 
song.  "Him  heap  no  good,"  with  an  ominous  shake  of  the 
head.  Then  sing  me  a  hunting  song.  "No  good;  he  no  fit 
for  pale  face.  "Well,  sing  me  a  love  song.  "Wah"!(anancient. 
exclamation  of  suprise — now  obsolete)  much  love  song,  him 
bad,  fio  good  for  pale  face."  Though  this  wras  somewhat 
tantalizing  yet  it  had  to  be  endured. 

Like  all  their  race,  the  Choctaws  never  forgot  an  act  of 
kindness  be  it  ever  so  trivial;  and  many  a  white  man  overtaken 
by  misfortune  when  traveling  over  their  country,  and  weak 
beneath  the  remorseless  grasp  of  hunger,  has  felt  that  the 
truth  of  the  eastern  proverb  has  been  brought  home  to  him: 
Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  waters,  and  thou  shalt  find  it  after 
many  days.  More  than  once  has  it  fallen  to  my  lot  to  con 
tribute  to  an  Indian's  immediate  necessities,  in  days  of  their 
individual  want  and  weakness;  and,  in  after  days — the  inci 
dent  by  me  long  forgotten;  they  have  returned  the  favor 
thirty  fold;  and  for  many  favors  have  I  become  indebted  to 
them,  when  I  had  nothing  to  return.  Their  great  de- 
licacv  in  conferring  a  favor  was  not  the  least  admirable 
part  of  their  conduct,  often  they  would  leave  a  large  wild 
turkey  upon  the  door-sill,  or  place  a  venison  ham  just  within 
it,  and  steal  away  without  saying  a  word,  as  if  they  feared 
you  might  suspect  them  of  trying  to  buy  your  friendship,. 


172  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

when  not  enabled  to  secure  it  alone  by  merit;  or  that,  to 
accept  a  present  from  a  poor  Indian  might  be  humiliating  to 
the  pride  of  the  receiver  a*nd  they  would  spare  him  the  mor 
tification  of  returning*  thanks .  Never  was  a  race  of  people 
more  sensitive  of  kindness,  or  more  grateful  for  any  little 
act  of  benevolence  exercised  toward  them,  or  practiced  the 
great  Christian  principle,  Charity  to  a  greater  degree  of 
perfection,  especially  in  regard  to  strangers,  than  did  the 
North  American  Indians.  The  missionaries  everywhere 
and  among  all  tribes,  met  them  with  kindness  and  confidence, 
and  conducted  themselves  by  the  rules  of  strict  integrity  in 
all  their  dealings  with  them;  and  no  instance  has  been  re 
corded,  where  their  confidence  in  the  Indians  was  betrayed, 
or  their  good  opinion  of  them  destroyed. 

The  Choctaws  were  great  imitators,  and  possessed  a 
nice  tact  in  adopting  the  manners  of  those  with  whom  they 
associated.  An  Indian,  however,  is  Nature's  gentleman — 
never  familiar,  coarse  or  vulgar.  If  he  takes  a  meal  with  you, 
he  quietly  waits  to  see  you  make  use  of  the  unaccustomed 
implements  on  the  table,  and  the  manner  in  which  you  eat, 
he  exactly  imitates  with  a  grave  decorum  and  as  much  appar 
ent  ease,  as  if  he  had  been  accustomed  to  the  same  usages 
from  childhood.  He  never  attempts  to  help  himself  or  de 
mand  more  food,  but  patiently  waits  until  you  perceive  what 
he  requires.  Thisvmnate  politeness  is  natural  to  all  Indians. 
But  the  mixture  of  white  blcod.  while  it  may  be  said  to  add  a 
little  to  the  physical  beauty  of  the  half — race,  yet  produces  a 
deplorable  falling  off  from  the  original  integrity  of  the  Indian 
character;  which,  however,  may  be  attributed  "wholly  to  the 
well  known  fact,  that  the  young  half-breeds  mingle  with  the 
whites  ninety  per  cent  more  than  the  full-bloods;  and  ever 
retain  that  peculiar  characteristic  of  the  Indian  i.  e.  confi 
dence  in  all  professions  of  friendship  until  proved  false,  then 
never  again  to  be  trusted;  thus  are  they  easily  made  the 
dupes  of  the  whites,  and  are  ignorantly,  and  therefore  un 
consciously,  led  step  by  step  down  to  a  level  with  their  de 
stroyers,  and  too  late  awake  to  the  consciousness 
that  they  are  the  victims.  Thus  is  the  professed  grandeur 
of  our  civilization  portrayed  to  the  full-blood  Indian.  No 
wonder  he  wants  none  of  it.  If  such  is  the  result  Of  that 
civilization  we  would  have  him  adopt,  no  wonder  he  shrinks 
from  it  as  he  would  from  a  fearful  contagion. 

No  Indian  was  ever  so  selfish  as  to  smoke  alone  in  the 
presence  of  others.  I  have  oft  attended  their  social  gather 
ings  where,  seated  on  the  ground  in  little  groups  forming 
little  circles,  the  personification  of  blissful  contentment,  I 
invariably  saw  the  pipe  on  its  line  of  march,  and  so  continued 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  173 

until  the  talk  was  ended.  If  but  two  were  seated  together, 
and  .one  lighted  his  pipe,  he  only  drew  a  few  whiffs  and  then 
handed  it  to  his  companion,  who  also  drew, a  whiff  or  two 
and  returned  it;  and  thus  the  symbol  of  peace,  friendship 
and  good  will  passed  back  and  forth  until  the  social  chat  was 
terminated! 

The  Choctaw  women  did  not  indulge  in  the  use  of  tobacco 
in  any  way  whatever  when  living  east  of  the  Mississippi,  ex 
cept  a  few  in  advanced  years;  and  it  was  regarded  as  great 
a  breach  of  female  decorum  for  a  Choctaw  women  to  use  the 
weed,  as  it  is  with  the  white  women  of  the  present  day  to 
chew  or  smoke;  and  even  the  men  confined  its  use  exclusively 
to  the  pipe.  But  now  they  seem  to  have  deviated  to  some 
extent  from  that  good  custom;  for  in  my  travels  over  their 
country  during  the  last  few  years,  I  have  frequently  fallen  in 
company  with  Choctaws,  and  when  offered  a  chew  of  tobacco 
it  was  accepted  by  a  few  fullbloods,  and  chewed  with  as 
much  gusto  as  we  rode  along  together,  as  I  dared  to  assume 
with  all  my  long  years  of  experience;  and  thus  I  'ascertained 
that  those  of  the  present  dav  do  not  confine  the  use  of  tobacco 
exclusively  to  the  pipe  as  did  their  fathers  of  the  long  ago, 
proving  the  truthf  ulness'of  the  adage,  "Evil  communications 
corrupt  good  manners,"  and  also  good  habits. 

The  innate  politeness  of  the  Indians,  when  in  their 
strength  and  independence  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  was 
truly  remarkable.  The  early  explorers  were  surprised  at 
the  perfection  of  this  characteristic  in  the  Choctaw  Indians, 
and  many  expressed  their  admiration  in  their  writings.  If 
a  Choctaw  of  the  long  ago  met  a  white  man  with  whom  he 
was  acquainted  and  on  terms  of  social  friendship,  he  took  his 
proffered  hand,  then  with  a  gentle  pressure  and  forward  in 
clination  of  the  head,  said,  in  a  mild  and  sweet  tone  of  voice: 
"Chishno  pisah  yukpah  siah  it  tikana  su,"  I  am  glad  to  see 
you  my  friend,  and  if  he  has  nothing  of  importance  to  com 
municate,  or  of  anything  to  obtain  information,  he  passed  on 
without  further  remarks;  no  better  proof  of  good  sense  can 
be  manifested,  and  well  worthy  of  imitation. 

„  But  one  of  the  many  noble  traits  among  the  Choctaws 
was  that  of  unfeigned  hospitalit}^;  and  to  that  extent  that  it 
became  proverbial — deservingly  so.  When  any  one  entered 
their  house  or  hunting  camp,  be  he  a  friend,  mere  acquain 
tance  or  entire  stranger,  they  extended  the  hand  of  welcome 
— and  it  was  sincere, — and  after  exchanging  a  few  .words  of 
greeting,  the  visitor  was  invited  to  take  a  seat;  after  which, 
they  observed  the  most  profound  silence,  waiting  for  their 
visitor  to  report  his  business.  When  he  had  done  this,  the 
silent  but  attentive  wife  brought  what  food  she  might  have 


174  '  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

prepared,  (they  were  seldom  found  without  something  on 
hand),  and  her  husband  said  to  his  g-uest:  "Chishno  upah" 
"you  eat."  To  exhibit  a  true  knowledge  of  Choctaw 
etiquette,  it  became  your  duty  to  partake  a  little  of  every 
thing  the  hospitable  wife  had  placed  before  you;  otherwise 
you  would,  though  unwittingly,  cause  your  host  and  hostess 
to  regard  your  neglect  of  duty  as  a  plain  demonstration  of 
contempt  for  their  hospitality — purpose!}*  intended  and  of 
fered. 

Whether  the  Choctaws  assembled  for  social  conversa 
tion  or  debate  in  council,  there  never  was  but  one  who  spoke 
at  a  time,  and  under  no  circumstances  was  he  interrupted. 
This  noble  characteristic  belongs  to  all  the  North  American 
Indians,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain.  In  the 
public  councils  of  the  Choctaws,  as  well  as  in  social  gather 
ings  and  religious  meetings,  the  utmost  decorum  always 
prevailed,  and  he  who  was  talking  in  the  social  circle  or  ad 
dressing  the  council  or  lecturing  in  the  religious  meeting, 
always  had  as  silent  and  attentive  hearers  as  ever  delighted 
and  blessed  a  speaker.  A  noble  characteristic.  And  when 
a  question  had  been  discussed,  before  putting  it  to  a  vote,  a 
few  minutes  were  always  given  for  silent  meditation,  during 
which  the  most  profound  silence  was  observed;  at  the  expira 
tion  of  the  allotted  time,  the  vote  of  the  assembly  was  taken  ; 
and  which,  I  have  been  informed,  is  still  kept  up  to  this  day. 
For  many  years  after  they  had  arrived  from  their  ancient 
homes  to  the  present  place  of  abode,  no  candidate  for  an 
office  of  any  kind  ever  went  around  among  the  people  solicit 
ing  votes;  the  candidates  merely  gave  notice  by  public  an 
nouncement,  and  that  was  all  ;  and  had  a  candidate  asked  a 
man  for  his  support,  it  would  have  been  the  death  knell  to 
his  election. 

On  the  day  of  the  election,  the  name  of  all  the  candidates 
were  written  in  regular  order  upon  a  long  strip  of  paper, 
with  the  office  to  which  each  aspired  written  opposite  to  his 
name;  and  when  the  polls  were  opened,  this  paper,  with  the 
names  of  the  candidates  and  the  offices  to  which  each 
aspired  written  upon  it,  was  handed  to  the  voter  when  he 
presented  himself  at  the  polls  to  vote,  who  commenced  at 
the  top  of  the  list  and  called  out  the  name  of  the  candidate  he 
wished  to  support  for  the  different  offices;  if  the  voter  could 
not  read,  then  one  of  the  officers  in  charge  of  the  election, 
who  could  read,  took  the  paper  and  slowly  read  the  names 
and  the  office  each  aspirant  desired;  and  the  voter  called  out 
the  name  of  each  candidate  for  whom  he  wished  to  vote  as  he 
read;  and  no  candidate  ever  manifested  any  hard  feelings 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  175 

-toward  those  who  voted  against  him.  Here  was  exhibited 
true  liberty  and  free  suffrage. 

De  Soto  found  the  southern  Indians  to  be  an  agricultural 
people,  provident,  patriotic,  hospitable  and  generous,  .three 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago;  and  when  he  tested  their  patri 
otism  at  Momabinah,  and  Chickasahha  he  learned  to  his  sat 
isfaction  that  their  heroic  bravery  in  defense  of  their 
country,  their  homes  'and  heaven  bequeathed  right,  was 
unsurpassed  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  missionaries  found  them  in  1815.  an  unlettered 
people,  yet  far  from  meriting  the  title  savage  in  the  common 
acceptation  of  the  word.  They  found  them  to  be  a  noble 
hearted  and  interesting  people  free  of  a  majority  of  the  de 
basing  vices  practiced  by  the  whites,  and  acquainted  with 
many  of  the  domestic  and  agricultural,  and  possessing  many 
utensils  and  implements  belonging  to  each;  on  a  small  scale 
'tis  true,  yet  amply  sufficient  for  their  wants. 

They  recognized  and  acknowledged  a  Supreme  Being, 
—The  Great  Spirit,  the  creator  and  ruler  of  all  things.  This 
Great  Spirit  was  held  in  great  reverence  by  all  Indians. 
Never  did  a  North  American  Indian  profane  the  name  of  his 
Creator  or  deny  his  power. 

The  Choctaw  warrior,  as  I  knew  him  in  his  native  Mis 
sissippi  forest,  was  as  fine  a  specimen  of  manly  perfection 
as  I  have  ever  beheld.  He  seemed  to  be  as  perfect  as 
the  human  form  could  be.  Tall,  beautiful  in  symmetry  of 
form  and  face,  graceful,  active,  straight,  fleet,  with  lofty  and 
independent  bearing,  he  seemed  worthy  in  saying,  as  he  of 
Juan  Fernandez  fame:  "I  am  monarch  of  all  I  survey."  His 
black,  piercing  eye  seemed  to  penetrate  and  read  the  very 
thoughts  of  the  heart,  while  his  firm  step  proclaimed  a  feel 
ing-sense  of  his  manly  tndependence.  Nor  did  their  women 
iall  behind  in  all  that  pertains  to  female  beauty.  I  have  seen 
among  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  when  living  east  of  the 
Mississippi,  as  beautiful  young  women  as  could  be  found 
among  any  nation  of  people — civilized  or  uncivilized.  Many 
of  them  seemed,  and  truly  were,  nymphs  of  the  woods. 
They  were  of  such  unnatural  beauty  that  they  literally  ap 
peared  to  light  up  everything  around  them.  Their  shoul 
ders  were  broad  and  square '  and  their  carriage  true  to 
Nature  which  has  never  been  excelled  by  the  hand  of  art, 
their  long,  black  tresses  hung  in  flowing  waves,  extending 
nearly  to  the  ground;  but  the  beauty  of  the  countenances  of 
many  of  those  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  girls  was  so  extra 
ordinary  that  if  such  faces  were  seen  to-day  in  one  of  the 
parlors  of  the  fashionable  world,  they  would  be  considered 
as  a  type  of  beauty  hitherto  unknown.  It  was  the  wild  un- 


1J76  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

trammeled  beauty  of  the  forest,  at  the  same  time  melancholy 
and  splendid.  The  bashful  calm  in  their  large,  magnificent 
eyes,  shaded  by  unusually  long-,  black  eye-lashes,  cannot  be 
described;  nor  Vet  the  glance,  nor  the  splendid  light  of  the 
smile  which  at  times  lit  up  the  countenance  like  a  flash,  ex 
posing  the  leveliest  white  and  even  teeth.  Vainly  one  was 
tempted  to  believe  a  whole  nocturnal  world  lay  in  those 
eyes,  the  dark  fringe  of  which  cast  a  shadow  upon  the  cheek; 
while  they  seemed  to  glance  downward  into  a  depth, -dreamy, 
calm  and  melancholy,  without  a  tinge  or  shadow  of  gloom. 
'Twas  a  beauty  ind'eed  upon  which  they  who  looked,  long 
gazed  that  they  might  call  it  up  in  after  days,  as  some  wild 
melody  that  haunts  them  still,  when  far  a  ways,  Then  the 
Choctaw's  boast  was — and  justly  too — "Chahtah  siah  !"  and 
with  as  much  merited  pride  as  he  of  old  "Romanus  sum." 

But  alas!  what  a  change  has  seventy-five  years  wrought 
upon  this  once  free  and  happy  people!  How  different  the 
present  generation  from  that  happy,  independent  spirit  that 
characterized  their  people  when  living  in  their  ancient 
domains  now  the  State  of  Mississippi!  That  manly  bearing 
has  given  place  to  weakness  and  dejection;  that  eye,  once  so 
bright,  bold  and  piercing,  is  now  faint  and  desponding.  The 
Choctaws  once  looked  you  straight  in  the  eye  with  fearless 
yet  polite,  manly  independence;  his  descendants  now  scarcely 
raise  their  heads  to  greet  you.  They  seem  no  longer  to  view 
life  through  the  rainbow  lenses  of  sanguine  hope,  but  as  those 
in  despair.  Ah,  the  world  may  die,  but  there  are  some 
sorrows  immortal. /  I  have  frequently  met,  here  and  there,  a 
few  Choctaws  in  Texas  bordering  on  Red  River.  They 
seemed  as  strangers  wandering .  in  a  strange  land  among 
whose  people  no  voice  of  sympathy  could  be  heard;  no  word  of 
commisseration  to  be  found;  no  smile  of  encouragement  to  be 
seen.  With  each  different  little  band  I  tried  to  introduce  a 
conversation  only  to  be  disappointed;  and  though  I  addressed 
them  in  their,  own  native  language;  I  could  only  obtained  a 
reply  in  a  few  scarcely  audible  monosyllables.  They  remem 
bered  the  past  and  were  silent,  yet  how  eloquent  that 
silence. 

In  1832,  at  Hebron,  the  home  of  the  missionary,  Calvin 
Cushman  and  his  family,  was  the  place  appointed  for  the 
assembling  of  all  the  Choctaws  in  that  district  prepartory  to 
their  exodus  from  their  ancient  domaines  to  a  place  they 
knew  not  wnere;  but  toward  the  setting  sun  as  arbitrary 
power  had  decreed.  Sad  and  mounful  indeed  was  their  gath 
ering  together — helpless  and  hopeless  under  the  hand  of  a 
haman  power  that  knew  no  justice  or  mercy. 

I  was  an  eye  witness  to  that  scene  of  desparing  woe  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  177 

/ 

heard  their  sad  refrain.  I  frequently  visited  their  encamp 
ment  and  strolled  from  one  part  of  it  to  another;'  while  from 
every  part  of  their  wide  extended  camp,  as  I  walked,  gazed 
and  wondered  at  the  weird  appearance  of  the  scene,  there 
came,  borne  upon  the  morn  and  evening  breeze  from  every 
point  of  the  vast  encampment,  faintly,  yet  distinctly,  the 
plaintive  sounds  of  weeping — rising's/and  falling  in  one 
strangely  sad  and  melancholy  chorus,  then  dying  away  in  a 
last,  long-drawn  wail.  It  was  the  Availing  of  the  Choctaw 
women — even  as  that  of  Rachel  for  her  children. 

Around  in  different  groups  .they  sat  with  their  children 
from  whose  quivering  lips  sobs  and  moans  came  in  subdued 
unison;  now,  in  wild  concert  united,  their  cries  quivered  and 
throbbed  as  they  rose  and  fell  on  the  night  air,  then  dying 
away  in  a  pathetic  wail  proclaiming,  in  language  not  to  be 
misunderstood,  the  pressure  of  the  ang'uish  that  was  crush 
ing  their  souls — hidden  from  human  eyes  and  told  only  to 
the  night.  Truly,  their  grief  was  so  deep,  so  overpowering, 
that  even  reason  seemed  to  reel,  blighted  beneath  its  wither 
ing  touch,  too  great  to  admit  the  comfort  of  human  sym 
pathy. 

The  venerable  old  men,  who  long  had  retired  from  the 
hardships  and  fatigues  of  war  and  the  chase,  expressed  the 
majesty  of  silent  grief;  yet  there  came  now  and  them  a  sound 
that  here  and  there  swelled  from  a  feeble  moan  to  a  deep, 
sustained  groan — -'rising  and  falling  till  it  died  away  just  as 
it  began.  True,  a  few  encouraging  smiles  of  hope,  though 
utterly  void  of  sincerity,  would  not  have  been  out  of  place, 
but  they  were  unlearned  in  such  subtle  arts;  therefore,  their 
upturned  faces  mutely,  but  firmly -spoke  the  deep  sorrow 
that  heaved  vvithin,  as  they  sat  in  little  groups,  their  gray 
heads  uncovered  in  the  spray  of  dancing  sunshine  which  fell 
through  the  branches  of  the  trees  from  above,  while  pitiful 
indeed  was  the  feeble  semblance  of  approval  of  the  white 
man's  policy  which  they  strove  to  keep  in  their  care  worn 
countenances;  while  the  heart-piercing  cries  of  the  women 
and  children,  seated  upon  the  ground  with  heads  covered 
with  shawls  and  blankets  and  bodies  swinging  forward  and 
backward,  set  up  day  and  night,  sad  tones  of  woe  echoing 
far  back  from  the  surrounding  but  otherwise  silent  forests, 
presenting  a  scene  baffling  in  description  the  power  of  all 
human  language;  while  the  young  and  middle-aged  warriors, 
now  subdued  and  standing  around  in  silence  profound,  gazed 
into  space  and  upon  the  scattered  clouds  as  they  slowly 
swept  across  the  tender  blue,  lending  wings  to  the  imagina 
tion  which  seemed  momentary  to  still,  with  a  sense  of  their 
own  eternal  calm,  the  conflicting  thoughts  that  then  composed 


178  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

the  turbulent  garison  of  their  hearts.  Inaudible,  yet  from 
flashing-  eyes  and  lips  compressed  that  bespoke  the  emotions 
that  surged  within,  could  be  read,  "Why  longer  seek  for 
hope  amid  the  ashes  of  life"?  While  here  and  there  was 
heard  an  inarticulate  moan  seeking  expression  in  some  snatch 
of  song,  which  announced  its  leaving  a  broken  heart. 

But  why  dwell  upon  such  bitter  memories?  My  soul 
finds  no  pleasure  in  them.  Deep  down  to  undiscovered 
depths  has  my  life  among,  and  study  of  the  North  Ameri 
can  Indians  during  over  three  score  and  ten  years,  enabled  me 
to  penetrate  their  human  nature  with  all  their  endurances 
and  virtues.  What  the  world  ought  to  know,  that  I  have 
written;  and  especially  for  those  who  desire  more  light  on 
that  unfortunate  race  of  people,  and  feel  an  interest  in  truth, 
justice,  and  what  concerns  humanity  the  world  over.  To 
me  was  offered  the  mission,  and  I  accepted  it  because  my 
conscience  approved  it  as  right;  and  I  have  thus  far,  exerted 
every  power  to  fulfill  even  to  the  letter  and  shall  so  continue 
to  the  end;  allowing  each  reader  to  freely  think  his  or  her 
own  thoughts. 

Every  missionary  among  the  Choctaws,  when  he  entered 
the  mission  gave  a  pjedge  that  he  would  devote  his  or  her 
life  to  the  service  of  God  in  the  cause  of  civilizing  and  Chris- 
tainizing  the  Choctaw  people,  with  no  remuneration  what* 
ever  except  that  of  food  and  clothing  for  himself  and  family. 
This  was  supplied  by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  estab 
lished  at  Boston,  Mass.,  to  which  Board  everything  pertain 
ing  to  the  mission  in  the  way  of  property  belonged — the 
missionaries  owning  nothing.  This  Board  had  spent  a  great 
deal  towards  the  missions,  and,  in  the  removal  of  the  Choc- 
taws  west,  was  unable  to  build  up  new  missions  there  of  suf 
ficient  number  to  supply  labor  for  all  of  ^e  missionaries; 
hence,  all  but  three  were  absolved  from  their  pledge,  who 
soon  returned  to  their  friends  iu  Massachusetts,  while  the 
three — Messrs  Kingsbury,  Byington  and  Hotchkins,  with 
their  families,  followed  the  exiled  Choctaws  to  their  unknown 
homes  to  be  found  in  the  wilderness  of  the  west.  Mr.  Cal 
vin  Cushman  was  one  of  the  two  who  remained  in  Mississip 
pi,  and  died  at  his  old  Missionary  Post,  Hebron,  a  few  years 
after  the  banishment  of  his  old  and  long  tried  friends  the 
Choctaws,  for  whose  moral  and  intellectual  benefit  he  had  so 
long  and  faithfully  laborea;  and  the  other  was  Mr.  Elijah 
Bardwell,  who  labored  at  Ok-la  Huii-na-li  sixty  miles  south 
west  of  Hebron,  but  who,  after  the  banishment  of  the  Choc 
taws,  moved  to  a  point  a  mile  and  a  half  east  of  the  present  town 
of  Starkville,  Mississippi.  He  too,  with  all  the  rest  of  his  co- 
Ja.borers,  has  long  since  also  gone  to  his  reward  in  the  blissfu 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  $  179 

A 

Immortality;  but  whose  names  still  live,  in  honored  remem 
brance  in  the  hearts  of  a  few  aged  Choctaws,  who  still  sur 
vive. 

As  an  example  of  the  faithfulness  with  which  those 
ancient  missionaries  adhered  to  every  principle  inculcated  in 
the  religion  they  professed  among  and  preached  to  the  Choc- 
taws  of  the  long  ago,  I  will  here  relate  the  following  as 
worthy  of  remembrance. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  town  of  Starkville,  Mississippi,  a 
blacksmith,  (John  McGaughey),  established  a  shop  in  the 
embryo  city,  and,  in  ponnection  with  his  smithing,  also 
traded  in  horses,  keeping  a  few  on  hand  all  the  time.  Mr. 
Bardwell  knowing  this,  and  wishing  to  purchase  a  horse, 
called  at  Mr.  McGaughey 's  shop  one  morning  and  asked  him  if 
he  had  a  horse  for  sale  that  would  be  suitable  for  a  farm. 
Mac.  replying  in  the  affirmative  they  went  to  the  stable, 
where  Mr.  Bardwell,  after  examining  the  animal,  asked  the 
price.  To  this  Mr.  McGaughey  replied:  "Eighty-five 
dollars."  "I  regard  that  as  too  high  a  price,"  said  Mr. 
Bardwell.  Mr.  McGaughey,  well  knowing  the  aged  mission 
ary  and  having  unlimited  confidence  in  his  integity,  asked 
him  what  he  believed  the  horse  to  be  worth.  To  which  Mr. 
Bardwell  replied:  "Sixty-five  dollars."  "You  can  have  him 
at  that  price,"  responded  Mr.  McGaughey.  Mr.  Bardwell 
paid  the  money  and  took  the  horse.  The  trade  was  made  in 
the  spring  of  the  year.  Early  in  the  following  autumn,  Mr. 
Bardwell  called  at  the  shop  and,  after  the  usual  salutation, 
handed  Mr.  McGaughey  twenty  dollars,  saying;  "Here  is 
that  money  that  I  owe  you."  Mr.  McGaughey,  in  much 
astonishment,  replied:  '  "You  are  certainly  mistaken.  You 
-do  .not  owe  me  a  dollar,  you  have  always  paid  me  the  cash 
for  all  the  work  I  have  done  for  you  in  my  shop."  "True"! 
said  Mr.  Bardwell.  "But  this  is  not  for  work  done  in  the 
shop,  but  is  due  you  in  a  trade  we  made  last  spring."  "What 
trade"?  asked  Mr.  McGaughey  in  unfeigned  suprise.  "Why! 
in  the  purchase  of  a  horse  from  you,"  replied  Mr.  Bardwell. 
"But  you  paid  me  the  sixty-five  dollars  cash,  the  price  for 
which  I  told  you,  you  could  have  him."  "True,"  replied  Mr. 
Bardwell,  "But  you  judged  the  horse  to  be  worth  eighty-five 
dollars,  while  I  estimated  his  worth  at  only  sixty-five;  upon 
trial  I  have  found  him  to  be  well  worth  the  eighty-five  dollars, 
the  price  you  first  asked  for  him.  Here  is  your  money." 
"But,  Mr.  Bardwell,  I  cannot  accept  the  money.  It  was  a 
fair  trade."  "Not  so;"  replied  the  aged  missionary,  "you  were 
right,  Mr.  McGaughey  in  your  judgment  as  to  the  correct 
value  of  the  horse,  and  I  was  wrong.  I  insist  upon  your 
accepting  that  which  is  your  just  due."  Mr.  McGaughey 


180  ^HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

finally  accepted  the  twenty  dollars  but  only  through  his 'great- 
respect  for  Mr.  Bardwell,  whose  feelings  he  knew  would  be 
wounded  if  he  did  not  accept  the  proffe red-twenty  dollars. 

Mr.  John  McGaughey,  many  years  afterwards,  frequent 
ly  related  this  horse  trade. 

Seventy  years  ago,  the  Choctaw  hunter  generally  hunted 
alone  and  on  foot;  and  when  he  killed  his  game,  unless  small, 
he  left  it  where  it  had  fallen,  and  turning  his  footsteps  home 
ward,  traveled  in  a  straight  line,  here  and  there  breaking  a 
twig  leaving  its  top  in  the  direction  he  had  come,  as  a  guide 
to  his  wife  whom  he  intended  to  send  to  bring  it  home.  As 
soon  as  he  arrived, he  informed  he!"  of  his  success  and  merely 
pointed  in  the  direction  in  which  h«e  the  game  lay.  At  once 
she  mounted  a  pony  and  started  in  the  direction  indicated ; 
and  guided  by  the  broken  twigs,  she~soon  arrived  at  the  spot, 
picked  up  and  fastened  the  dead  animal  to  the  saddle,  mounted 
and  soon  was  at  home  again;  then  soon  dressed  and  prepared  a 
portion  for  her  hunter  lord's  meal,  while  he  vsat  and  smoked 
his  pipe  in  meditative  silence.  No  animal  adapted  for  food 
was  ever  killed  in  wanton  sport  by  any  Indian  hunter. 

As  a  marksman  the  Choctaw  could  not  be  surpassed  in 
the  use  of  the  rifle.  It  mattered  not  whether  his  game  was 
standing  or  running;  a  bullet  shot  from  his  rifle, when  directed 
by  his  experienced  eye,  was  a  sure  messenger  of  death.  A 
shotgun  was  regarded  with  great  contempt,  and  never  used. 
The  rifle,  and  the  rifle  alone,  would  he  use.  To  surprise  a 
Choctaw  warrior  or  hunter  in  the  woods — see  him  before  he 
saw  you — was  a  feat  not  easily  accomplished  ;  in  fact,  impos 
sible  by  an  experienced  white  woodsman,  and  extremely 
.difficult  even  by  the  most  experienced.  His  watchful  and 
practiced  eye  was  always  on  the  alert,  whether  running, 
walking,  standing  or  sitting  ;  and  his  acute  ear,  attentive  to 
every  passing  sound,  heard  the  most  feeble  noise,  which,  to 
the  white  man's  ear  was  utter  silence. 

Years  ago  I  had  a  Choctaw  (full-blood)  friend  as  noble 
and  true  as  ever  man  possessed,  and  whom  once  to  know 
was  to  remember  with  an  esteem  approaching  the  deepest 
affection;  and  of  whom  I  was  justly  proud  and  in  whoin  I 
took  delight;  and  to-day,  had  I  a  hundred  tongues,  I  could 
not  express  my  appreciation  of  that  noble  friend.  He  was 
indeed  a  cordial  to  my  heart — oft  imparting  to  me  an  earnest 
of  happiness  which  I  thought  had  fled.  Oft  in  our  frequent 
hunts  together,  while  silently  gliding  through  the  dense 
forests  ten  or  fifteen  rods  apart,  he  would  attract  my  atten 
tion  by  his  well-known  ha  ha  (give  caution)  in  a  low  but  dis 
tinct  tone  of  voice,  and  point  to  a  certain  part  of  the  woods 
where  he  had  discovered  an  animal  of  some  kind;  and  though 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  181' 

0 

I  looked  as  closely  as  possible  I  could  see  nothing-  whatever 
that  resembled  a  living-  object  of  any  kind.  Being-  at  too 
great  aMistance  to  risk  a  sure  shot,  he  would  signal  me  to 
remain  quiet,  as  he  endeavored  to  get  closer.  To  me  that 
wras  the  most  exciting  and  interesting  part  of  the  scene;  for 
then  began  those  strategic  movements  in  which  the  most 
skillful  white  hunter  that  I  have  ever  seen,  was  a  mere  bun 
gler.  With  Deepest  interest,  not  unmixed  with  excitement,! 
closely  watched  his  every  movement  as  he  slowly  and  stealth 
ily  advanced,  writh  eyes  fixed  upon  his  object;  now  crawling 
noiselessly  upon  his  hands  and  knees,  then  as  motionless  as 
a  stump;  now  stretched  full  length  upon  the  ground,  then 
standing  erect  and  motionless;  then  dropping  suddenly  to 
the  ground,  and  crawling  off  at  an  acute  angle  to  the  right 
•or  left  to  get  behind  a  certain  tree  or  log,  here  and  there 
stopping  and  slowly  raising  his  head  just  enough  to  look 
over  the  top  of  the  grass;  then  again  be  hidden  until  he 
reached  the  desired  tree;  with  intense  mingled  curiosity  and 
excitement,  when  hidden  from  my  view  in  the  grass,  did  I 
seek  to  follow  him  in  his  course  with  my  eyes.  Oft  I  wrould 
see  a  little  dark  spot  not  larger  than  1113'  fist  just  above  the 
top  of  the  grass,  which  slowly  grew  larger  and  larger  until  I 
discovered  it  was  his  motionless  head;  and  had  I  not  known 
he  was  there  somewhere  I  wrould  not  have  suspected  it  was 
a  human  head  or  the  head  of  anything  else;  and  as  I  kept  my 
eyes  upon  it,  I  noticed  it  slowly  getting  smaller  until  it  grad- 
ually  disappeared;  and  when  he  reached  the  tree,  he  then 
observed  the  same  caution  slowly  rising  until  he  stood  erect 
and  close  to  the  body  of  the  tree,  then  slowly  and  cautiously 
peeping  around  it  first  on  the  right,  then  on  the  left;  and 
when,  at  this  juncture,  I  have  turned  jpy  eyes  from  him,  but 
momentarily-  as  I  thought,  to  the  point  where  I  thought  the 
game  must  be,  being  also  eager  to  satisfy  m3r  excited  curi 
osity  as  to  the  kind  of  animal  he  was  endeavoring  to  shoot, 
yet,  when  I  looked  to  the  spot  where  I  had  just  seen  him — 
lo!  he  was  not  there;  and  while  wondering  to  what  point  of 
the  compass  he  had  so  suddenly  disappeared  unobserved, 
and  vainly  looking  to  find  bis  mysterious  whereabouts,  I 
would  be  startled  by  the  sharp  crack  of  his  rifle  in  a  differ 
ent  direction  from  that  in  which  I  was  looking  for  him,  and 
in  turning  my  eye  would  see  him  slowl3T  rising  out  of  the 
grass  at  a  point  a  hundred  yards  distant  from  where  I  had 
last  seen  him.  "Well,  old  fellow,"  I  then  ejaculated  to  my 
self,  "I  would  not  hunt  for  you  in  a  wild  forest  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  your  scalp,  knowing,  at.  the  same  time,  that  you 
were  somewhere  about  seeking  also  to  secure  mine;  I  would 
just  call  to  you  to  come  and  take  it  at  once  and  save  anxiety." 


182  HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS. 

Talk  about  a  whi?e  man  out  maneuvering-  an  Indian  m  a  for 
est,  is  an  absurdity — veritable  nonsense. 

Frequently  have  I  proposed  to  exchange  guns^  with 
George  (that  was  his  name — simply  Georg-e  and  nothing- 
else)  my  double  barrel  shot-gun  for  his  rifle,  but  he  invari 
able  refused;  and  when  I 'asked  for  his  objection  to  my  gun, 
he  ever  had  but  one  and  the  same  reply — "Him  push."  He 
did  not  fancy  the  reaction  or  "kicking"  so  oft  experienced  in 
shooting-  the" shot-gun  which  George  had,  no  doubt,  once  ex 
perienced  to  his  entire  satisfaction.  Generous  and  faithful 
George!  I  wonder  where  you  are  to-day  ?  If  on  the  face  of 
God's  green  earth,  I  am  sure — humble  though  you  may  be- 
there  is  one  true  heart  above  the  sod  that  still  beats  in  love 
for  me.  \ 

.  It  was  truly  wonderful  with  what  ease  and  certainty  the 
Choctaw  hunter  and  warrior  made  his  way  through  the  dense 
forests  of  his  country  to  any  point  he  wished  to  go,  near  or 
distant.  But  give  him  the  direction,  was  all  he  desired;  with 
an  unerring  certainty,  though  never  having  been  in  that  part 
of  tire  country  before,  he  would  go  over  hill  and  valley, 
through  thickets  and  canebrakes  to  the  desired  point,  that 
seemed  incredible.  I  have  known  the  little  Choctaw  boys,  in 
their  juvenile  excursions  with  their  bows  and  arrows  and 
blow-guns  to  wander  miles  away  from  their  homes,  this  way 
and  that  through  the  woods,  and  return  home  at  night,  with 
out  a  thought  or  fear  of  getting  lost;  nor  did  their  parents 
have  any  uneasiness  in  regard  to  their  wanderings.  It  is  a 
universal  characteristic  of -the  Indian,  when  traveling  in  aii,un- 
known  country,  to  let  nothing  pasxs  unnoticed.  His  watch 
ful  eye  marks  every  distinguishing  feature  of  the  surround 
ings — a  peculiarly  leaning  or  fallen  tree,  stump  or  bush,  rock 
or  hill,  creek  or  branch,  he  will  recognize  years  afterwards, 
and  use  them  as  land  marks,  in  going  again  through  the 
same  country,  Thus  the  Indian  hunter  was  enabled  to  go 
into  a  distant  forest,  where  he  never  before  had  been,  pitch 
his  camp,  leave  it  and  hunt  all  day — wandering  this  way  and 
that  over  hills  and  through  jungles  for  miles  away,  and  re 
turn  to  his  camp  at  the  close  of  the  day  with  that  apparent 
ease  and  unerring  certainty,  that  baffled  all  the  ingenuity  of 
the  white  man  and  appeared  to  him  as  bordering  on  the  mir 
aculous.  Ask  any  Indian  for  directions  to  a  place,  near  or 
distant,  and  he  merely  points  in  the  direction  you  should  go, 
regarding  that  as  sufficient  information  for  any  one  of  com 
mon  sense. 

In  traveling  through  the  Choctaw  Nation  in  1884,  at  one 
time  I  desired  to  go  to  a  point  forty  miles  distant,  to  which 
led  a  very  dim  path,  at  times  scarcely  deserving  the  name,, 


HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS.  183 

and  upon  making  inquiry  of  different  Choctaws  whom  I  fre 
quently  met  along1  my  way,  they  only  pointed  in  the  direction 
I  must  travel  and  passed  on;  and  being  ashamed  to  let  it  appear 
that  I  did  not  have  sense  enough  to  goto  the  desired  point  after 
being  told  the  direction,  I  rode  on  without  further  inquiry, 
and  by  taking  the  path,  at  every  fork  that  seemed  to  lead  the 
nearest  in  the  direction  I  had  been  told  to  travel,  I,  in  good 
time,  reached  my  place  of  destination.  So,  after  all,  the 
Choctaws  told  me  all  that  was  necessary  in  the  matter. 

The  ancient  Choctaw  warrior   and  hunter   ieft   the  do 
mestic  affairs  of  his  humble  home  wholly  to  the  management 
of  his  wife   and    children.     The   hospitalities   of   his   cabin, 
however,    were    always    open   to    friend    or    stranger,    but 
before  whom  he  ever  assumed  a  calm  and  respectful  reserve, 
though  nothing  escaped   his  notice.     If  questioned  he  would 
readily  enter  into  a  conversation  concerning  his  exploits  as  a 
warrior  an$  hunter,  but  was  indifferent  upon  the  touching 
episodes  of  home,  with  its  scenes  of*  domestic  bliss  or  woe, 
though  their  tendrils  were   as   deeply   and   strangely  inter 
woven  with  the  fibres  of  his  heart  as  with  those  of  any  other 
of  The   human   race.     The   vicissitudes  of  life,  its  joys  and 
sorrows,  its  hopes  and  fears,  were  regarded  as  unworthy  the 
consideration  of  a  warrior  and  hunter;  but  the   dangers,  the 
fatigues  and  hardships  of  war  and  the  chase  as  subjects  only 
worthy  to   be   mentioned.     Yet,  with   all   this,  in   unfeigned 
a  ffection  for  his  wife,  children,  kindred  and  friends;  in  deep 
a  nxiety  for  them  in  sickness  and  distress;  in  untiring  efforts 
to    relieve  their  necessities  and   wants;  in  anxiety  for  their 
sa  fety  in  hours  of  danger;  in  fearless  exposure  of  himself  to 
p  rotect  them  from  harm ;  in  his  silent  yet  deep  sorrow  at 
their  death;  in  his  unassumed  joy   in   their   happiness;   in 
the  se^all  Indians  stand  equal  to  any  race  of  people  that  ever 
liv  ed.     And  when  roaming  with  him  years  ago  in  the  solitudes 
of  his  native  forests,  and  have  looked  upon  him,  whose  nature 
and  peculiar  habits  have  been  declared  by  the  world  to  have 
no  place  with  the  rest  of  the  human   family,  and  then   have 
gone  with  him  to   his  humble,  but  no  less  hospitable,  forest 
home,  and   there   witnessed  the  same  evidences   of   joy   and 
sorrow,  of  hope   and    fear,    of   pleasure  and   pain   that   are 
every  where  peculiar  to   man's  nature,  I   could    but  be  more 
firmly  established  in  that  which  I  long  had  known,  that  the 
North  American  Indian,  from  first  to  last,  had  been  wrong 
fully  and  shamefully  misrepresented,  and  though  in  him  are 
blended   vindictive   and   revengeful   passions,  so   much    con 
demned  by  the  civilized  world,  yet  I  found  these  were  equally 
balanced  by   warm,  generous,    and   noble    feelings,  as   were 
found  in  any  class  of  the  human  race: 


184'  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

To  the  ancient  Choctaw  warrior  and  hunter,  excitement 
of  some  kind  was  indispehsible  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  the 
nothing-to-do  in  which  a  great  part  of  his  life  was  spent. 
Hence  the  intervals  between  war  and  hunting  were  filled  up 
by  various  amusements,  ball  plays,  dances,  foot  and  horse 
races,  trials  of  strength  and  activity  in  wrestling  and  jump 
ing,  all  of  which  being  regulated  by  rules  and  regulations  of 
a  complicated  etiquette. 

But  the  Tolik  (Ball  play)  was  the  ultimatum  of  all  games 
— uthe  sine  qua  non"  of  all  amusements  to  the  Indians  of  the 
south;  and  to  which  he  atttached  the  greatest  importance, 
and  in  the  engagement  of  which  his  delight  reached  its  high 
est  perfection,  and  in  the  excelling  of  which  his  ambition  fell 
not  below  that  of  him  who  contested  in  the  Olympic  games  of 
ancient  Greece. 

A  Choctaw  Tolik  seventy  years  ago,  was  indeed  a  game 
that  well  might  have  astonished  the  Titan,  and  diverted 
them,  pro.  tern,  at  least,  from  their  own  pastime.  But 
when  I  look  back  through  the  retrospective  years  of  the  long 
past  to  that  animating  scene,  and  then  read  in  recent  yearjs 
th£  different  attempts  made  by  many  through  the  journals 
of  the  day  to  describe  a  genuine  ChoctawT  Ball-play  of  those 
years  ago,  it  excites  a  smile  and  only  intensifies  the  hold 
memory  retains  of  that  indescribable  game.  No  one,  who 
has  not  witnessed  it,  can  form  a*  just  idea  of  the  scene  from 
any  description  given;  for  it  baffles  all  the  powers  of  lan 
guage  and  must  be  seen  to  be  in  any  way  comprehended. 
The  base  ball-play  of  the  present  day,  so  popular  among  the 
whites,  in  point  of  .deep  interest  and  wild  excitement  pro 
duced  in" the  spectator,  when  compared  to  the  Chashpo  Tolik 
(Ancient  Ball-play)  of  'the  Choctaws  east  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  bears  about  the  same  relation  that  the  light  of  the 
crescent  moon  does  to  the  mid-day  light  of  the  mighty  orb  o^ 
day  in  a  cloudless  sky.  However",  I  will  attempt  a  descrip 
tion,  though  well  aware  that  after  all  that  can  be  said,  the 
reader  will  only  be  able  to  form  a  very  imperfect  idea  of  the 
weird  scene. 

When  the  warriors  of  a  village,  wearied  by  the 'mono 
tony  of  every  day  life,  desired  a  change  that  was  truly  from 
one  extreme  to  that  of  another,  they  sent  a  challenge  to  those 
of  another  village  of  their  own  tribe,  and,  not  infrequently, 
to  those  of  a  neighboring  tribe,  to  engage  in  a  grand  ball-play. 
If  the  challenge  was  accepted,  and  it  was  rarely  ever  declined 
a  suitable  place  was  selected  and  prepared  by  the  challengers, 
and  a  day  agreed  upon.  The  Hetoka  (ball  ground)  was 
selected  in  some  beautiful  level  plain  easily  found  in  their  then 
beautiful  and  romantic  country.  Upon  the  ground,  from 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  185 

three  hundred  to  four  hundred  yards  apart,  two  straight 
pieces  of  timber  were  firmly  planted  close  tog-ether  in  the 
ground,  each  about  fifteen  feet  in  height,  and  from  four  to 
six  inches  in  width,  presenting  a  front  of  a  foot  or  more. 
These  were  called  Aiulbi.  (Ball  posts.)  During  the  inter 
vening  time  between  the  day  of  the  challenge  and  thai  of  the 
play,  great  preparations  were  made  on  both  sides  by  those 
who  intended  to  engage  therein.  With  much  care  and 
unaffected  solemnity  they  went  through  with  their  prepara 
tory  ceremonies 

The  night  preceding  the  day  of  the  play  was  spent  in 
painting,  with  the  same  care  as  when  preparing  for  the  war 
path,  dancing  with  frequent  rubbing  of  both  the  upper  and 
lower  limbs,  and  taking  their  "sacred  medicine." 

In  the  mean  time,  tidings  of  the  approaching  play  spread 
on  wing's  of  the  wind  from  village  to  villag'e  and  from  neigh 
borhood  to  neighborhood  for  miles  away;  and  during  the 
first  two  or  three  days  preceding  the  play,  hundreds  of  In 
dians — the  old,  the  young,  the  gay,  the  grave  of  both  sexes, 
in  immense  concourse,  were  seen  wending  their  way  through 
the  vast  forests  from  every  point  of  the  compass,  toward  the 
ball-ground;  with  their  ponies  loaded  wTith  skins,  furs, 
trinkets,  and  every  other  imaginable  thing  that  was  part  and 
parcel  of  Indian  wealth,  to  stake  upon  the  result  of  one  or  the 
other  side. 

On  the  morning  of  the  appointed  day,  the  players,  from 
seventy-five  to  a  hundred  011  each  side,  strofig  and  athletic 
men,  straight  as  arrows  and  fleet  as  antelopes,  entirely  in  a 
nude  state,  excepting  a  broad  piece  of  cloth  around  the  hips, 
were  heard  in  the  distance  advancing  toward  the  plain  from 
opposite  sides,  making  the  heretofore  silent  forests  ring 
with  their  exulting  songs  and  defiant  hump-he!  (banter)  as 
intimations  of  the  great  f£ats  of  strength  and  endurance, 
fleetness  and  activity  they  would  display  before  'the  eyes  of 
their  admiring  friends.  The  curiosity,  anxiety  and  excite 
ment  now  manifested  by  the  vast  throng  of  assembled  spec 
tators  were  manifested  on  every  countenance.  Soon  the 
players  were  dimly  seen  in  the  distance  through  their  majes 
tic  forests,  flitting  here  and  there  as  spectres  among  the 
trees.  Anon  they  are  all  in  full  view  advancing  from  opposite 
sides  in  a  steady,  uniform  trot,  and  in  perfect  order,  as  if  to 
engage  in  deadly  hand  to  hand  conflict;  now  they  meet  and 
intermingle  in  one  confused  and  disorderly  mass  interchang 
ing  friendly  salutations  dancing  and  jumping  in  the  wildest 
manner,  while  intermingling  with  all  an  artillery  of  wild 
Shakuplichihi  that  echoed  far  back  from  the  solitudes  of  the 
surrounding  woods. 


186  HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS. 

Then  came  a  sudden  hush — a  silence  deep,'  as  if  all 
Nature  had  made  a  pause — the  prophetic  calm  before  the 
bursting-  storm.  During-  this  brief  interval,  the  betting-  was 
g-oing-  on  and  the  stakes  being-  put  up;  the  articles  bet  were 
all  placed  promiscuously  in  one  place,  often  forming-  a  vast 
conglomeration,  of  thing's  too  numerous  to  mention,  and  the 
winning  side  took  the  pile.-  This  being-'  completed,  the  play 
ers  took  their  places,  each  furnished  with  two  kapucha  (ball- 
sticks),  three  feet  long-,  and  made  of  tough  hickory  wood 
thoroughly  seasoned.  At  one  end  of  each  ka-puch-a  a  very 
ing-enious  device,  in  shape, and  size,  very  similar  to  that  of 
the  hand  half  closed,  was  constructed  of  sinews  of  wild 
animals,  in  which  they  caug-ht  and  threw  the  ball.  It  was 
truly 'astonishing-  with  what  ease  and  certainty  they  would 
catch  the  flying-  ball  in  the  cups  of  the  sticks  and  the  amaz 
ing-  distance  and  accuracy  they  would  hurl  it  throug-h  the 
air.  In  taking-  their  places  at  the  opening-  of  the  play,  ten  or 
twenty,  according-  to  the  number  of  players  engaged,  of  each 
side  were  stationed  at  each  pole.  To  illustrate,  I  will  say, 
ten  of  the  A.  party  and  ten  of  the  B  party  were  placed  at  pole 
C.;  and  ten  of  the  B.  party  and  ten  of  the  A.  party  at  pole  D. 
The  ten  of  the  B  party  who  were  stationed  at  the  pole  C. 
were  called  Fa-lo-mo-li-chi  (Throw-backs);  and  the  ten  of  the 
A.  party  also  stationed  at  pole  C.  were  called  Hat-tak  fa-bus- 
sa  (Pole  men),  and  /the  ten  of  the  A.  party  stationed  at  the 
pole  D.  were  called  Fala  molichi,  and  the  ten  of  the  B.  party 
stationed  at  the  pole  D.,  Hattak  fabussa.  The  business 
of  the  Falamolichi  at  each  pole  was  to  prevent,  if 
possible,  the  ball  thrown  by  the  opposite  party,  from  strik 
ing-  the  pole  C.;  and  throw  it  back  towards  the  pole  D.  to 
their  own  party;  while  that  of  the  Hattak  fabussa  at  pole  C. 
was  to  prevent  this,  catch  the  ball  themselves,  if  possible, 
and  hurl  it  against  the  pole  C.,  and  the  business  of  the  Fala 
molichi  and  Hattak  fabussa  at  the  pole  D.  was  the  same  as 
that  at  the  pole  C.  In  the  centre,  between  the  two  poles, 
were  also  stationed  the  same  number  of  each  party  as  were 
stationed  at  the  poles,  called  Middle  Men,  with  whom  was  a 
chief  "Medicine  man,"  whose  business  was  to  throw  the  ball 
straight  up  into  the  air,  as  the  signal  for  the  'play  to  com 
mence.  The  remaining  players  were  scattered  promiscu 
ously  along  the  line  between  the  poles  and  over  different  por 
tions  of  the  play-ground. 

All  things  being  ready,  the  ball  suddenly  shot  up  into 
the  air  from  the  vigorous  arm  of  the  Medicine  Man,  and  the 
wash-o-ha  (playing)  began.  The  moment  the  ball  was  seen 
in  the  air,  the  players  of  both  sides,  except  the  Falamolichi 
and  Hattak  fabussa,  who  remained  at  their  posts,  rushed  to 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  187 

the  spot,  where  the  ball  would  likely  fall,  with  a  fearful  shock. 
Now  began  to  be  exhibited  a  scene  of  wild  grandeur  that 
beggared  all  description.  As  there  were  no  rules  and  regu 
lations  governing  the  manner  of  playing  nor  any  act  con 
sidered  unfair,  each  of  course,  acted  under  the  impulse  of 
thfe  moment  regardless  of  consequences. 

They  threw  down  and  ran  over  each  other  in  the  wild 
excitement  and  reckless  chase  after  the  ball,  stopping  not 
nor  heeding  the  broken  limbs  and  bruised  heads  or  even 
broken  neck  of  a  fallen  player.  Like  a  herd  of  stampeded 
buffaloes  upon  the  western  plains,  they  ran  against  and  over 
each  other,  or  any  thing  else,  man  or  beast,  that  stood  in 
their  way;  and  thus  in  wild  confusion,  and  crazed  excitement 
they  scrambled  and  tumbled,  each  player  straining  every 
nerve  and  muscle  to  its  utmost  tension,  to  get  the  ball  or 
prevent  his  opponent,  who  held  it  firmly  grasped  between 
the  cups  of  his  trusty  kapucha,  from  making  a  successful 
throw;  while  up  and  down  the  lines  the  shouts  of  the  players 
— "Falamochi!  Falamochi!"  (.Throw  it  back!  Throw  it 
back)  as  others  shouted  Hokli!  Hoklio!  (Catch!  Catch!)  The 
object  of  each  party  was  to  throw  the  ball  against  the  two 
upright  pieces  of  timber  that  stood  in  the  direction  of  the 
village  to  which  it  belonged; and,  as  it  came  whizzing  through 
the  air,  with  the  velocity  comparatively  of  a  bullet  shot  from 
a  gun,  a  player  running  at  an  angle  to  intercept  the  flying 
ball,  and  when  near  enough,  would  spring  several  feet  into 
the  air  and  catch  it  in  the  hands  of  his  sticks,  but  ere  he 
could  throw  it,  though  running  at  full  speed,  an  opponent 
would  hurl  him  to  the  ground,  with  a  force  seemingly  suffi 
cient  to  break  every  bone  in  his  body — and  even  to  destroy 
life,  and  as  No.  2  would  wrest  the  ball  from  the  fallen  No.  1 
and  throw  it,  ere  it  had  flown  fifty  feet,  No.  3  would  catch  it 
with  his  unerring  kapucha,  and  not  seeing,  perhaps  an  op 
portunity  of  making  an  advantageous  throw,  would  start  off 
with  the  speed  of  a  deer,  still  holding  the  ball  in  the  cups  of 
his  kapucha — pursued  by  every  player. 

Again  was  presented  to  the  spectators  another  of  those 
exciting  scenes,  that  seldom  fall  to  the  lot  of  one  short  life 
time  to  behold,  which  language  fails  to  depict,  or  imagination 
to  conceive.  He  now  runs  off ,  perhaps,  at  an  acute  angle 
with  that  of  the  line  of  the  poles,  with  seemingly  super-hu 
man  speed;  now  and  then  elevating  above  his  head  his  ka 
pucha  in  which  safely  rests  the  ball,  and  in  defiant  exultation, 
shouts,  "hump-he!  hump-he!"  (I  dare  you)  which  was  ack 
nowledged  by  his  own  party  with  a  wild-response  of  approval, 
but  responded  to  by  a  bold  cry  of  defiance  from  the  opposite 
side.  Then  again  all  is  hushed  and  the  breathless  ,  silence  is 


188  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

only  disturbed  by  thelieavy  thud  of  their  running-feet.  For 
a  short  time  he  continues  his  straight  course,  as  if  to  test 
the  speed  of  his  pursuing  opponents;  then  begins  to  circle 
toward  his' pole.  Instantly  comprehending  his  object,  his 
running  friends  circle  with  him,  with  eyes  fixed  upon  him, 
to  secure  all  advantages  given  to  thein  by  any  stragetic  throw 
he  may  make  for  them,  wrhile  his  opponents  are  mingled 
among  them  to  defeat  his  object;  again  he  runs  in  a  straight 
line;  then  dodges  this  way  and  that;  suddenly  he  hears  the 
cry  from  some  one  of  his  party  in  the  rear  of  the  parallel 
running  throng,  who  sees  an  advantage  to  be  gained  if  the 
ball  was  thrown  to  him,  "Falamolichi"!  "Falamolichi"-]  He 
now  turns  and  dashes  back  on  the  line  and  in  response  to  the 
continued  cry — "Falamolichi"!  heiiurls'the  ball  with  all  his 
strength;  with  fearful  velocity  it  flies  through  the  air  and 
falls  near  the  caller;  and  in  the  confusion  made  by  the  sud 
denly  turning  throng,  he  picks  it  up  at  full  speed  with  his 
kapucha,  and  starts  toward  his  pole.  Then  is  heard  the  cry 
of  his  hattak  fabussa.  and  he  hurls  the  ball  toward  them  and, 
as  it  falls,  they  and  the  throw-backs  stationed  at  that  pole, 
rush  to  secure  it;  and  then  ag'ain,  though  on  a  smaller"  scale, 
a  scene  of  wild  confusion  was  seen — scuffling,  pulling,  push 
ing,  butting — unsurpassed  in  any  game  ever  engaged  in  by 
man.  Perhaps,  a  throw-back  secures  the  ball  and  starts 
upon  the  wing,  in  the  direction  of  his  pole,  meeting  the  ad 
vancing  throng,  but  with  his  own  throw-backs  and  the  pole- 
men  of  his  opponents  at  his  heels;  the  latter  to  prevent  him 
from  making  a  successful  throw  and  the  former  to  prevent 
any  interference,  while  the  shouts  of  "Falamolichi!""  "Fala 
molichi!"  arose  from  his  owrn  men  in  the  advancing  runners. 
Again  the  ball  flies  through  the  air,  and  is  about  to  fall  di 
rectly  among  them,  but  ere  it  reaches  thed  ground  many 
spring  into  the  air  to  catch  it,  but  are  tripped  alid  they  fall 
headlong  to  the  earth.  Then,  as  the  ball  reaches  the  ground 
again  is  brought  into  full  requisition  the  propensities  of  each 
one  to  butt,  pull,  and  push,  though  not  a  sound  is  heard,  ex 
cept  the  wild  rattling  of  the  kapucha,  that  reminded  one  of 
the  noise  made  by  the  collision  of  the  horns  of  a  drove  of 
stampeding  Texas  steers.  Oft  amid  the  plav  women  w^re 
seen  giving  water"  to  the  thirsty  and  offering  words  of  encour 
agement;  while  others,  armed  with  long  switches  stood  ready 
to  give  their  expressions  of  encouragement  to  the  supposed 
tardy,  by  a  severe  rap  over  the  naked  shoulders,  as  a  gentle 
reminder  of  their  dereliction  of  duty;  all  of  which  was  re 
ceived  in  good  faith,  yet  invariably  elicited  the  response 
— "Wah!"  as  an  acknowldgement  of  the  favor. 

From  ten  to  twenty  was  generally  the  game.     Whenever 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  189 

N 

the  ball  was  thrown  against  the  'upright  fabussa  (poles),  it 
counted  one,  and  the  successful  thrower  shouted;  i'llli  tok," 
(dead)  meaning-  one  number  less;  oft  accompaning  the  shout 
by  gobbing  vociferously  like,  the  wild  turkey,  which  elicited  a 
shout  of  laughter  from  his  party,  and  a  yell  of  defiance  from 
the  other.  TJius  the  exciting-,  and  truly  wild  and  romantic 
scene  was  continued,  with  unbatecl  efforts  on  the  part  of  the 
players 'until  the  game  was  won.  But  woe  to  the  Inconsider 
ate  white  man,  whose  thoughtless  curiosity  had  led  him  too 
far  upon  the  hetoka.  (ball  ground)  and  at  whose  feet  the  ball 
should  chance  to  fall;  if  the  path  to  that  ball  was  not  clear 
of  all  obstructions,  the  200  players,  now  approaching 
writh  the  rush  of  a  mighty  whirlwind  would  soon  make  it  so. 
And  right  then  and  there,  though  it  might  be  the  first  time  in 
life,  he  became  a  really  active  man,  if  the  desire  of  immediate 
safety  could  be  any  inducement,  cheerfully  inaugurating  pro 
ceedings  by  turning  a  few  double  somersets,  regardless  as 
to  the  scientific  manner  he  executed  them,  or  the  laugh  of 
ridicule  that  might  be  offered  at'  his  expense;  and  if  he 
escaped  only  with  a  broken  limb  or  two,  and  a  first-class 
scare,  he  might  justly  consider  himself  most  fortunate.  But 
the  Choctaws  have  long  since  lost  that  interest  in  the  ball- 
play  that  they  formerly  cherished  in  their  old  homes  east  of 
the  Mississippi  River.  'Tis  true,  now  and  then,  even  at  the 
present  day,  they  indulge  in  the  time  honored  game,  but  the 
game  of  the  present  day  is  a  Lillipution — a  veritable  pygmy- 
in  comparison  with  the  grand  old  game  of  three  quarters  of 
a  century  ago;  nor  will  it  be  many  years  ere  it  will  be  said  of 
the  Choctaw  tohli,  as  of  ancient  Troy — ''Ilium  fuit." 

To  any  one  of  the  present  day,  an  ancieW  Choctaw  ball- 
play  would  be  an  exhibition*  far  more  interesting,  strange, 
wild  and  romantic,  in  all  i.ts  features,  than  anything  ever  ex 
hibited  in  a  circus  from  first  to  last — excelling  it  in  every 
particular  of  daring  feats  and  wild  recklessness.  In  the 
ancient  ball-play,  the  activity,  fleetness,  strength  and  endur* 
ance  of  the  Mississippi  Choctaw  warrior  and  hunter,  were 
more  fully  exemplified  than  anywhere  else;  for  there  he 
brought  into  the  most  severe  action  every  power  of  soul  and 
body.  In  those  ancient  ball-plays,  I  have  known  villages  tc 
lose  all  their  earthly  possessions  upon  the  jssue  of  a  single 
play.  Yet,  they  bore  their  misfortune  with  becoming  grace 
,and  philosophic  indifference  and  appeared  as  gay  and  cheer 
ful  as  if  nothing  oi  importance  had  occurred.  The  educa 
tion  of  the  ancient  Choctaw  warrior  and  hunter  consisted 
mainly  in  the  frequency  of  these  muscular  exercises  whicl 
enabled  him  to  endure  hunger,  thirst  and  fatigue;  henc( 
they  often  indulged  in  protracted  fastings,  frequent  foot 


190  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

races,  trials  of   bodily   strength,   introductions   to   the   war 
path,  the  chase  and  their  favorite  Tolih. 

They  also  indulged  in  another  game  in  which  they  took 
great  delight,  called  Ulth  Chuppih,  in  which  but  two  players 
could  engage  at  the  same  time;  but  upon  the  result  of  which, 
.as  in  the  Tolih,  they  frequently  bet  their  little  all.  An  alley, 
with  a  hard  smooth  surface  and  about  two  hundred  feet  long, 
was  made  upon  the  ground.  The  two  players  took  a  posi 
tion  at  the  upper  end  at  which  they  were  to  commence  tjae 
game,  each  having  in  his  hand  a  smooth,  tapering  pole  eight 
or  ten  feet  long  flattened  at  the  ends.  A  smooth  round  stone 
of  several  inches  in  circumference  was  then  brought  into 
the  arena;  as  soon  as  .both  were  ready,  No.  1  took  the  stone 
and  rolled  it  with  all  his  strength  down  the  narrow  inclined 
plane  of  the  smooth  alley;  and  after  which  both  instantly 
staged  wit^i  their  utmost  speed.  Soon  No.  2,  threw  his  pole 
at  the  rolling  stone;  instantly  No.  1,  threw  his  at  the  flying 
pole  of  rNo.  2,  aiming  to  hit  it,  and,  by  so  doing,  change  its 
course  from  the  rolling  stone.  If  No.  2  hits  the  stone,  he 
counts  one;  but  if  No.  1  prevents  it  by  hitting  the  pole  of 
No,  2,  he  then  counts  one;  and  he,  who  hits  his  object  the 
greater  number  of  times  in  eleven  rollings  of  the  stone,  was 
the  winner.  It  was  a  more  difficult  matter  to  hit  either  the 
narrow  edge  of  the  rolling  stone,  or  the  flying  pole,  than 
would  be  at  first  imagined.  However,  the  ancient  Chahtah 
Ulte  Chupih  may  come  in  at  least  as  a  worthy  competitor  with 
the  pale-face  Teii-pin-alley,  for  the  disputed  right  of  being 
the  more  dignified  amusement. 

Judge  Julius  Folsom  of  Atoka,  Indian  Territory,  inform 
ed  me  that  a  friend  of  his,  -Isaac  McClure,  found  an  Ulth 
Chuppih  ball  in  a  mound  near  Skullyville,  Choctaw  Nation, 
Indian  Territory,  and  not  knowing  what  it  was,  brought  it  to 
him  for  information.  This  proves  that  the  Indians  who 
occupied' the  territory  prior  to  the  Choctaws  also  indulged  in 
the  game  of  Ulth  Chuppih. 

The  following  was  furnished  me  by  my  learned  friend 
H.  S.  Halbert,  of  Mississippi,  a  genuine  philanthropist  and 
true  friend  to,  the  North  American  Indian  race: 

'/The  Great  Ball  Play  and  Fight  on  Noxubee"  (a  cor 
ruption  of  the  Choctaw  word  Nakshobih,  a  peculiarly. offen 
sive  odor),  between  the  Creeks  and  Choctaws. 

"In  the  fall  of  1836,  there  died  in  the  "southern  part  of 
Noxubee  county  an  aged  Indian  warrior  named  Stonie  Hadjo. 
This  old  ludian  had  resided  in  the  county  for  years  and'  was 
very  popular  with  the  pioneers,  who  regarded  him  as  an  up 
right  and  truthful  man.  He  was  a  Creek  by  birth,  a  Choc 
taw  by  adoption.  This  old  warrior  would  often  tell  of  a 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  191 

great  ball  play  and  fight  which  occurred  between  the  Creeks 
and  Choctaws  in  Noxubee  county.  This  event,  from  date 
given  by  him,  must  have  occurred  about  the  year  1790. 

"On  Noxubee  river  there  was  anciently  a  large  beaver 
pond,  about  which  the  Creeks  and  Choctaws  had  a  violent 
dispute.  The  Creeks  claimed  it  by  priority  of  discovery, 
while  the  Choctaws  asserted  their  right  to  it  because  it  lay 
in  their  own  territory.  As  the  fur  trade  at  Mobile  and  Pen- 
sacola,  (corruption  of  the  Choctaw  words  puska  okla,  bread 
people,  then  small  places,  but  the  main  points  of  trade  for 
the  southern  Indians)  was  lucrative,  each  party  was  loath  to 
renounce  the  right  to  the  beavers.  The  two  Nations  finally 
agreed  to  settle  the  matter  by  a  ball-play.  A  given  number 
of  the  best  players  were  accordingly  selected  from  each 
Nation,  who  were  to  decide,  by  the  result  of  the  game,  to 
which  Nation,  the  exclusive  right  to  the  beaver  pond  should 
belong.  Great  preparations  were  made  by  each  party  for 
this  important  event.  They  commenced  preparing  on  the 
new  moon  and  it  took  them  two  whole  inoons  and  until  the 
full  of  the  third  to  complete  preparations.  Great  quantities 
-of  provisions  had  to  be  procured,  and  the  ball  players  had  to 
subject  themselves  meanwhile  to  the  usual  requirement  of 
practice,  the  athletic  exercises  customary  on  such  occa 
sions. 

"Finally  the  day  came,  and  Stonie  Hadjo  said  that  there 
were  ten  thousand  Indians,  Creeks  and  Choctaws,  camped 
around  the  ball  ground  on  Noxubee  river.  The  Creek  Chief 
who  held  the  highest  command,  after  seemg  his  people 
properly  encamped  left  to  pay  a  visit  of  ceremony  to  great 
Chief  of  the  Choctaws,  who  lived  at  some  distantance.  Stonie 
Hadjo-give  the  names  of  those  two  chiefs,  but  these  names 
cannot  now  be  recalled."  (If  I  mistake/ not,  the  Choctaw 
Chief  was  Himakubih,  now  to  kill).  "Every  thing  being  now 
ready  the  play  commenced,  and  it  was  admitted  on  all  sides 
to  have  been  the  closest  and  most  evenly  matched  game  ever 
witnessed  by  either  nation.  Fortune  vascillated  from  Creek 
to  Choctaws  and  then  from  Choctaw  to  Creek.  At  last,  it 
was  a  tied  game,  both  parties  standing  even.  One  more 
game  remained  to  be  played  which  would  decide  the  contest. 
Then  occurred  a  long  and  terrible  struggle  lasting  for  four 
hours.  Every  Creek  and  every  Choctaw  strained  himself  to 
his  utmost  bent.  Finally  after  prodigious  feats  of  strengh 
and  agility  displayed  on  both  sides,  fortune  at  last  declared  in 
favor  of  the  Creeks.  The  victors  immediately  began  to 
.shout  and  sing!  The.  Choctaws  were  greatly  humiliated. 
At  length  a  high  spirited  Choctaw  player,  unable  longer  to 
•  endure  the  exultant  shouts  of  the  victorious  party,  made  an 


192  HISTORY.  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

nsulting  remark  to  a  Creek  player.  (Who,  in  retaliation, 
Choctaws  state,  threw  a  petticoat  on  the  Choctaw — the 
the  greatest  insult  that  can  be  offered  to  an  Indian).  The 
latter  resente'd  it,  and  the  two  instantly  clutched  each  other 
in  deadly  combat.  The  contag-ion  spread,  and  a  general  fig-lit 
with  sticks,  knives,  guns,  tomahawks  and  bows  and  arrows, 
began  among1  the  ball  players.  Then  warriors  from  each 
tribe  commenced  joining  in  the  fight  until  all  were  engaged 
in  bloody  strife. 

"The  fight  continued  from  an  hour  by  the  sun  in  the 
evening-  with  but  little  intermission  during  the  night,  until 
two  hours  by  the  sun  the  next  morning.  At  this  juncture 
the.  great  chiefs  of  the  Creeks  and  the  Choctaws  arrived  upon 
the  ground  and  at  on'ce  put  a  stop  to  the  combat,  runners- 
having  been  dispatched  at  the  beginning  of  the  fight  to  these 
two  leaders  to  inform  them  of  the  affair.  The  combatants 
upon  desisting  from  the  fight,  spent  the  remainder  of  the 
day  in  taking  care  of  the  wounded;  the  women  watching  over 
the  dead,  The  next" day  the  dead  were  buried;  their  money, 
silver  ornaments,  and  dther  articles  of  value  being  deposited 
with  them  in  their  graves.  The  third  day  a  council  convened. 
The  Creek  and  the  Choctaw  chiefs  made  "talks"  expressing 
their  regrets  that  their  people  should  have  given  way  to 
such  a  wild  storm  of  passion  resulting  in  the  death  of  so 
many  brave  warriors.  There  was  no  war  or  cause  for  war 
between  the  two  Nations  and  they  counciled  that  all  forget 
the  unhappy  strife,  make  peace  and  be  friends  as  before.. 
This  advice  was  heeded.  The  pipe  of  peace  was  smoked, 
all  shook  hands  and  departed  to  their  homes.. 

"Stonie  Hadjo  stated  that  five  hundred  warriors  were 
killed  outright  in  this  fight  and  that  a  great  many  of  the 
wounded  afterward  died.  The  Creeks  and  Choctaws  had  had 
several  wars  with  each  other,  had  fought  many  bloody  bat 
tles,  but  that  no  battle  was  so  disastrous  as  this  fight  at  the 
ball  ground.  For  many  long  years  the  Creeks  and  Choc 
taws  looked  back  to  this  event  with  emotions  of  terror  and 
sorrow.  For  here,  their  picked  men,  their  ball  players, 
,  who  were  the  flower  of  the  two  Nations,  almost  to  a  man 
perished.  Scarcely  was  there  a  Creek  or  Choctaw  family, 
but  had  to  mourn  the  death  of  some  kinsman  slain.  For 
several  years  the  Creeks  made  annual  pilgrimages  to  this 
ball  ground  to  weep  over  the  graves  of  their  dead.  The 
Choctaws  kept  up  thi*  Indian  custom  much  long-dr.  Even 
down  to  the  time  of  their  emigration  in  1832  they  had  not 
ceased  to  make  similar  lamentations. 

"After  the  fight,  by  tacit  consent,   the    beaver  pond  was. 
left  in  the  undisputed  possession  of  the   Choctaws;    but   it  is- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  193 

said  that  soon  afterwards,  the  beaver  entirely  abandoned  the 
pond.  According  to  Indian  superstition,  their  departure 
was  supposed  to  have  some  connection  with  the  unfortunate 
fight. 

"In  1832,  a  man  named  Charles  Dobbs  settled  on  this  ball 
and  battle  ground .  Stonie  Hadjo,  who  was  then  living-  in 
the  vicinity  ^pointed  out  to  him  many  of  the  graves,  where 
in  money  and  other  valuables  were  buried.  Dobbs  dug- 
down  and  recovered  about  five  hundred  dollars  in  silver,  and 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars'  worth  of  silver  orna 
ments. 

"This  ground  is  situated  on  the  eastern  banks  of  Noxu- 
bee  river,  about  five  miles  west  of  Cooksville  and  about  two 
hundred  yards  north  of  where  Shuqualak(corruption  of  Shoh- 
pakalih, Sparkling,)  creek  empties  into  Noxubee.  The  beaver 
pond,  now  drained  and  in  cultivation,  is  situated  on  the 
western,  bank  of  Noxubee,  about  half  a  mile  north  of  the 
ball-ground. 

Frequently  disputes  between  the  ancient  Choctaws  and 
Muscogees  arose  as  a  result  of  a  ball-play,  'but  which  too 
frequently  terminated  in  a  fearful  fight,  followed  by  a  pro 
tracted  war.  My  friend,  H.  S.  Halbert,  informed  me  by 
letter,  of  another',  which  was  told  to  him  by  an  aged  Choctaw 
who  remained  in  Missisippi  with  others  at  the  time  of  the 
Choctaw  exodus  in  1832.  Is  is  as  follows: 

"The  war  in  1800  between  the  Choctaws  and  Creeks  had 
its  origin  in  a  dispute  about  the  territory  between  the  Tom- 
bigbee  and  Black  Warrior  rivers,  which  both  Nations  claim 
ed.  It  was  finally  agreed  to  settle  the  matter  by  a  ball-play. 
The  play  occurred  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Black  Warrior,  a 
mile  below  Tuscaloosa.  The  Creek  chief  was  named  Tus- 
keegee,  the  Choctaw,  L/uee,  (corruption  of  La  wih,  being 
equal).  Both  parties  claimed  the  victory.  A  violent  dispute 
arose  which  resulted  in  a  call  to  arms  followed  by  a  furious 
battle  in  which  many  were  killed  and  wounded  on  both  sides, 
but  the  Choctaws  were  victorious.  This  occurred  in  the 
spring.  The  Choctaws  after  the  fight  withdrew  to  their 
homes.  The  Creeks,  stung  by  defeat,  invaded  xthe  Choctaw 
Nation  in  the  ensuing  fall  under  Tuskeegee  and  fought  the 
second  battle  in  the  now  Noxubee  county,  in  which  the 
Creeks  were  victorious.  Luee  again  commanded  the  Choc 
taws."  But  the  Choctaws  being  reinforced,- another  battle 
was  soon  after  fought  in  which  the  Choctaws  under  Himar- 
kubih,  were  victorious  and  drove  the  Creeks  out  of  their 
country.  I  have  been  told  that  previous  to  our  civil  war  the 
trees  still  showed  signs  of  the  ancient  conflict. 

The  Choctaws,  at  the  time  of  their  earliest  acquaintance 


194  HISTORY    OF.  THE   INDIANS. 

with  the  European  races,  possessed,,  in  conjunction  with  all 
their  race  of  the  North  American  Continent,  a  vague,  but  to 
a  great  extent,  correct  knowledge  of  the  Oka  Falama,  "The 
returning-  waters,"  as  they  termed  it — The  Flood/ 

The  Rev.  Cyrus  Byington  related  a  little  incident,  as  one 
out  of  many  interesting-  and  pleasing-  ones  that  frequently 
occurred  when  traveling-  throug-h  their  country  from  one 
point  to  another  in  the  discharge  of  his  ministerial  duties, 
over  seventy  years  ago.  At  one  time  he  found  night  fast 
approaching  without  any  visible  prospect  of  finding  a  place 
of  shelter  for  the  night,  safe  from  the  denizens  of  the  wilder 
ness  through  which  his  devious^  path  was  leading  him.  Then 
and  there  roads  were  unknown  and  paths  alone  led  the  trav 
eler  from  place  to  place.  Soon,  however,  he  discovered  an 
humble  cabin  a  few  hundred  yards  distant,  directly  to  which 
the  little  path  was  leading  him,  and  which  he  readily  recog 
nized  as  the  home  of  a  Choctaw  hunter.  Several  little  chil 
dren  were  engaged  in  their  juvenile  sports  near  the  house, 
who,  upon  seeing  the  .white  stranger  approaching,  made  a 
precipitate  retreat  into  the  house.  The  mother  hastened  to 
the  door  to  learn,  the  cause  of  the  alarm — saw,  gazed  a 
moment,  and  then  as  suddenly  disappeared.  As  Mr.  Bying- 
ton  rode  up,  he  observed  an  Indian  man  sitting  before  the 
door,  whose  appearance  betokened  his  experience  in  the  vi 
cissitudes  of  life  to  have  reached  four  score  years  or  more, 
who  cheerfully  extended  the  hospitality  of  his  humble  home 
to  the  solitary  and  wayworn  stranger. 

But  nothing  strange  in  this,  for  who  ever  heard  of  an 
American  Indian  refusing  the  hospitality  of  his  cabin,  how 
ever  so  humble,  to  a  passing  stranger?  Soon  Mr.  Byington 
was  also  seated  before  the  cabin  door  near  the  aged  Choctaw, 
and  very  naturally  took  a  survey  of  the  surroundings.  It  was 
a  cloudless  eve  in  May,  1825.  The  calm  beautiful  day  was 
j,ust  drawing  to  a  close  and  the  slanting  sunbeam  fell  in  a 
dreamy  sort  of  indolent  beauty  upon  the  delicate  shrubbery 
Beneath  the  majestic  trees  that  towered  above  in  stately 
grandeur  dangling  with  their  branches  in  a  careless  radiance 
and  throwing  upon  them  such  gorgeous  tints,  as  they  alone 
can  bestow  at  the  last  moment  of  their  departing  glory.  Far 
away  before  the  admiring  gaze  of  the  humble  missionary, 
stretched  a  gently  undulating  plain  which  seemed  to  extend 
beyond  the  sunbeams  into  the  gray  twilight  of  the  distant 
east.  Here  and  there  dense  masses  of  foliage  on  the  north, 
south  and  west,  deepening  and  darkening  into  increasing 
depths  of  shade,  blended  so  imperceptibly  with  the  out 
stretching  shadows  which  they  cast,  that  it  was  difficult  to 
tell  where  the  reality  ceased  and  the  shadow  began.  Various 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  1 95 

kinds  of  birds  were  now  flocking  from  the  c>pen  plain  into 
the  recesses  of  the  dark  foliage  of  the  surrounding  trees, 
and,  with  noisy  twitterings  seemed  disputing  for  the  occu 
pancy  of  their  favorite  roosting  .place  upon  some  selected 
twig;  lovely  flowers  of  variegated  hue  filled  the  air  with 
sweetest  perfume,  rendering  it  a  luxury  to  breathe;  while 
here  and  there  little  groups  of  cattle  and  horses  lazily  crop 
ped  the  new  and  tender  grass  or  idly  lay  upon  its  soft  caf-pet, 
which  now  covered  the  ground  with  living  green.  The  aged 
warrior,  true  to  his~nature,  had  sought  his  cabin  door  that, 
undisturbed,  he  might  look  upon  the  scene  that  stretched  in 
a  wild  panorama  of  beauty  before  his  appreciative  and  admir 
ing  gaze.  Romantic  and  lovely  indeed  were  all  the  surround 
ings  of  that  forest  home,  so  truly  characteristic  of  the  Indian 
in  the  selection  of  his  abode.  The  old  warrior  and  hunter, 
ere  his  meditations  were  disturbed  by  the  coming  stranger, 
was,  no  doubt,  silently  and  attentively  listening  to  the  voice 
of  memory  calling  him  from  afar  off,  back  to  the  sunny  days 
of  early  youth,  while  his  ears  caught  other  cadences  that 
whispered  of  man-hood's  strength,  when,  untrammeled 
by  the  weight  of  years,  he  roamed  o'er  his  native  land, 
and,  with  eagle-eye  and,  nimble-foot,  pursued  his  game, 
or,  with  stealthy  step,  followed  the  war-path  in  its  dubious 
windings  through  the  distant  country  of  his  foes.  But  to 
the  cultivated  mind  of  the  man  of  God,  who  now  sat  by  his 
side  and  also  viewed  the  glories  of  the  scene,  how  different 
the  emoti'ons  awakened  !  His  thoughts  arose  from, Nature's 
beauties  to  the  sublimities  and  glories  of  Nature's  God.  For 
it -was  the  place  and  hour  to  enter  Nature's  sacred  temple 
and  there  commune  with  her  in  her  own  mystic  language; 
to  see  the  beautiful  where  others  see  it  not;  to  hear  anthems 
that  whisper  to  man  of  hope  and  joy'  in  the  diapason  of  the 
gentle  zepyrs,  making  the  appreciative  heart  thankful  to  be 
alive;  while  pitying  the  dwellers  in  crowded  cities  who  never 
see  or  enjoy  aught  like  this. 

After  an  exchange  of  a  few  words,  and  the  aged  man 
had  learned  who  his  guest  was,  for  he  had  heard  of  the  good 
missionaries,  mutual  confidence  was  at  once  established  be 
tween  the  two;  especially  as  the  stranger  was  conversant,  to 
some  extent,  in  his  native  Choctaw  tongue.  During  the  con 
versation  of  the  evening,  the  good  missionary,  true  to  his 
trust,  narrated  to  his  aged  host  the  story  of  the  Cross,  with 
all  its  interesting  bearings,  and  in  conclusion  set  forth,  with 
much  eloquence,  the  importance  and  necessity  of  his  host's 
immediate  attention  to  the  things  that  appertained  to  his  in 
terests  beyond  the  sphere  of  time;  to  all  of  which  the  old 
man  listened  in  profound  silence,  and  with  the  deepest  inter- 


196  ^    HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

est  and  attention;  then  rising-  from  his  seat  and  taking-  Mr, 
By  ing-ton  by  the  hand  and  leading-  him  to  the  corner  of  the 
little  cabin  where  the  setting-  sun  could  be  seen  in  full  view, 
he  pointed  to  it  and  said:  "Your  talk  is,  no  doubt,  true  and 
good,  but  it  is  strange  and  dark  to  me.  See  yonder  is  the 
sun.(5f  my  life;  it  but  ling-ers  upon  the  western  sky.  It  is 
now  too  late  for  me  to  follow  your  new  and  strang-e  words. 
Let  me  continue  in  the  path  I  long-  have  walked,  and  in  which, 
my  fathers  before  me  trod;  the  Great  Spirit  tells  me,  it  will, 
lead  me  to  the  happy  hunting-  grounds  of  the  Indian,  and  that 
is  sufficient  for  me."  And  who  can  say  it  was  not?  With 
unshaken  faith  he  believed  the  Great  Spirit  would  take  him 
at  the  hour  of  death  to  the  happy  hunting-  ground — the  heav 
en  of  the  Indian,  the  only  one  of  which  he  had  ever  heard. 
Then  pointing-  to  his  children  and  grand-children,  he  contin 
ued:  "Tell  your  new  talk  to  them  and  to  my  young-  people. 
They  have  time  to  consider  it.  If  it  is  a  better  way  to  the 
happy  hunting-  grounds  than  the  Indian's,  teach  them  to 
walk  In  it,  but  persuade  me  not  to  now  forsake  my  long- 
known  path,  for  one  unknown  and  so  strange  to  me."  Mr. 
Byington,'  deeply  interested  in  his  ag-ed  friend,  related,  in 
connection  with  other  Bible  truths,  the  account  of  the  flood. 
Instantly  the  old  veteran's  countenance  brig-htened  up,  and 
with  a  smile  of  self-confidence  said:  "You  no  longer  talk 
mysteries.  I  know  now  of  what  you  speak.  Mv  father  told 
me  when  a  boy  of  the  Oka  Falama."  Mr.  Bying-ton  then 
asked  him,  if  he  knew  how  long  since  it  occurred.  The  old 
veteran,  with  an  air  of  injured  innocence,  by  the  doubt  ex 
pressed  in  the  question  of  his  veracity  for  truth,  stooping, 
filled  both  hands  with  sand,  then,  with  an  expression  of  tri 
umphal  confidence,  said:  "As  many  seasons  of  snow  ago, 
as  I  hold  grains  of  sand  in  my  hand .  " 

During  the  fall  of  1887,  I  was  boarding  at  a  Choctaw 
friend's  in  the  territory,  a  man  of  noble  characteristics,  and 
one  day  related  to  him  the  above  incident.  I  was  struck  with 
his  remark.  As  I  closed,  he  said  in  a  slow  and  mournful 
tone  of  voice;  "Ever  thinking  of  the  good  of  their  people, — 
the  young  and  rising  generations  coming  after  them."  I 
asked  a  more  explicit  explanation.  He  replied;  "The  aged 
men  of  my  people  always  expressed  more  concern  for  the 
welfare  of  the  young  than  they  did  for  themselves.  That 
old  Choctaw,  of  whom  you  have  just  spoken,  seemed  to  re 
alize  that  it  was  too  late  for  him  to  be  benefitted  by -the  teach 
ings  of  the  good  white  man,  but  still  was  anxious  for  him  to 
do  all  the  good  he  could  for  the  young  and  rising  generation  of 
his  Nation.  Why  is  the  Indian  so  traduced  by  the  white 
man?  Has  my  race  no  redeeming  traits?"  Shame  for  my 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  197 

own  race  hushed  me  to  silence,  and -I  made  no  reply,  as  he 
arose  and  quietly  left  my  room — and  me  to  my  unpleasant 
reflections. 

The  Choctaw  hunter  was  famous  as  a  strategist  when 
hunting-  alone  in  the  woods;  and  was  such  an  expert  in  the 
art  of  exactly  imitating-  the  cries  of  the  various  animals  of 
the  forests,  that  he  would  deceive  the  ear  of  the  most  expe 
rienced.  They  made  a  very  ing-eniously  constructed  instru 
ment  for  calling  deer  to  them,  in  the  use  of  which  they  were 
very  expert;  and  in  connection  with  this,  they  used  a  decoy 
made  by  cutting  the  skin  clear  round  the  neck,  about  ten 
inches  from  the  head  of  a  slain  buck  having  huge  horns,  and 
then  stuffing  the  skin  in  one  entire  section  up  to  the  head 
and  cutting  off  the  neck  where  it  joins  the  head.  The  skin, 
thus  made  hollow  from  the  head  back,  is  kept  in  its  natural 
position  by  inserting  upright  sticks;  the  skin  is  then  pulled 
upwards  from  the  nose  to  the  horns  and  all  the  flesh  and 
brains  removed;  then  the  skin  is  repulled  to  its  natural  place 
and  laid  away  to  dry.  In  a  year  it  has  become  dry;  hard  and 
inoffensive,  and  fit  for  use.  All  the  upright  sticks  are  then 
taken  out  except  the  one  next  to  the  head,  which  is  left  as  a 
hand-hold.  Thus  the  hunter,  with  his  deer-caller  and  head 
decoy,  easily  enticed  his  game  within  the  range  of  his  deadly 
rifle;  for,  secreting  himself  in  the  woods,  he  commenced  to 
Imitate  the  bleating  of  a  deer;  if  within  hearing  distance,  one 
soon  responds;  but,  perhaps,  catching  the  scent  of  the 
hunter,  stops  and  begins  to  look  around.  The  hunter  now 
•  inserts  his  arm  into  the  cavity  of  the  decoy  and  taking  hold 
of  the  upright  stick  within,  easily  held  it  up  to  view,-  and  at 
tracted  the  attention  of  the  doubting  deer  by  rubbing  it 
against  the  bushes  or  a  tree;  seeing  which,  the  then  m 
longer  suspicious  deer  advanced,  and  only  learned  its  mis 
take  by  the  sharp  crack  of  the  rifle  and  the  deadly  bullet. 

The  antlers  of  some  of  the  bucks  grew  to  a  wonderful 
size,  which  were  shed  off  every  February,  or  rather  pushec 
off  by  the  forthcoming  new  horns,  a  singularly  strangt 
freak  of  nature,  yet  no  less  true.  There  was  also  a  strangt 
and  ancient  tradition  among  the  Choctaw  and  Chickasav 
hunters,  before  their  exodus  to  their  present  place  of  abode 
that,  as  soon  the  horns  dropped  off,  the  buck  at  once  PAWED  ; 
hole  in  the  ground  with  his  feet  (it  being  (always  soft  durim 
the  season  of  shedding,  from  the  frequent  rains)  into  whicl 
he  pushed  the  fallen  horns  and  carefully  covered  them  up 
This  may  seem  fabulous,  yet  there  are  good  grounds  upoi 
which  to  establish,  at  leas"t  a  probability,  if  not  its  truth, 
have  heard  of  white  hunters  who  had  been  attracted  by  th 
appearance  of  something  .being  freshly  covered  up,  with  th 


198  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

tracks  of  deer  alone  at  and  around  the  spot,  and,  upon  dig 
ging  down,  have  found  the  horns  of  a  deer.  In  many  hunts 
in  the  forest  of  Mississippi,  during  many  years,  where  the 
deer  almost  filled  the  woods,  I  have  never  seen  a  deer  horn 
except  those  attached  to  a  skull — left  in  the  woods  by  the 
hunter,  or  those  of  a  buck  that  had  died  a  natural  death. 
The  forests  were  burnt  off  the  latter  part  of  every  March, 
and  thus  the  ground,  was  entirely  naked  and  a  deer's  horn,  if 
above  ground,  could  have  been  seen  a  hundred  yards  distant,, 
but  they  were  not  seen.  The  fires  of  the  forest  were  not  hot 
enough  to  burn  them.  Now  what  became  of  them  if  not 
buried  by  the  bucks,  as  hundreds  were  shed  yearly? 

The  Choctaw  warrior  was  equally  as  expert  in  deceiving 
his  enemy  as  he  was  in  that  of  the  wild  denizens  of  his  native 
forests.  When  upon  the  war-path  the  Choctaws  always 
went  in  small  bands,  which  was  the  universal  custom  of  their 
entire  race,  traveling  one  behind  the  other  in  a  straight  line; 
and,  if  in  the  enemy's  territory  each  one  stepped  exactly  in 
the  tracks  of  the  one. who  walked  before  him,  while  the  one 
in  the  extreme  rear  defaced,  as  much  as  possible,  their 
tracks,  that  no  evidence  of  their  number,  or  whereabouts 
might  be  made  known  to  the  enemy.  In  these  war  excur 
sions,  the  most  profound  silence  was  observed;  their  com 
munications  being  carried  on  by  preconcerted  and  well  un 
derstood  signs  made  by  the  hand  or  head;  if  necessary  to 
be  audible,  then  by  a  low  imitative  cry  of  some  particular 
wild  animal. 

The  dignity  of  chieftainship  was  bestowed  upon  him 
who  had  proved  himself  worthy  by  his  skill  and  daring  deeds 
in  war;  and  to  preserve  the  valiant  character  of  their  chief, 
it  was  considered  a  disgrace  for  him  to  be  surpassed  in. dar 
ing  deeds  by  any  of  his  warriors;  at  the  same  time,  it  was 
also  regarded  as  dishonorable  for  the  warriors  to  be  sur 
passed  by  their  chief.  Tnus  there  were  great  motives  for 
both  to  perform  desperate  deeds  of  valor — which  they  did; 
nor  did  they  wait  for  opportunities  for  the  display  of  hero 
ism,  but  sought  perils  and  toils  by  which  they  might  distin 
guish  themselves.  These  war  parties,  gliding  noiselessly 
like  Spectres  through  the  dense  forests,  painted  in  the  most 
fantastic  manner  conceivable,  presented  a  wild  and  fearful 
appearance,  more  calculated  to  strike  terror  to  the  heart  of 
the  beholder  than  admiration.  Though  they  advanced  in  small 
bodies  and  detached  parties,  yet  in  their  retreats  they  scat 
tered  like  frightened  partridges,  each  for  himself,  but  to 
unite  again  at  a  pre-arranged  place  miles  to  the  rear.  No 
gaudy  display  was  ever  made  in  their  war  excursions  to 
their  enemy's  country.  They  meant  business,  not  display, 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  199 

depending*  on  the  success  of  their  expedition  in  their  silent 
and  unexpected  approach,  patient  watching-,  and  artful  strata 
gems.  To  fight  a  pitched  battle  in  an  open  field  giving  the 
enemy  an  equal  chance,  was  to  the  Choctaws  the  best  evi 
dence  of  a  want  of  military  skill.  But  unlike  most  of  their 
race,  they  seldom  invaded  an  enemy's  territory  from  choice; 
but  woe  to  the  enemy,  who  attributing-  this  to  cowardice, 
should  have  the  presumption  to  invade  their  country;  like 
enraged  bears  robbed  of  their  young-,  they  would  find  the 
Choctaw  warriors,  to  a  man,  ready  to  repel  them  with  the  most 
desperate  and  fearless  bravery  ever  exhibited  by  any  race 
of  men.  Yet,  to  them,  no  less  than  to  the  whites,  strategy 
was  commendable,  and  to  outwit  an  enemy  and  'thus  gain 
an  advantag-e  over  him,  was  evidence  of  great  and  praise* 
worthy  skill. 

DUELS. — The  duelist,  according  to  the  white  man's  code 
of  honor,  was  regarded  by  the  Choctaws  with  utmost  con* 
tempt,  the  fool  above  all  fools;  and  in  this,  manifesting  much 
better  sense  than  the  white  man  with  all  his  boasted  idea  of 
honor.  That  a  man  would  stand  up  openly  before  his  enemy 
to  be  shot  at  with  the  opportunity  of  getting  an  open  shot  at 
him,  was  a  code  of  honor  beyond  their  comprehension,  a  piece 
of  nonsense  in  the  indulgence  of  which  a  Choctaw  could  not 
be  guilty. 

I  did  once  hear,  however,  of  a  young  Choctaw  warrior  ac 
cepting  a  chellenge  from  a  white  man  in  their  nation  east  of 
the  Mississippi  river.  A  white  man,  who  had  been  living  in 
one  of  their,  villages  for  several  months,  taking  offense  at 
something  a  young  warrior  had  done,  and  well-knowing  the 
repugnance  with  which  the  Choctaws  regarded  the  white 
man's  code  of  honor,  thought  it  a  proper  time  to  impress 
them  with  the  belief  that  he  was  very  brave,  since  he  had  but 
little  to  fear  that  he  would  be  called  upon  to  put  it  to  the  test; 
therefore,  gave  him  a  verbal  challenge,  in  the  presence  of 
many  other  Choctaw  warriors,  to  fight  him  a  duel  accord 
ing  to  the  white  man's  code;  and  to  impress  upon  the 
minds  of  the  by-standers  that  where  there  was  so  much 
bravery,  there  must  be  a  proportional  amount  of  honor,  the 
heroic  challenger  informed  the  young  Choctaw  that,  as  he 
was  the  challenged  party,  the  white  man's  code  of  honor 
nobly  awarded  to  him  the  choice  of  weapons,  time  and  place. 
To  all  of  which  the  young  Choctaw  listened  in  meditative  sil 
ence.  All  eyes  were  turned  upon  him  expecting  a  negative 
reply;  none  moro  so  than  the  "brave"  pale-face.  At  that  mo 
ment  he  sprang  to  his  feet  and  with  a  nimble  bound  placed  him 
self  directly  before  the  face,  and  within  a  few  feet  of  his  chal 
lenger,  and,  with  his  piercing  eyes  upon,  said  in  broken 


200  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

English,  "You  say,  me  hab  choice  of  weapon, time,  and  place, 
too?"  "Yes,"  responded  the  now  dubious  white  brave;  then 
looking  around  upon  all  with  a  determined  eye,  to  the  aston 
ishment  of  all,  the  challenger  by  no  means  excepted,  ex 
claimed  in  a  calm  tone  of  voice:  "Pale-face,  me  fight  you  to- 
marler  wid  rifle."  Then  turning  to  one  of  the  by-standers 
he  said:  "You  take  him"  (pointing  to  his  challenger)  "to- 
marler,  sun  so  high,"  (pointing  to  the  east)  one  mile  dis  way, 
put  him  behind  tree,  den  you  come  back."  Then  turning  to 
another,  continued:  "You  take  me  to-marler,  sun  same  so 
high"  (again  pointing  to  the  east)  "one  mile  dis  udder  way, 
put  me  beh,ind  tree,  too,  den  you  come  back."  Then  turning 
his  penetrating  black  eyes  fully  upon  the  then  astonished 
"man  of  honor,"  and  looking  him  straight  in  the  eyes,  said: 
"Pale— face,  you  hunt  me  to-marler,  and  me  hunt  you  to-mar 
ler;  you  see  me  first,  den  youshootme  first;  me  see  you  first, 
den  me  shoot  you  first."  The  pale-face  warrior,  quickly  con 
cluding  that  prudence  then  and  there  was  evidently  the  bet 
ter  part  of  valor,  wisely  declined  the  honor  with  all  the 
prospective  pleasure  of  the  morrow's  hunt;  to  the  great 
amusement  of  the  Choctaws,  who  by  their  continued  tantiliz- 
ing,  soon  drove  the  would-be  duellist  from  their  territory. 

Upon  this  subject,  I  here  quote  the  following  from  the 
pen  of  Rev.  Israel  Folsom,  a  Choctaw,  with  whom  I  was  per 
sonally  acquainted,  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  kindly 
furnished  me  by  his  amiable  daughter,  Czarena,  now  Mrs. 
Robb,  a  noble  Christian  lady  living  in  Atoka  I.  T.  (from  Ai- 
a-tuk-ko,  a  protection  or  shield.) 

"They  had  duels  too;  but  they  were  quite  different  from 
any  that  has  been  practiced  by  anv  of  the  Indians  of  the  con 
tinent  or  the  whites;  and  which  most  commonly  proved  fatal 
to  both  parties.  When  a  quarrel  or  difficulty  occurred  be 
tween  two  warriors,  a  challenge  was  sent  by  one  to  the  other; 
not  to  meet  and  take  a  pop  at  each  other  with  pistols,  as  is 
the  case  in  civilized  and  refined  Nations,  but  in  reality,  it  was 
a  challenge  for  both  to  die.  It  was  understood  in  no  other 
way;  this  was  the  mode  of  trying  the  man's  bravery,  for 
they  believe  that  a  brave  man,  who  possesses  an  honest  and 
sincere  heart,  would  never  be  afraid  to  die:  It  was  usual  for 
each  one  to  select  his  own  friend  to  dispatch  him.  If  one 
should  back  out  from  the  challenge,  they  considered  it  as  a 
great  mark  of  cowardice  and  dishonesty  in  him,  and  he  would 
be  despised  by  his  relations  and  friends,  and  by  the  whole 
tribe.  If  a  challenge  was  given  and  accepted,  it* was  certain 
to  end  in  the  death  of  both  parties;  this  mode  of  deciding 
difficulties  had  a  strong  tendency  to  restrain  men  from 
quarreling  and  fighting  among  themselves,  for  fear  of  being 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  201 

challenged  and  consequenty  compelled  to  die,  or  forever  be 
branded  with  dishonesty  and  cowardice,  and  afterwards  live 
a  life  of  degradation  and  disgrace.  Hence,  it  was  a  common 
saying  among  them,  that  a  man  should  never  quarrel,  unless 
he  was  willing  to  be  challenged  and  to  die.  On  one  occasion 
a  sister  seeing  her  brother  about  to  baclr  out  from  a  chal- 
stepped  forward  and  boldly  offered  herself  to  die  in  his 
stead,  but  her  offer  was  not  accepted,  and  she  was  so  morti 
fied  at  her  brother's  want  of  courage  that  she  burst  into 
tears." 

Thus  they  fought  the  duel:  When  one  Choctaw  chal 
lenged  another  the  challenge  was  given  verbally,  face  to  face, 
the  time  and  place  then  and  there  designated.  If  accepted 
(and  it  was  almost  certain  to  be)  the  two  went  to  the  place 
each  with  his  second.  The  two  combatants  then  took  their 
places  unarmed  about  twenty  feet  apart,  each  with  a  second 
at  his  right  side  with  a  rifle  in  hand.  At  a  given  signal  each 
second  shot  the  combatant  standing  before  him.  That 
closed  the  scene.  Each  had  proven  himself  a  Tush-ka  Siah; 
(warrior  I  am)  and  that  was  satisfactory  to  all. 

To  have  it  said,  "he  died  bravely,"  was  the  highest  am- 
"bition  of  the  Choctaw  warrior,  and  thus  it  is  even  to  the 
present  day.  He  regards  death  as  merely  a  transmigration 
to  the  happy  hunting-ground,  to  which  many  of  his  friends 
had  already  gone.  His  rifle,  so  long  his  boon  companion  and 
trusty  friend,  together  with  his  tomahawk,  knife  and  tobacco, 
he  only  required  to  be  deposited  in  the  grave  by  his  side  as 
all  the  requisites  necessary  for  him,  when  he  arrived  at  the 
land  of  abundant  game  to  resume  the  sports  of  the  chase; 
frequentlv  a  little  corn  and  venison  were  also  placed  in  the 
grave,  by  the  hand  of  maternal  fore-sight  and  love,  that  her 
warrior  boy  might  not  hunger  during  his  long  journey. 

There  was  a  peculiar  custom  among  the  ancient  Choc- 
taws,  prior  to  1818,  which,  according  to  tradition,  was  as 
follows:  For  many  years  after  the  marriage  of  her  daughter, 
the  mpther-in-law  was  forbidden  to  look  upon  her  son-in-law. 
Though  they  might  converse  together,  they  must  be  hidden 
the  one  from  the  other  by  some  kind  of  a  screen,  and  when 
nothing  else  offered,  by  covering  her  eyes.  Thus  the  mother- 
in-law  was  put  to  infinite  trouble  and  vexation  least  she 
should  make  an  infraction  upon  the  strange  custom;  since, 
when  travelling  or  in  camp  often  without  tents,  they  were 
necessarily  afraid  to  raise  their  heads,  or  open  their  eyes 
through  fear  of  seeing  the  interdicted  object. 

Another  peculiarity,  which,  howeyer.  they  possessed  in 
common  with  other  tribes,  was,  the  Choctaw  wife  never 
called  her  husband  by  name.  But  addressed  him  as  "my  son 


202  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

or  daughter's  father;"  or  more  commonly  using-  the  child's 
name,  when  if  Shah-bi-chih,  (meaning-,  to  make  empty,  the 
real  name  of  a  Choctaw  whom  I  know)  for  instance,  she 
she  calls'  her  husband  "Shah-bi-chih 's  father."  Another 
oddity  in  regard  to  names  was,  the  ancient  Choctaw  warriors 
seemed  to  have  a  strange  aversion  to  telling  their  own  names,- 
and  it  was  impossible  to  get  it  unless  he  had  an  acquaintance 
present,  whom  he  requested  to  tell  it  for  him. 

THE  CHOCTAW  YA-YAHS  ;  CRIES  OVER  THE  DEAD. — Their 
manifested  sorrow  and  wailing  over  the  graves  of  their  dead 
were  affecting  in  the  extreme — truly  bordering  on  the  sub 
lime  in  their  severe  simplicity;  and  had  the  Indian  character 
istics  been  rightly  understood,  and  the  nature  of  their 
lamentations  justly  comprehended  by  the  whites,  their  an 
cient  "Yayahs"  might  well  have  been  compared  to  the  com 
plaints  of  the  mother  of  Euriauls,  in  the  ^Enead:  the  same 
passionate  expressions  of  deep  sorrow,  and  the  same  ex 
travagance  of  grief,  whose  aif ecting  tones  sank  deep  into  the 
inexperienced  heart.  For  twelve  months,  at  various  inter 
vals,  the  women  repaired  to  the  grave  of  the  last  deceased 
relative  or  friend  there  to  weep  and  express  their  unassum- 
ed,  heart-felt  griefs  to  the  memory  of  the  dead,  loved  in  life 
and  lamented  in  death,  thus  manifesting  the  tender  sensi 
bility  of  the  Indian  female.  And  though  those  tender  and 
affecting  exhibitions  of  affection  may  be  regarded  by  the 
arrogant  whites  as 'having  their  origin  in  ignorance,  super 
stition  and  error,  yet  how  hard  that  heart  must  be  that  par 
dons  not  the  illusion  that  soothes  the  sufferings  of  a  bereaved 
soul.  But  that  age  in  which  superstition  held  her  empire 
undisputed  in  the  Choctaw  mind  has  long  since  past;  and 
that  noble  people,  however  seemingly  low,  or  however  op 
posed  in  their  progress  by  conflicting  and  opposing  circum 
stances,  have  years  ago  turned1  towards  truth,  and  have  long 
•since  attained  that  goal  which  reason  has  erecTed  in  their 
breasts  equaj  to  that  of  the  White  Race. 

The  deep  and  unaffected  grief  of  a  Choctaw  mother  at 
the  death  of  a  daughter,  and  that  also  of  a  father  at  the  loss 
of  an  only  son  in  whom  rested  his  fondest  hopes,  words  are 
inadequate  to  describe.  With  tearless  eyes  and  solemn 
countenance  the  bereaved  father  strolled  about  his  little 
premises,  seemingly  unconscious  of  all  the  surroundings, 
while  the  frequent  outbursting  of  grief  in  the  loud  lamenta 
tions  of  the  mother  was  truly  a  Rachel  weeping  for  her  child 
ren.  There  never  lived  a  race  of  people  more  affectionate 
one  to  another  than  the  Choctaws  inyiieir  ancient  homes. 
They  actually  seemed  as  one  great  brotherhood— one  loving> 
trusting  family;  nor  has  there  been  any  material  change 


HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS.  203 

from  that  day  to  this.  'Tis  true,  they  were  subject  to  like 
passions  with  all  imperfect  humanity,  and  in  momentary  fits 
of  passion,  excited  by  the  white  man's  "Personal  Liberty," 
one  sometimes  killed  another;  but  as  soon  as  his  drunken  fit 
had  worn  off  and  momentary  anger  cooled,  he  manifested 
the  deepest  sorrow  for  the  unfortunate  affair;  nor  did  he 
ever  try  to  escape  from  the  punishment  attending-  the  crime 
— never;  but  calmly  offered  himself  as  a  voluntary  sacrifice 
to  the  offended  law. 

They  held  specified  cries  for  the  dead,  which  to  us  of  the 
present  day  would  appear  strange  and  even  bordering-  upon, 
the  romantic,  yet  could  not  be   witnessed  without  emotions 
of  sadness.     After  the  death  and  burial,  the  time  was  set  by 
the  near  relations  of  the  deceased  for  the  cry,  and  notice  was 
given  to^  the   neighboring*   villages   for   their  attendance,    to 
which  all  gave  a  ready  response.  When  assembled,  as  many 
as  could  conveniently,  would  kneel  in  a  close  circle  around  the 
grave,  both  men  and  women;  then   drawing  their   blankets 
over  their  heads  would  commence  a  wailing  cry  in   different 
tones  of  voice,  which,  though  evident  to  a  sensitive  ear  that 
the  rules  of  harmony  had  been  greatly  overlooked,    produced 
a  solemnity  of  feeling  that  was  indescribable,    to  which   also 
the  surroundings  but  added  to  the  novelty  of  the   scene;  for 
here  and  there,  in  detached  little  groups,   were  seated   upon 
the  ground  many  others,  who   in  solemn  demeanor   chatted 
in  a  low  tone  of  voice  and    smoked  the  indispensible  pipe; 
while  innumerable  children  of  all  ages  and  sexes,  engaged  in 
their  juvenile  sports  and  in   thoughtless   glee   mingled   their 
happy  voices  with  the  sad  dirge  of  their   seniors;   which   ad 
ded  to  the  barking  of  a  hundred  dogs  intermingling  with   the 
tinkling  chimes  of  the  little  bells  that  were   suspended  upon 
the  necks  of  as  many  ponies,  made  a   scene  baffling  all  des 
cription.     At   different  intervals,   one,   sometimes  three 'or 
four  together,  would  arise  from  the  circle  of  mourners,   qui 
etly  walk  away  and  join  some  one   of  the  many  little   groups 
seated  around,  while  the  vacancy  in  the  mourning  circle  was 
im mediately  filled  by  others,   who   promptly   came  forward, 
knelt,  drew  their  blankets  over  their  heads,  and  took  up  the 
mournful  strain;  and   thus   for   several  days  and  nights,  the 
wailing  voices  of  the  mourners,  the  gleeful  shouts  of  thought 
less   yet   innocent  and   happy    childhood;   the   howling  and 
barking  of  innumerable  dogs,  and  the  tinkling  of   the    pony- 
bells  of  every  tone  imaginable,  in  all  of  which  dissonance  was 
a  prominent  feature,  was  heard  for  miles  away   through   the 
surrounding  forests,  echoing   a  wild,  discordant  note,   more 
incomprehensible  than  the  united  voices  of  a  thousand  of  the 
different  denizens  of  the  wilderness,  of   wrhich   no   one,   who 


204  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

has  not  been  an  eye  witness,  can  form  even  the  most  remote 
conception.  If  alone  in  the  silent  gloom  of  the  wilderness, 
the  boldest  heart  would  quail,  and  the  strongest  nerve  relax, 
unless  the  course  and  meaning-  were  known  and  understood; 
for  he  could  but  believe  that  all  the  lost  spirits  of  the  lower 
world  had  left  their  dark  and  dismal  abodes,  ascended  to 
earth,  and,  in  one  mystic  concert,  brayed  the  fearful  discord. 
More  than  once  have  I  witnessed  the  scene  and  heard  the 
Availing  thereof.  Oft,  in  the  calm  still  hours  of  a  starry  night, 
have  I  heard  the  dubious  tones  of  a  distant  Choctaw  Indian 
cry,  and  as  the  disconnected  sounds,  borne  upon  the  night 
breeze,  floated  by  in  undulating  tones,  now  plainly  audible, 
then  dying  away  in  the  distance,  I  must  confess  there  was  a 
strange  sadness  awakened  in  my  breast,  unfelt  and  unknown 
before  or  since.  It  must  be  heard  to  be  comprehended. 
When  the  time  for  the  cry  had  expired,  the  mourning  was 
exchanged  for  a  previously  prepared  feast;  after  the  enjoy 
ments  afforded  in  the  participation  of  which,  all  joined  in  a 
jolly  dance;  thus  happily  restoring  the  equilibrium  so  long 
physically  and  mentally  disturbed.  Then  each  to  his  home 
returned,  while  the  name  of  the  departed  was  recorded 
among  the  archives  of  the  past,— to  be  mentioned  no  more. 

The  relatives  of  the  deceased,  who  lived  at  too  great  a 
distance  to  conveniently  to  cry  over  the  grave  of  the  dead 
set  up  a  post  a  short  distance  from  the  house,  around  which 
they  gathered  and  cried  •  alternately  during  a  period  of 
twelve  months.  Such  were  some  of  the  ancient  characteris 
tics  of  this  peculiar 'but  interesting  people  of  the  long  ago, 
most  of  which,  however,  have  long  since  been  abandoned  and 
numbered  with  the  things  of  yore. 

The  faces  of  the-Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  men  of  sixty 
years  ago  were  as  smooth  as  a  woman's,  in  fact  they  had  no 
beard.  Sometimes  there  might  be  seen  a  few  tine  hairs  (if 
hairs  they  might  be  called)  here  and  there  upon  the  face, 
but  they  were  few  and  far  between,  and  extracted  with  a 
pair  of  small  tweezers  whenever  discovered.  Oft  have  I  seen 
a  Choctaw  warrior  standing  before  a  mirror  seek'ng  with 
untiring  perseverance  and  unwearied  eyes,  as  he  turned  his 
face  at  different  angles  to  the  glass,  if  by  chance  a  hair  could 
be  found  lurking  there,  which,  if  discovered,  was  instantly 
removed  as  an  unwelcome  intruder.  Even  to-day,  a  full- 
blood  Choctaw  or  Chickasaw  with  a  heavy  beard  is  never 
seen.  I  have  seen  a  few,  here  and  there,  with  a  little  patch 
of  beard  upon  their  chins,  but  it  was  thin  and  short,  and 
with  good  reasons  to  suspect  that  white  blood  flowed  in  their 
veins. 

It  is  a  truth  but  little  known  .among   the  whites,  that  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  205 

North  American  Indians  of  untarnished  blood  have  no  hair 
upon  any  part  of  the^body  except  the  head.  My  knowledge 
of  this  peculiarity  was  confined,*  however,  to  the  Choctaws 
and  Chickasaws  alone.  But  in  conversation  with  an  aged 
Choctaw  friend  upon  this  subject,  and  inquiring"  if  this 
peculiarity  extended  to  all  Indians,  he  replied;  "To  all,  I 
believe.  I  have  been  among-  the  Comanches,  Kiowa's  and 
other  western  Indians,  and  have  often  seen  them  bathing, 
men  and  women,  promiscuously  together,  in  the  rivers  of 
their  country,  and  found  it  was  the  same  with  them,  their 
heads  alone  were  adorned  with  hair." 

In  conversation  soon  after  with  a  Creek  friend  upon  the 
subject  in  regard  to  the  full-blood  Creeks,  he  said,  "They  have 
no  hair  whatever  upon  the  body,  except  that  of  the  head,  and 
the  same  is  the  case  with  all  full-bloods  that  I  have  seen  of 
other  tribes."  It  is  also  the  testimony^of  all  the  early  ex 
plorers  of  this  continent. 

In  their  ancient  councils  and  great  national  assemblies, 
the  Choctaws 'always  observed  the  utmost  order  arid  decorum, 
which,  however,  is  universally  characteristic  of  the  Indians 
everywhere.  In  those  grave  and  imposing  deliberations  of 
years  ag-o  convened  at  night,  all  sat  on  the  ground  in  a  circle 
around  a  blazing  fire  called  "The  Council  Fire."  The  aged, 
who  from  decrepitude  had  long  retired  from  the  scenes  of 
active  life,  the  war-path  and  the  chase,  formed  the  inner 
circle;  the  middle  aged  warriors,  the  next  and  the  young 
warriors,  the  outer  circle.  The  women  and  children  were 
always  excluded  from  all  their  national  assemblies.  The  old 
men,  beginning  with  the  oldest  patriarch,  would  then  in 
regular  succession  state  to  the  attentive  audience  all  that  had 
been  told  them  by  their  fathers,  and  what  they  themselves 
had  learned  in  the  experience  of  an  eventful'  life — the  past 
history  of  their  nation;  their  vicissitudes  and  changes;  what 
difficulties  they  had  encountered,  and  how  overcome;  their 
various  successes  in  war  and  their  defeats;  the  character  and  ' 
kind  of  enemies  whom  they  had  defeated  and  by  whom  they 
had  been  defeated,  the  mighty  deeds  of  their  renowned 
chiefs  and  famous  warriors  in  days  past,  together  with  their 
own  achivements  both  in  war  and  the  chase;  their  nation's 
days  of  prosperity  and  adversity;  in  short;  all  of  their  tradi 
tions  and  legends  handed  down  to  them  through  :the  suc 
cessive  generations  of  ages  past;  and  when  those  old  seers 
and  patriarchs,  oracles  of  the  past,  had  in  their  turn  gone  to 
dwell  with  their  fathers  in  the  Spirit  Land,  and  their  voices 
were  no  longer  heard  in  wise  counsel,  the  next  oldest 
occupied  the  chairs  of  state,  and  in  turn  rehearsed  to  their 
young  braves  the  traditions  of  the  past,  as  related  to  them 


206  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

by  the  former  sages  of  their  tribe,  together  with  their  own 
knowledge;  and  thus  were  handed  down  through  a  long  line 
•of  successive  generations,  and  with  much  accuracy  and 
truth,  the  events  of  their  past  history;  and  when  we  consider 
the  extent  to  which  all  Indians  cultivated  that  one  faculty, 
memory,  their  connections  in  the  history  of  the  past  is  not 
so  astonishing.  I  will  here  relate  a  little  incident  (frequently 
published)  in  the  life  of  the  famous  Indian  chief,  Red  Jacket, 
as  an  evidence  of  strength  and  correctness  of  the  Indian's 
memory.  It  is  said  of  Red  Jacket,  that  he  never  forgot  any 
thing  he  once  learned.  On  a  certain  occasion,  a  dispute 
arose  in  a  council  with  his  tribe  and  the  whites,  concerning 
the  stipulations  made  and  agreed  upon  in  a  certain  treaty. 
"You  have  forgotten,"  said  the  agent,  "we  have  it  written  on 
paper."  "The  paper  then  tells  a  lie,"  replied  Red  Jacket. 
"I  have  it. written  down  here,"  he  added,  placing  his  hand 
with  great  dignity  on  his  brow.  "This  is  the  book  the  Great 
Spirit  has  given  the  Indian;  it  does  not  lie."  A  reference 
was  immediately  made  to  the  treaty  in  question,  when,  to  the 
astonishment  of  all  present,  the  document  confirmed  every 
word  the  unlettered  warrior  and  statesman  had  utttered. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  a  large  majority  of  their 
traditions  are  based  upon  truth;  though  passing  as  they  have 
through  so  long  a  period  of  time,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  many  errors  have  crept  in. 

But  one  has  given  his  opinion,  on  page  92  of  his  "History 
of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  North  America,"  in  the  following 
positive  and  presumptuous  assertion,  though  his  apparent 
ignorance  of  all  the  characteristics  (well  known  to  the  thous 
ands  of  the  White  Race  who  have  lived  among  them  and 
studied  them  a  long  life-time)  of  the  North  American  Indians 
so  plainly  manifested  throughout  his  entire  work,  entitles 
his  assumed  learned  opinion  regarding  the  truth  or  untruth 
of  the  traditions  of  the  North  American  Indians,  or  anything 
else  concerning  that  people,  to  but  little,  if  any,  credit.  He 
boldly  asserts,  with  a  seemingly  great  indifference  as  re 
gards  its  truth,  that  "Nothing  can  be  more  uncertain,  and 
more  unworthy,  we  will  not  say  of  credit,  but  of  consid 
eration,  than  their  (the  Indians')  earlier  traditions;  and 
probably  there  is  not  a  single  fact  in  all  their  history,  sup 
ported  by  satisfactory  evidence,  which  occurred  half  a  cen 
tury  previous  to  the  establishment  of  the  Europeans." 
Though  all  admit  that  the  voices  of  tradition  coming  from 
all  Nations — even  from  our  own  ancestors,  the  Britons — are 
enshrouded,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  in  dense  and  dubious 
fogs,  and  become  more  dim  and  distant  as  we  go  further 
.back  into  the  past.  Yet  that  does  not  necessarily  bring  even 


HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS  207 

-the  traditions  of  the  North  American  Indians  under  his  edict, 
"Nothing  can  be  more  uncertain,  and  more  unworthy,  we 
will  not  say  of  credit,  but  of  consideration,  than  their  tra 
ditions, "as  here  comes  to  our  aid  modern  Oriental  Discovery, 
with  records  engraven  on  rocks  and  stamped  on  bricks — 
records  contemporary  with  the  events,  and  in  all  cases  inde 
pendent  of  the  modern  authority — since  the  records  have 
been  hidden  from  the  eyes  of  both  the  believer  and  disbe 
liever.  Inscriptions  are  disclosed,  in  languages  now  dead, 
in  characters  long-  forgotten,  and  to  which  every  key  had 
been  apparently  lost.  Ancient  cities  and  countries,  Thebes, 
Ninevah,  Pompeii,  Balbee,  Babylon,  Jerusalem  and  Egypt 
rise  to  testify  and  confirm  the  credit  of  many  of  tne  tra- 
ditons,  fables  and  legends  of  the  Old  World.  And  so  also, 
from  the  buried  past  of  the  New  World,  hundreds  of  wit 
nesses  have  already  been  summoned,  and  are  still  being 
summoned,  that  confirm  the  credit  of  the  traditions  and 
legends  of  the  North  American  Indians,  and  to  which  they 
pointed  back  through  the  long  vista  of  ages  past,  ere  the 
Indians  were  known  to  the  White  Race,  and  give  the  merited 
contradiction  to  the  assertion  that  their  traditions  "merit 
not  even  consideration." 

An  ancient  Choctaw  tradition  attributes  the  origin  of  the 
prairies  along  the  western  banks  of  the  Tombigbee  River,  to 
some  huge  animals  (mammoths)  that  existed  there  at  the 
advent  of  their  ancestors  from  the  west  to  Mississippi. 
Their  tradition  also  states  that  the  Nahullo,  (Supernatural) 
a  race  of  giant  people,  also  inhabited  the  same  country, 
•with  whom  their  forefathers  oft  came  in  hostile  contact. 
These  mighty  animals  broke  off  the  low  limbs  of  the  trees  in 
eating  the  leaves,  and  also  gnawed"  the  bark  off  the  trees, 
which,  in  the  course  of  time,  caused  them  to  wither  and  die; 
that  they  roamed  in  different  bands,  which  engaged  in  des 
perate  battles  whenever  and  wherever  they  met,  and  thus 
caused  them  to  rapidly  decrease  in  numbers;  and  that,  in  the 
course  of  years  all  had  perished  but  two  large  males,  who, 
separate  and  alone,  wandered  about  for  several  years — each 
confining  himself  to  the  solitude  of  the  forest  many  miles 
from  the  other.  Finally,  in  their  wanderings  they  met,  and 
at  once  engaged  in  terrible  conflict  in  which  one  was  killed. 
The  survivor,  now  monarch  of  the  forests,  strolled  about  for 
a  fewxyears  wrapt  in  the  solitude  of  his  own  reflections  and 
independence — then  died,  and  with  him  the  race  became 
extinct. 

That  the  Choctaw  traditions  of  both  the  mammoth  and 
great  men,  was  based  on  truth  as  to  their  former  existence^ 
.in  the  southern  and  western  parts  of  this  continent  is  satis^ 


208  HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS. 

factorily  established  by  the  many  mammoth  skeletons  of 
both  men  and  beasts  and  fragments  of  huge  bones  that  have 
been,  and  are  continually  being"  found  in  different  parts  of 
the  country,  and  all  of  whom,  according-  to  their  tradition 
were  contemporary  with  the  ancient  fathers  of  the  present 
Indian  race.  It  is  "well  known  that  the  ancient  existence  of 
those  giants  and  mammoth  was  wholly  unknown  to  the 
White  Race,  until  the  excavation  of  their  bones  proved  their 
former  existence;  yet  were  known  to  the  Indians  to  have 
existed  and  so  declared;  but  which  was  regarded  by  the 
whites  as  only  an  Indian  fable,  unworthy  of  belief  or  even  a 
second  thought.  A  huge  skeleton  of  one  of  those  ancient 
animals  was  found  in  March,  1877,  four  miles  east  of  the 
town  of  Greenville,  Hunt  county,  Texas.  I  secured  a  frag 
ment  of  the  skeleton,  evidently  a  part  of  the  femoral  bone, 
which  measured  twenty-one  inches  in  circumference.  A 
tooth  measured  three  inches  in  width,  five  inches  in  length 
along  the  surface  of  the  jaw  bone  and  five  inches  in  depth 
into  the  jaw,  and  weighed  the  seemingly  incredible  weight 
of  eleven  pounds.  The  teeth  proved  the  monster  herbifer- 
ous,  the  anamel  of  which  was  in  a  perfect  -state  of  preserva 
tion.  The  greater  part  of  the  frame  crumbled  to  dust,  as 
soon  as  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  air. 

Here  then  it  had  found  a  burial  place,  among-  others  of 
'the  prehistoric  population  of  the  various  animals  which  held 
possession  of  this  continent  before,  perhaps,  tlie  advent  of 
man,  rising  up  before  us  like  some  old  granite  dome,  weather- 
beaten  and  darkened  by  the  lapse  of  ages  past.  But  death 
came  to  it,  as  to  its  predecessors,  whose  cemeteries  time  has 
opened  here  and  there,  and  revealed  to  the  scrutiny  of  the 
curious,  the  testimony  of  vanished  age .  Many  citizens  of  the 
immediate  neighborhood  visited  the  place  of  disinterment, 
and  viewed  the  solitary  grave  and  looked  with  wondering  in 
terest  upon  this  stranger  of  hoary  antiquity  arising-  from  his 
forest  tomb  where  he  has  so  long  slept  in  silence,  unknown 
and  unsung;  whose  history,  as  that  of  his  mighty  race,  is 
wrapt  in  the  eternal  silence  of  the  unknown  past.  Yet,  to 
one  who  seeks  to  muse  o'er  the  mysteries  of  the  unwritten 
long  ago,  this  fossil  tells  a  story  of  the  mystic  days  of  yore 
and  of  the  multiplied  thousands  of  years  since  old  Mother 
Earth  commenced  to  bear  and  then  destroy  her  children. 

Ah,  could  the  records  of  the  ages  to  which  they  point  be 
restored,  how  many  doubts  and  problems  would  be  solved? 
But  they  only  tantalize  us  by  their  near  approach  and  uddi- 
minished  inscrutableness,  while  imagination  shrinks  from 
the  comtemplation  of  the  intervening-  years  between.  Yet, 
from  those  relics  of  the  ages  past,  an  unlimited  field  for  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  209 

imagination   is   open     to  view,    which   many    thinkers   have 
attempted  to  explore  only  to  find  themselves  utterly  lost. 

"Hupimmi  hattak  tikba  a  mintih  hushi  aiokatula"  (our 
,  forefathers  came  from  the  west),  declare  the  ancient  Choc- 
taws  through  their  tradition,  and  "they  saw  the  mighty 
beasts  of  the  forests,  whose  tread  shook  the  earth;  but  our 
forefathers'  ancestry  came  from  the  northwest  beyond  the 
the  big  water." 

'"Tis  but  the  tradition  of  the  ignorant  Indian — a  foolish 
fable,"  responded  he  of  the  pale-face,  of  boasted  historical 
attainments-  When  lo!  accident  unearths  the  long  hidden 
monster  of  traditional  record,  and  the  truth  of  the  rejected 
declaration  of  the  despised  Indian  is  established,  and 
with  equal  truth  establishing  the  fact  that,  mid  all 
our  boasted  ancient  pedigree,  theirs  is  more  ancient,  and 
perhaps  more  honorable,  reaching  back  through  the  vista  of 
pre-historic  times  to  the" dim  and  hazy  regions  of  ages  past 
and  unknown. 

Also  of  the  tradition  of  the  Choctaws  which  told  of  a  race 
of  giants  that  once   inhabited  the    now   State   of   Tennessee, 
and  with  whom  their  ancestors  fought  when    they   arrived  in 
Mississippi  in  their  migration  from  the  west,    doubtless   Old 
Mexico.     Their  tradition  states  the  Nahullo  (race   of  giants) 
was  of  wonderful  stature;  but,  as  their  tradition  of  the   mas 
todon,   so   this     was    also   considered   to    be     but   a  foolish 
fable,   the    creature   of   a   wild   imagination,   when   lo!   their 
exhumed  bones  again  prove  the  truth  of  the  Choctaws'  tradi 
tion.     In  the  fall  of  1880,  Mr.  William  Bevtrly,  an  old  gentle 
man  84  years  of  age  living  near   Piano,  Collin  County,  Texas, 
and  who  was  born  in  west  Tennessee  and  there  live'd  to  man 
hood,  stated  to  me  that  near   his   father's   house   on   a   small 
creek  were  twenty-one  mounds  in  consecutive  order  forming 
a   crescent,    each     distant   from    the   other   about   fifty   feet 
~and    each    with   a   base   of   seventy-five    or     eighty   feet    in 
diameter,  and  rising  to  an  average  height  of  forty  feet;   that 
he,  when  a  boy  twelve  years   of   age,   was   present  with   his 
father,  when  an  excavation  was  made  in  one  of  the  moundjTin 
which  human  bones  of  enormous  size  were  found,  the  femoral 
bones  being  five  inches  longer  than  the  ordinary  length,  and 
the  jaw  bones  were  so  large  as  to  slip  over  the  face  of  a   man 
with   ease.     This    statement   was   confirmed   by    Rev.    Mr. 
Rudolph  of  McKinney,  Texas,  and  several  others,  all  men  of 
undoubted  veracity,   which   places   the  truth    of   the  former 
existence  of  the  mounds,  their   excavations   and    results,   as 
well  as  the   Choctaw   tradition,    beyond   all   doubt   and   even 
controversy. 

In  regard  to  the  race  of  giants   that1  once   occupied 'the 


210  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

now  State  of  Tennessee  and  mentioned  in  the  tradition  of  the 
ancient  Choctaws,  Mr.  H.  S.  Halbert,  an  esteemed  friend, 
says  in  a  letter  to  me,  January  22,  1878,  "I  will  give  you  some 
facts  which  modern  researches  have  thrown  upon  the 
ancient  occupancy  of  this  continent,  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
of\the  United  States  stretching-  from  the  coast  of  North 
Carolina  up  to  and  through  New  England.  I  refer  particu 
larly  to  the  seaboard . 

"I  am  satisfied  that  the  Indian  race  were  in  occupancy  of 
this  seaboard  region  only  about  200  years  before  the  discov 
ery  of  America  in  1492,  I  give  the  reasons: 

-1* About  the  year  1000,  A.  D.  (I  quote  the  date  from 
memory,  not  having  the  authories  before  me)  the  Northmen 
discovered  America  and  made  some  settlements  on  the  New 
England  coast.  All  this,  as  you  know,  is  historical.  The 
Northmen  there  came  in  contact  with  a  people  whom  they 
called  Skrellings.  Now  these  Skrellings,  from  the  descrip 
tion  given  by  them  were  not  Indians,  but  Esquimaux.  They 
were  the  same  kind  of  people  the  Northmen  had  previously 
met  in  Greenland  and  whom  they  called  also  Skrellings,  or 
rather  Skraellinger.  This  is  plain  proof  that  500  years  be 
fore  Columbus,  the  Esquimaux  race  was  inhabiting  the  sea 
board  of  New  England  and  not  the  Indians. 

"Again,  the  Tuscarora  Indians,  now  living  in  Canada, 
but  formerly  from  North  Carolina,  state  in  their  traditions 
that  they  came  from  the  west  and  settled  on  the  North  Caro 
lina  seaboard  about  the  year  A.  D.  1300.  Their  traditions 
also  state  that  they  came  in  contact  with  a  people  of  short 
steiture,  ignorant  of  maize  and  eaters  of  raw  flesh. 

"Now  to  whom  does  this  description  apply  but  to  the 
Esquimaux?  Thirdly,  relics  have  been  discovered — imple 
ments  of  various  kinds,  along  the  seaboard  exactly  similar  to 
those  used  by  the  Esquimaux  of  the  present  day.  All  this 
is  plain  proof  to  my  mind,  that  the  Esquimaux  once  inhabited 
the  Atlantic  seaboard  as  far  south  as  North  Carolina,  and 
that  they  were  pushed  northward  by  the  influx  of  the  incom 
ing  Indian  tribes;  and  that- the  Indian  had  not  been  settled 
but  for  comparatively  a  short  period  in  this  seaboard  at  the 
time  of  Columbus'  discovery.  The  Mound  Builders  seemed 
to  have  never  occupied  this  seaboard  stretching  from  North 
Carolina  upward.  Now  as  to  the  Delaware  tradition. 

"The  Delawares,  or  Leni  L/enape  as  thev  style  them 
selves  in  their  native  tongue,  have  a  tradition  that  they  came 
from  the  west.  When  they  came  to  the  Great  River, 
perhaps,  somewhere  in  the  latitude  of  St.  Louis,  they 
found  a  people  of  tall  stature,  and  living-  in  towns.  This 


HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS.  211 

people  the  Delawares  called  Allegewi.  They  asked 
the  Allegewi  for  permission  to  cross  the  river,  which  was 
granted.  The  Alleg-ewi,  however,  seeing  the  Indians  con 
stantly  coming  from  the  west  in  such  large  numbers, 
and  fearing  they  would  ultimately  dispossess  them  of  their 
country,  commenced  war  upon  them.  After  years  of  fight 
ing,  the  Allegewi  were  defeated  and  driven  out  of  their 
country — retreating  southward,  and  the  Delawares  and  other 
tribes  took  possession  of  their  country.  Now  these  Allegewi 
are  without  doubt  the  same  stock  of  people  spoken  of  in  Choc- 
taw  tradition  as  the  Nahoolo." 

The  word  Nahoolo  is  a  corruption  of  the  Choctaw  word 
Nahullo  and  is  now  applied  to  the  entire  White  Race,  but 
anciently  it  referred  to  a  giant  race  with  whom  they  came  in 
contact  when  they  first  crossed  the  Mississippi  river.  These 
giants,  says  their  tradition,  as  related  to  the  missionaries 
occupied  the  northern  part  of  the  now  States  of  Mississippi 
and  Alabama  and  the  western  part  of  Tennessee.  The  true 
signification  of  the  word  Nahullo  is  a  superhuman  or  super 
natural  being,  and  the  true  words  for  white  man  are  Hattak- 
tohbi.  The  Nahullo  were  of  white  complexion,  according  to 
Choctaw  tradition,  and  were  still  an  existing  people  at  the 
time  of  the  advent  of  the  Choctaws  to  Mississippi;  that  they 
were  a  hunting  people  and  also  cannibals,  who  killed  and 
ate  the  Indians  whenever  they  could  capture  them,  conse 
quently  the  Nahullo  were  held  in  great  dread  by  the  Indians 
and  were  killed  by  them  whenever  an  opportunity  was 
presented;  by  what  means  they  finally  became  extinct,  tradi 
tion  is  silent. 

"Chemical  analysis  of  the  bones  of  this  giant  race  in 
Tennessee  and  elsewhere,"  says  Mr.  H.  S.  Halbert,  in  a 
letter  of  January  3rd,  1878,  "indicate  the  ravages  of  one  of 
the  most  terrible  diseases  to  which  flesh  is  heir.  Bones  ex 
humed  from  these  ancient  cemeteries  indicate  with  painful 
certainty  that  syphilis  was,  at  least,  one  cause  of  the  extinct 
ion  of  this  ancient  people.1  It  was  long  supposed  that  syph 
ilis  was  imported  into  this  continent  by  the  European  race. 
That  may  have  been  the  case,  in  the  historical  period,  but  I 
have  no  doubt  it  prevailed  with  awful  fatality  among  that 
ancient  people,  who  -dominated  a  large  portion  of  this 
continent  before  the  advent  of  the  Indian  race.  - 

"Mr.  Grant  L/incicum,  (Dr.  Gideon  Lincicum,  with  whom 
I  was  personally  acquainted,  was  an  educated  white  man, 
who  came  to  the  Choctaw  Nation  after  the  advent  of  the  mis 
sionaries,  and  settled  at  Columbus,  then  a  small  place,  and 
afterwards  wrote  a  MS.  of  the  Choctaw  habits,  customs, 
traditions  and  legends,  which  has  been  lost)  "stated  that 


212  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

they  (the  Mound  Builders)  were,  according-  to  the  Choctaw 
tradition,  a  hunting-  people.  He  certainly  must  be  in  error 
on  this  point.  (Not  so;  Lincicum  used  the  pronoun  "they" 
with  reference  to  the  Nahullo,  and  not  to  the  Mound  Build 
ers,  of  whom  their  traditions  never  spoke).  Now  I  believe 
that  the  Mound  Builders  were  of  much  fairer  complexion 
than  the  Indian,  perhaps  almost,  if  not  quite,  as  fair  as  we, 
and  were  an  agricultural  people  also.  Disease  and  war  no 
doubt  were  the  main  causes  of  their  extinction.  Detached 
oifsliODts  of  them  may  have  amalgamated  with  the  Indian 
tribes,  and  thus  lost  their  physical  peculiarities,  but  at  the 
same  time  kept  up  with  their  tribal  organization.  The  Man- 
dan  Indians  (now  extinct)  are  supposed  to  have  been  a  de- 
g-enerate  and  amalgamated  offshoot  of  the  Mound  Builders,. 
ln--their  manners  and  customs  they  were  strikingly  differen. 
from  the  other  Indians.  I  have  no  doubt  but  the  researches 
of  antiquarians  in  some  manner,  to  us  yet  unknown,  will 
throw  much  light  upon  the  early  occupants  of  this  con 
tinent." 

Be  that  as  it  may,  I  still  believe  in  the  Choctaw  traditions 
—that  the  Nahulio  who  inhabited  North  Mississippi  and  Ala 
bama,  and  West  Tennessee,  were  "a  hunting  people,"  as 
they  have  left  no  trace  whatever  of  having  been  agricultur 
ists,  ad  the  unbroken  forests  of  majestic  trees  of  ages 
growth,  that  covered  the  land  everywhere  at  the  advent  the 
of  the  Europeans,  evidently  prove. 

Still  I  admit,  with  friend  Halbert,  that,  possibly  the  Al- 
legewi  of  Delaware  tradition  may  be  the  Nahulio  of  Choctaw 
tradition, — if  they  were  of  white  complexion,  as  the  word 
Nahulio  is  emphatically  applied  to  the  white  race  and  no 
other.  If  white,  may  they  not  be  of  the  Northmen,  who,  it 
is  said,  ''established  a  few  colonies  upon  the  Atlantic  coast 
A.  D.  1000.  ?"  Then,  if  the  North  American  Indians  are  not 
the  Mound  builders,  (which  has  not  yet  been  satisfactorily 
proved)  may  not  the  Northmen  be? 

Some  hate  believed  that  the  Nahulio  were  the  Carib 
Indians,  as  they  were  said  to  be  of  gigantic  stature  and  also 
cannibals,  and  who  once  inhabited  our  Gulf  coast.  The}' 
were  found  by  Columbus  in  the  West  Indies,  and  they  are 
still  found  in  the  isles  of  the  Caribbean  sea  and  Venezuela. 
The  early  French  writers  of  Louisiana  called  the  Caribs  by 
their  Indian  name  Attakapas,  and  Attakapas  Parish  in  Louis 
iana  took  its  name  from  that  tribe.  The  French  translated 
Attakapas,  Man-eater.  Attakapas  is  a  corruption  of  the 
Choctaw  words  Hattakapa,  (man  eatable)  which  they  (the 
French),  no  doubt,  got  from  the  Choctows,  who  gave  the 
tribe  that  name.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  Nahulio 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  213 

4 

of  the  Choctaw  tradition  were  not  regular  cannibals,  but  that 
they  sacrificed  human  victims  in  their  religious  ceremonies, 
which  in  extreme  cases  may,  perhaps,  have  required  their 
officiates  to  eat  a  portion  also  of  the  victim's  flesh.  The  same 
also  of  the  Caribs, — hence  Hattakapa,  (man  eatable)  instead 
of  Hattakupa,  eater. 

That  the  fore-fathers  of  the  present  Choctaws,  Chicka- 
sawrs,  Cherokees  and  Muscogees  migrated  ag-es  ago  from 
Mexico  to  their  ancien^abodes  east  of  the  Mississippi  river 
there  can  be  scarcely  a  doubt;  and  that  they  were  a  branch 
of  the  Aztecs  there  is  much  in  their  ancient  traditions  and 
leg'ends  upon  which  to  predicate,  at  least,  a  reasonable  sup 
position,  if  not  a  belief.  The  Aztecs  are  regarded  by  some 
asxthe  first  of  the  human  race  that  came  to  the  North  Amer 
ican  continent,  and  by  others  as  one  of  the  oldest  races  of  the 
human  family  upon  earth,  whose  records  and  traditions  point 
back  to  those  of  the  books  of  Genseis  and  Job .  Though 
the  historical  legends  of  the  above  named  tribes  do  not  divide 
the  ages  past  of  their  race  into  four  epochs  as  the  Aztecs,  as 
GamV  Dom  Yasco  Da,  the  Portuguese  mariner  and  discov 
erer  of  the  maritime  route  to  India  near  the  close  of  the  14th 
century,  asserts;  and  the  first  of  which  terminated  in  a  de 
struction  of  the  people  of  the  world  by  famine,  the  second  by 
wind,  the  third  by  fire,  and  the  fourth  by  water,  (very  simi 
lar  to  the  traditions  and  legends  of  the  Hindoos),  yet  they  do 
point  back  to  many  historical  facts  of  the  Christian's  Bible, 
which  have  been  handed  dowrii  by  tradition  through  ages  and 
point  to  great  and  important  events  of  the  long  past,  equally 
showing  that  their  race,  as  well  as  the  Aztecs,  are  among 
the  oldest  of  the  human  race,  and  also  among  the  first  that 
came  to  the  North  American  continent.  These  legends, 
traditions  and  parts  of  histories  point  back  to  pestilences, 
.  plagues  and  cataclysms  preceded  by  long  periods  of  dark 
ness,  then  dense  clouds  followed  by  the  return  of  light  to  the 
earth,  during  which  the  human  race  was  nearly  exterminated, 
which  are  fully  sustained  by  the  geologists  of  the  present 
clay,  who  affirm  that  there  has  been  an  age  of  thick  clouds 
and  of  floods,  snows  and  glacier  ice. 

The  Choctaws'  endurance  of  pain — even  to  excruciating 
torture — and  to  him  the  true  exponent  of  every  manly  virtue, 
was  equal  to  that  of  any  of  his  race  and  truly  astonishing  to 
behold;  and  he  who  could  endure  the  severest  torture7with 
the  least  outward  manifestation  of  suffering,  was  regarded 
by  his  companions  as  .most  worthy  of  admiration  and  adula 
tory  praise,  the  bravest  of  the  brave.  No  race  of  the  human 
family,  of  which  I  have  read  or  heard,  ever  endured  turture, 
without  a  murmur,  groan^or  sigh,  as  did  the  North  Ameri- 


214  ..  HISTORY   OF   THE  INDIANS. 

can  Indians  when  inflicted  by  an  enemy  to  elicit  a  groan  or 
sigh — to  them  a  manifestation  of  disgraceful  weakness; 
therefore,  both  men  and  women,  endured  the  fire  at  the 
stake,  or  to  be  cut  to  pieces  by  piece-meal,  without  any  mani 
festation  of  pain  whatever;  but  derided  their  tormentors  and 
mocked  at  their  efforts  to  force  even  a  groan  from  their  vic 
tim.  Of  all  the  animals  of  their  forests,  there  were  but  two 
that  no  torture  could  force  from  them  a  manifestation  of  pain 
—the  wolfe  and  the  opossum: 

Even  the  little  Choctaw  boys  took  delight  in  testing  the 
degrees  of  their  manhood  by  various  ways  of  inflicting"  pain.. 
I  have  often  seen  the  little  fellows  stir  up  the  nests  of  yellow 
jackets,  bumble-bees,  hornets  and  wasps,  and  then  stand 
over  the  nests  of  the  enraged  insects  which  soon  literally 
covered  them,  and  fight  them  with  a  switch  in  each  hand; 
and  he  who  stood  and  fought  longest  without  flinching — fore 
shadowed  the  future  man — was  worthy  'the  appellation  of 
Mighty  Warrior.  But  the  business  ends  of  the  hornets,, 
bees  and  wasps,  noted  for  their  dispatch  in  all  matters  of 
this  kind,  universally  effected  a  hasty  retreat  of  the  intrtider 
upon  their  domiciles,  sooner  or  later — much  to  the  delight  of 
his  youthful  companions  and  acknowledged  by  an  explosion 
of  yells  and  roars  of  laughter.  But  the  discomfitted  embryo 
warrior  consoled  himself  by  daring-  any  one  of  his  merry 
making  companions  to  "brave  the  lion  in  his  den,"  as  he  had 
and  endure  longer  than  he  did  the  combined  attacks  of  the 
valiant  little  enemy.  The  challenge  was  most  sure  to  be  ac 
cepted,  but  invariably  with  the  same  result,  a  retreat  at  the 
expense  of  a  hearty  laugh.  From  one  to  three  minutes  was 
the  average  length  of  a  battle,  the  insects  holding  the  field 
invariably.  I  have  also  seen  them  place  a  hot  coal  of  fire  on 
the  back  of  the  hand,  wrist  and  arm,  and  let  it  burn  for 
many  seconds — bearing  it  with  calm  composure  and  without 
the  least  manifestation  of  pain;  thus  practicing  those  first 
lessons  of  endurance  which  were  to  enable  them,  when  ar 
rived  to  manhood,  to  undergo  the  most  dreadful  tortures 
without  manifestation  of  pain,  or  experience  the  deepest 
sorrow  without  the  slightest  emotion.  Verily,  who  can  offer 
a  better  claim  than  the  North  American  Indian  to  the  title, 
"The  stoic  of  the  woods— the  man  without  a  tear?"  As  a 
race  of  people,  they  have  exhibited  a  power  of  enduring  the 
severest  torture  of  which  it  is  possible  to  conceive  without  a 
murmur,  without  a  groan,  or  even  the  movement  of  a  mus 
cle;  in  this  differing  from  all  Nations  of  people  that  have  ever 
been  known  to  exist.  A  few  years  ago,  in  the  Sherman  and 
Sheridan's  wars  of  exterminating-  the  unfortunate  and  help 
less  western  Indians,  it  is  stated  that,  during  a  fight  with 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  215 

y  9 

some  white  men.  who  had  made  an  attack  upon  an  Indian  vil 
lage  of  a  western  tribe,  an  Indian  mother  concealed  her  little 
daughter — a  mere  child — in  a  barrel,  telling  her  to  remain 
perfectly  quiet  no  matter  what  should  take  place.  After  the 
battle  the  soldiers  found  the  little  girl  with  her  arm  fearfully 
shattered  by  a  minnie  ball,  but  the  little  sufferer  had  not 
uttered  a  word.  Was  there  ever  recorded  of  any  other  Na 
tion  of  people  such  manifestations  of  heroic  fortitude? 

Patience  was  also  considered  among  the  Choctaws  a 
bright  and  manly  virtue  and  in  connection  with  that  of  en 
durance,  formed  the  basis  from  which  they  derived  all  the 
other  qualities  of  their  characters;  and  they  estimated  their 
success,  both  in  war  and  hunting,  as  depending  almost  *ex- 
clusively  upon  their  unwearied  patience  and  the  ability  of 
great  and  long  endurance. 

The  ancient  Choctaws  were  as  susceptible  to  all  the 
pleasing  emotions  produced  by  the  sweet  concords  of  sound 
as  any  other  people,  yet  their  musical  genius,  in  the  inven 
tion  of  musical  instruments,  never  extended  beyond  that  of 
a  cane  flute  and  a  small  drum,  which  was  constructed  from 
a  section  cut  from  a  small  hollow 'tree,  over  the  hollow  part 
of  which  was  stretched  a  fresh  deer  skin,  cleansed  from  the 
hair,  which  became  very  tight  when  dried;  and  when  'struck 
by  a  stick  made  a  dull  sound,  little  inferior  to  that  of  our 
common  snare-drum;  which  could  be  heard  at  a  considerable 
distance;  and  though  uncouth  in  appearance,  and  inharmo 
nious  in  tone,  as  all  drums,  still  its  "voice"  was  considered 
an  indispensable  adjunct  as  an  accompaniment  to  all  their 
national  and  religious  ceremonies;  even  as  the  ear-spl? Iting 
discords  of  the- civilized  snare  or  kettle-drum,  united  with 
the  deafening  roar  of  the  base  drum  are  considered  by  the 
white  man  as  indispensable  in  all  his  displays  of  harmonj'. 
Yet  the  ancient  Choctaw,  in  all  his  solemn  ceremonies,  as 
well  as  amusements  and  merry-makings,  did  not  depend  so 
much  upon  the  jarring  tones  of  the  diminutive  drum,  as  he 
did  upon  his  own  voice;  which  in  concert  with  the  monoto- 
,nous  tones  of  the  drum, — to  the  cultivated  and  sensitive  ear 
a  mere  jargon  of  sound, — was  to  the  Indian  ear  the  most  ex 
citing  music,  and  soon  wrought  him  to  the  highest  state  of 
excitement.  In  all  their  dances  they  invariably  danced  to 
the  sound  of  the  indispensable  drum,  accompanied  with  the 
low'hum  of  the  drummer,  keeping  exact  step  with  its  mo 
notonous  tone.  In  the  social  dance  alone  were  the  women 
permitted  to  participate,  which  to  the  youthful  maiden  of 
"sweet  sixteen,"  was  truly  the  ultimatum  of  earthly  bliss. 

But  little  restraint,  parental  or  otherwise,  was  placed 
upon  their  children,  hence  they  indulged  in  any  and  all 


216  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

i  ,  * 

amusements  their  fancy  might  suggest.  The  boys  in  little 
bands  roamed  from  village  to  village  at  their  own  pleasure, 
or  strolled  through  the  woods  with  their  blow-guns  and  bow 
and  arrows,  trying  their  skill  upon  all  birds  and  squirrels 
that  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  come  in  their  way.  They  were 
but  little  acquainted  with  the  principles  of  right  and  wrong, 
having  only  as  their  models  the  daring  deeds  of  their  fathers 
in  war  and  the  chase,  they  only  yearned  for  the  time  when 
they  might  emulate  them  in  heroic  achievements  ;  and  one 
would  very  naturally  infer  that  these  boys,  ignorant  of  all 
restraint  from  youth  to  manhood,  would  have  been,  when 
arrived  to  manhood,  a  set  of  desperadoes,  indulging  in  every 
vi<?e  and  committing  every  crime.  But  not  so.  No  race  of 
young  people  ever  grew  up  to  manhood  in  any  nation  who 
were  of  a  more  quiet  nature  and 'peaceful  dispositions  than 
the  youths  of  the  old  Mississippi  Choctaws.  They  seldom 
quarreled  among  themselves  even  in  boyhood,  and  less,  when 
arrived  to  the  state  of  manhood.  To  them  in  youth  as  well 
as  in  advanced  years,  as  to  all  of  their  race,  the  dearest  of  all 
their  earthly  possessions  from  childhood  to  manhood,  from 
manhood  to  old  age,  and  from  old  age  to  the  grave,  was  their 
entire  and  unrestrained  freedom;  and  though  untrammeled  by 
mortal  restraint,  yet  there  seemed  to  exist  in  their  own 
breasts  a  restraining  influence,  a  counteracting  power,  that 
checked  the  ungoverned  passions  of  their  uncultivated  na 
tures  through  life,  and  kept  them  more  within  the  bounds  of 
prudence  and  reason,  than  any  race  of  uneducated  people  I 
ever  knew. 

Among-  every  North  American  Indian  tribe  from  their 
earliest  known  history  down  to  the  present,  -there  was  and  is 
a  universal  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  God,  and  Supreme 
Being,  universally  known  among-  all  Indians  as  the  Great 
Spirit;  and  with  whose  attributes  were  associated  all  the 
various  manifestations  of.  natural  phenomena;  and  in  point  of 
due  respect  and  true  devotion  to  this  Great  Spirit — their 
acknowledged  God — they  as  a  whole  to-day  excel,  and  ever 
have  excelled,  the  whites'  in  their  due  respect  and  true  devo 
tion  to  their  acknowledged  God.  Never  was  an  Indian  known 
to  deny  the  existence  of  his  God — the  Great  Spirit — and 
attribute  the  creation  of  all  things,  himself  included,  to 
chance.  Never  was  a  North  American  Indian  known  to  deny 
the  wisdom  and  power  of  the  Great  Spirit  as  manifested  iii 
the  creation  of  an  intellectual  and  immortal  being,  yet  found 
and  acknowledged  it  in  the  monkey. 

Never  was  an  Indian  known  to  deny  his  immortality 
bestowed  upon  him  by  the  Great  Spirit.  "  Immortality,  that 
most  sublime  thought  in  all  the  annals  of  fallen  humanity, 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

has  ever  found  a  resting  place  immovably  fixed  in  every 
Indian's  heart,  not  one  excepted;andunderitsbenigninfluence, 
their  uncultivated  minds  have  expanded  and  shadows  of 
death  been  disarmed  o.f  terror;  and  though,  through  all  the 
ages  past  has  been  heard  the  inquiry — "Is  there  a  latent 
spark  in  the  human  breast  that  will  kindle  and  glow  after 
death?"  and  though  earth's  learned  of  all  time  have  pondered 
over  it,  and  pronounced  it  the  world's  enigma,  and  affirmed 
and  still  affirm,  death  to  be  the  end  of  all,  eternal  oblivion,  an 
endless  sleep,  yet  the  unlettered  children  of  nature,  the 
despised,  down-trodden  Indians,  have  lo'ng  had  the  problem 
solved  to  their  own  satisfaction  and  peace  of  mind,  never 
experiencing-  a  doubt. 

To  the  Choctaws,  as  well  as  to  all  Indians,  the  voice  of 
the  distant  muttering  thunder  that  echoed  from  hill  to  hill 
through  their  wide  extended  forests;  the  roaring  wind  and 
lightning  flash  that  heralded  the  approaching  storm,  were 
but  the  voice  of  that  Great  Spirit,  and  they  made  them  the 
themes  that  filled  their  souls  with  song  and  praise.  They 
ever  heard  the  voice  of  that  unseen  Great  Spirit  throughout 
.all  nature — in  the  rustling  leaf  and  the  sighing  breeze;  in  the 
roaring  cataract  and  the  murmuring  brook;  and  they  ex 
pressed  their  souls'  adoration;  understood  and  comprehend 
ed  by  them  alone,  in  their  songs  and  dances.  To  them  all 
nature  ever  spoke  in  lang'uage  most  potential,  and  their  im 
mortality  and  future  existence  in  another  world  they  never 
doubted,  though  their  ideas  of  future  rewards  and  punish 
ments  beyond  the  tomb  were  feeble  and  confused. 

It  was  their  ancient  custom  to  leave  the  murderer  in  the 
hands  of  the  murdered  man's  relatives  and  friends;  and,  .as 
"an  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth"  was  recorded 
.upon  their  statute  book,  he  was,  sooner  or  later,  most  sure  to 
fall  by  an  unknown. "and  unseen  hand.  Sometimes,  however, 
the  slayer,  appeased  the  avenger  by  paying  a  stipulated 
amount;  buk  this  was  of  rarex occurrence.  Soon  after  the 
missionarieiffcwere  established  among  them,  a  company,  of 
armed  ar:d  ntounted  police,  called  "Light  Horse  Men,"  .were 
organized  for -'each  district,  in  whom  was  vested  the  power 
of  arresting  and  trying  all  violators  of  the  law.  They  were 
continually  riding  over  the  country  settling  all  difficulties 
that  arose  among  parties  or  individuals,  and  arresting  all 
violators  of  the  law.  The  custom  of  leaving  the  murderer  to 
be  disposed  of  as  the  relatives  of  the  deceased  saw  proper, 
was  then  set  aside,  and  the  right  of  trial  by  the  Light  Horse 
who  acted  in  a  three  fold  capacity — sheriff,  judge  and  jury, 
was  awarded  to  all  offenders.  The  Light  Horse  were  com 
posed  of  a  brave  and  vigilant  set  of  fellows,  and  nothing  es- 


218  PISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

caped  their  eagle  eyes;  and  they  soon  became  a  terror  to 
white  whiskey  peddlers  who  invaded  the  Choctaw  territories 
at  that  time.  When  caug'ht,  the  whiskey  was  poured  upon 
the  ground  and  the  vender  informed  that  his  room  was  pre 
ferable  to  his  company. 

When  a  murder  was  committed,  the  Light  Horse  at  once 
took  the  matter  into  consideration,  and  after  hearing1  all  the 
testimony  pro  and  con,  pronounced  the  verdict  in  accordance 
thereto.  If  the  person  accused  was  found  to  be  guilty,  there 
and  then,  the  time  and  place  of  his  execution  was  designated, 
and  the  doomed  man  was  informed  that  his  presence  would 
accordingly  be  expected.  He  never  failed  to  make  his  ap 
pearance  at  the  appointed  place  and  hour,  and  all  things  be 
ing  ready,  a  small  red  spot  was  painted  directly  over  his 
heart  as  a  target  for  the  executioner;  and,  being  placed  in 
position,  calmly  received  the  fatal  bullet,  soon  the  grave 
closed  over  him  and  thus  the  matter  ended.  Sometimes  the 
condemned  would  request  a  short  respite,  a  few  days  exten 
sion  of  time,  assigning  as  a  reason  for  the  desired  delay,  that 
a  grand  ball-play,  dance  or  hunt,  was  soon  to  take  place,  in 
which  he  desired  to  participate,  and  as  it  did  not  take  place 
until  after  the  appointed  day  of  his  execution,  he  requested 
the  favor  of  postponing  his  little  affair  until  afterward.  The 
request  was  seldom  refused.  The  doomed  man  then  desig 
nated  the  day  and  hour  on  which  he  would  return  and  attend 
to  the  matter  under  consideration.  He  went  to  the  ball-play, 
the  dance,  or  the  hunt,  engaged  in  and  enjoyed  his  anticipated 
fun,  then  returned  true  to  his,  promised  word  and  paid  the 
penalty  of  the  violated  law,  by  calmly  receiving  the  fatal  shot. 
The  rifle  was  invariably  used  as  the  instrument  of  execution, 
for  the  soul  of  the  Choctaw  who  had  been  executed  by  hang 
ing  was  regarded  as  accursed — never  being  permitted  to 
join  his  people  in  the  happy  hunting  grounds,  but  his  spirit 
must  forever  haunt  the  place  where  he  was  hung.  Hence 
their  horror  of  death  by  hanging,  and  the  gallows  has  ever 
been  unknown  among  them.  If  the  condemned-should  fail  to 
appear,  which  was  never  known  to  be,  at  the  time  and  place 
of  his  execution,  or  should  manifest  any  emotion  of  fear  dur 
ing  his  execution,  it  was  regarded  as  a  disgrace  to  himself,  his 
relatives, and  his  nation  as  a  Choctaw  warrior, which  110  length 
of  time  could  ever  efface;  hence  their  honor,  resting  upon 
their  firmness  in  the  hour  of  death,  was  watched  with  jeal 
ous  care.  Never  was  a  full-blood  Choctaw  known  to  evade 
the  death  penalty,  passed  upon  him  by  the  violated  law,  by 
flight.  If  he  violated  the  law  he  calmly  abided  the  conse 
quences,  hence  all  places  of  imprisonment  were  unknown. 
For  minor  offenses,  whipping  was  the  punishment;  fifty 


HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS.  219 

lashes  for  the  first  offense,  one  hundred  for  the  second,  and 
death  by  the  rifle  for  the  third  offense  in  case  of  theft,  and 
so  it  is  today. 

He  who  had  been  condemned  to  receive  this  punish 
ment  never  attempted  to  evade  it;  but  promptly  presented 
himself,  or  herself,  at  the  designated  place  of  punishment. 
This  punishment  was  inflicted  several  times  at  the  mission 
of  Hebron,  to  which  I  was  an  eye  witness.  Before  the  hour 
appointed,  the  neighborhood  assembled  around  the  church 
which  stood  about  forty  rods  distant  from  the  mission-house, 
where  they  indulged  in  social  conversation  and  smoking; 
never,  however,  mentioning,  or  even  hinting  the  subject 
which  had  brought  them  together.  The  culprit  was  as  gay 
and  cheerful  as  any  of  them,  walking  with  an  air  of  perfect 
indifference,  chatting  and  smoking  writh  the  various  groups 
sitting  around  on  blankets  spread  upon  the  ground.  Precisely 
at  the  moment  designated,  the  Light-Horse, -who  constituted 
a  sort  of  ambulatory  jury,  to  arrest,  try  and  punish  all 
violators  of  the  law,  would  appear.  The  crowd  then  went 
into  the  church,  closed  the  door  and  commenced  singing  a 
religious  hymn,  taught  them  by  the  missionaries,  which  they 
continued  until  the  tragedy  outside  was  over.  At  the  same 
time  the  culprit  shouted  "Sa  mintih!"  I  have  come!  then 
ejaculated  uSa  kullo!"  (I  am  strong!)  He  then  elevated  his 
arms  and  turned  his  back  to  the  executioner 'and  said:  "Fum- 
mih!''  (whip).  When  he  had  received  fifteen  or  twenty 
blows,  he  calmly  turned  the  other  side  to  the  Fum-mi  /(one 
who  whips);  and  then  again,  his.  back,  uttering  not  a  word 
nor  manifesting  the  least  sign  of  pain.  As  soon  as  the 
whipping  was  over,  the  church  door  was  opened  and  the 
whole  assembly  came  out  and  shook  hands  with  the  "Fum- 
ah"  (whipped),  thus  reinstating  him  to  his  former  position  in 
society,  and  the  subject  was  then  and  there  dropped,  never 
to  be  mentioned  again,  and  it  never  was. 

The  Choctaws  had  great  pride  of,  race.  The  warrior, s- 
proudest  boast  was  Choctaw  Siah!  (I  am  a  Choctaw!)  and  he 
still  clings  to  it  with  commendable  tenacity  even  as  he  does 
to  his  native  language.  It  has  been  said  that  no  people  have 
been  truly  conquered  who  refuse  to  speak  the  language  of 
the  conqueror;  therefore  the  North  American  Indians,  that 
subdued,  yet  unsubduable  people,  have  never  ceased  to  speak 
their  native  tongue. 

The  law  on  whipping  for  minor  offenses,  especially  that 
for  theft,  was,  fifty  lashes  on  the  bare  back  for  the  first 
offense;  one  hundred  for  the  second,  and  death  by  the  rifle 
for  the  third.  This  law  is  still  in  force  in  the  Choctaw  Nation. 
Truly,  if  the  whites  would  adopt  this  method  of  dealing  with 


220  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

\ 

their  own  thieves,  would  there   not   be   less   stealing   among" 
them? 

As  an  illustration  of  this  peculiar  characteristic  of  the 
Indians — so  different  from  that  of  any  race  of  whom  I  have 
heard —  i.  e.,  never  fleeing  from,  or  in  any  way  attempting 
to  evade  the  penalties  of  the  violated  law,  I  here  introduce 
the  sad  scene  in  the  execution  of  Chester  Dixon,  a  Choctaw 
youth  convicted  of  murder  at  a  term  of  the  Circuit  Court  of 
the  Choctaw  Nation  in  December,  1883. 

Chester  Dixon  was  a  young,  full-blood  Choctaw7,  about  17 
years  of  age.  He  was  subject  to  fits,  during  which  he  seem 
ed  to  be  unconscious  of  his  acts.  Aside  from  this  malady, 
he  was  considered  rather  a  brig'ht  boy.  He  lived  with  his 
mother  and  step-father,  five  or  six  miles  from  Atoka.  Their 
nearest  neighbors  were  a  Choctaw  known  as  Washington  and 
Martha,  his  wife.  One  evening  Washington,  on  his  return 
home  from  Atoka,  was  shocked  in  finding-  the  body  of  his 
wife  lying  on  the  floor  of  his  cabin  fearfully  mangled,  the 
head  severed  fronuthe  body,  with  several  frightful  gashes, 
evidently  inflicted  with  an  ax,  which  lay  by  the  side  of  the 
corpse.  The  alarm  was  given,  and  it  was  soon  ascertained 
that  Chester  Dixon  was  seen  coming  from  the  house,  in 
which  the  deed  had  been  committed,  covered  with  blood. 
He  was  arrested,  trie'd  by  the  Choctaw7  law,  condemned,  and 
sentenced  to  be  shot  on  an  appointed  day,  at  noon.  He  was 
neither,  confined  nor  guarded,  but  went  where  he  pleased, 
having  pledged  his  word  of  honor,  however,  that  he  would  be 
at  the  place  of  execution  punctual  to  the  hour  appointed. 
Here  I  would  deviate  a  little  from  the  subject,  to  show  how 
prone  the  whites  are  to  misrepresent  the  Indians  in  nearly 
everything  they  write  about  them;  and  it  does  seem  that 
they  cannot  write  a  half  dozen  words  about  this  people  with 
out  shamefully  misrepresenting  them.  It  seems  incredible, 
nevertheless  it  is  true,  as  the  thousands  of  publications  that 
flood  the  country  prove.  I  saw  an  article  in  a  Texas  news 
paper  in  regard  to  this  very  case  of  Chester  Dixon,  in  which 
the  writer  says:  "The  laws  of  the  Choc  taws  provide  for  NO 
APPKAL,  or  poor  Chester's  case  might  have  been  re-consider- 
ed;for  after  his  conviction  he  was  attacked  with  one  of  his  ac 
customed  fits,  which  was  conclusive  and  satisfactory  evidence 
that  he  was  subject \o  temporary  aberration,  during  \vhich 
he  was  irresponsible  for  his  actions.  His  attorney  had  neg 
lected  to  make  this  plea  in  behalf  of  his  client  during  the 
trial,  and  once  the  sentence  of  death  having  been  pronounced 
it  was  unalterable."  Now, the  above  is  utterly  false,  and  the 
writer  should  learn  to  keep  in  respectful  distance  of  the 
truth,  at  least,  before  he  attempts  to  write  about  the  Choc- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  221 

taws.  The  truth  is,  the  laws  of  the  Choctaws  provide  for 
three  appeals — first  from  the  County  Court  to  the  District 
Court;  thence  to  the  Supreme  Court;  thence  to  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court.  But  to  return  to  Chester  Dixon.  A 
few  days  before  the  execution,  Dixon  came  with  his 
step-father  to  Atoka  for  the  purpose  of  ordering  his  coffin. 
He  had  his  measure  taken  for  the  grave,  and  then  calmly 
informed  his  step-father  where  he  wished  to  be  buried. 

The  day  of  execution  came;  and  a  few,  mostly  whites  as 
sembled  at  the  place  of  execution  to  witness  the  sad  scene. 
The  doomed  boy  did  not  make  his  appearance  to  within 
twenty  or  thirty  minutes  of  the  appointed  time/  and  many  of 
the  whites,  judging-  from  their  own  standpoint,  began  to 
doubt  the  integrity  of  the  Choctaw,  and  expressed  those 
doubts  one  to  another.  But  true  to  his  plighted  word,  the 
truthful  youth  soon  rode  up;  and,  dismounting"  from  his 
horse,  quietly  walked  up  to  a  little  group  of  Choctaws,  who 
were  sitting  around  a  fire,  without  taking  any  notice  what 
ever  of  the  surroundings,  and  calmly  took  his  seat  upon  the 
ground,  with  his  head  bowed  between  his  knees  as  if  lost  in 
meditation.  An  aged  Choctaw  man  soon  approached  him, 
and,  speaking  to  him  in  his  own  language,  encouraged  him  to 
bravely  meet  his  fate  as  a  young  Choctaw  brarve;  and  to  die 
willingly,  since  nothing-  but  his  life  could  atone  for  the  one 
he  had  taken;  and  also  to  feel  that  his  people  had  been  just 
in  condemning"  him.  He  spoke  not  a  word  nor  raised  his 
head  during  his  old  friend's  conversation;  but  at  its  conclu 
sion  he  looked  up  and  around  for  a  moment,  then  grasped 
the  old  man's  hand,  as  if  to  say,  I'll  be  firm,  and  he  was  to 
the  last.  Then  his  Choctaw  friends,  both  men  and  women 
came  up  and  bade  him  their  last  earthly  adieu;  with  all  of 
whom  he  shook  hands,  but  spoke  not  a  word.  After  which, 
the  sheriff  brought  the  unfortunate  boy  a  change  of  clothing, 
in  which  he  clothed  himself  for  the  grave,  without  the  least 
discernible  sign  of  agitation;  he  then  took  his  seat  on  a 
blanket  spread  for  Jbim,  and  his  mother  combed  his  hair  with 
calm  composure — her  last  act  of  maternal  love;  and  though, 
with  a  heart  bleeding  at  every  pore,  no  outward  manifesta 
tion  was  made,  yet  her  face  told  the  storm  of  grief  that  raged 
within;  while,  true  to  her  nature,  sh'e  clung  to  her  boy  to  the 
last  moment,  to  console  him  with  a  mother's  presence  and 
a  mother's  love. 

The  sheriff  then  told  Chester  that  the  hour  of  execution 
had  come.  He  arose  at  once  and  quietly  walked  to  the  spot 
pointed  out  to  him  by  the  sheriff,  and  stopped  facing  his 
coffin — the  personification  of  calm  composure  and  firm  resig 
nation.  His  step-father  and  cousin  then  walked  up,  the 


222  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

former  taking-  him  by  the  righthand  and  the  latter  by  the  left. 
The  same  venerable  old  man  who  had  first  approached  him, 
again  came  forward  and  made  a  little  black  spot  upon  his 
breast,  just  over  the  heart,  and  once  more  whispered  a  few^ 
words  of  parting-  encourag-emerit,  then  walked  away.  The 
sheriff  then  bound  a  handkerchief  over  his  eyes,  asked  him 
to  kneel,  and  beckoned  to  a  man  who  had  until  then  kept 
himself  concealed.  This  man  was  a  cousin  of  Chester  Dixon, 
and  had  been  chosen  by  Chester  to  do  the  shooting-.  He  now 
advanced,  and  taking  his  position  five  or  six  paces  from  the 
poor  boy,  leveled  his  Winchester  •  rifle  and  fired. 
The  ball  'went  to  the  mark.  At  the  report  of  the  rifle 
Dixon  fett  forward,  and  died  without  a  .  struggle.  The 
mother  now  came  forward  took  charg-e  of  the  lifeless  body  of 
her  boy,  and  with  the  assistance  of  friends,  laid  it  away  in 
the  grave.  No  confusion  nor  even  the  semblance  of  excite 
ment  disturbed  the  solemn  proceedings.  And  when  con 
trasted  to  the  civilized  mode  of  punishment  that  of  hanging 
— the  Choctaw  method  is  certainly  more  humane  and  effec 
tive,  to  say  the  least  of  it. 

I  will  state  another  instance  that  took  place  among  the 
Choctaws  when  living  in  their  ancient  domains. 

A  Choctaw  unfortunately  killed  another  in  a  fit  of  pas 
sion.  He  was  duly  tried,  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  be 
shot  on  a  certain  day;  but  requested  a  stay  of  the  execution, 
upon  the  plea  that  his  wife  and  little  children  would  be  left 
in  a  destitute  condition  unless  he  was  allowed  to  return 
home  and  finish  making  his  brop.  His  request  was  granted 
with  no  other  assurance  than  his  pledged  word  that  he  would 
return  and  receive  his  death  sentence.  The  day  of  execution 
was  fixed  at  a  time  when  the  crop  would  be  matured,  and 
the  doomed  man  returned  to  his  home  and  family.  The  fatal 
day  came  and  found  the  necessary  labor  on  the  crop  finished 
and  also  the  noble  Choctaw  at  the  appointed  hour  and  place, 
where  he  calmly  received  the  fatal  bullet  which  at  once 
closed  his  earthly  career. 

Thus  sacred  was  held  the  noble  virtue,  Truth,  among 
the  ancient  Choctaws  when  they  lived  east  of  the  Mississippi 
river;  and  thus  sacred  is  it  still  held  among  the  full-bloods 
west  of  the  same  river;  and  I  have  never  known  or  heard  of  a 
full-blood  Choctaw  or  Chickasaw,  during  my  personal  ac 
quaintance  with  that  truly  grand  and  noble  people  for  seven 
ty-five  years,  who  violated  his  pledged  word  of  honor  by  fail 
ing  to  appear  at  the  time  and  place  designated,  to  suffer  the 
penalties  of  the  violated  law,  be  it  death  by  the  rifle  or  fifty 
-or  a  hundred  lashes  at  the  whipping  post.  And  truly  it  may 
be  said:  No  race  of  people  ever  adhered  with  greater  ten- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  223 

acity  to  truth,  or  the  greater  hatred  for  the  falsehood,  than  did 
and  do  the  Choctaws.  They  truly  abhorred  and  still  abhor  a 
liar.  Years  before  the  advent  of  the  missionaries  among 
them,  one  of  their  chiefs  was  strangely  addicted  to  lying-; 
and  so  great  did  their  disgust  finally  become  that  they,  in 
council  assembled,  banished  him  "from  their  Nation  under 
pain  of  death  if  he  ever  returned.  This  exiled  chief  then 
settled  with  his  family  in  the  now  parish  of  Orleans,  Louisi 
ana,  on  a  small  tract  of  land  which  projects  into  lake  Pontch- 
artrain,  and  erected  his  lonely  cabin  near  a  bayou  which  is 
connected  with  the  lake.  And  to  this  day,  that  small  tract 
of  land,  it  is  said,  is  called  Ho-lub-i  Miko  (Lying  Chief),  hav 
ing  taken  its  name  from  the  exiled  Choctaw  chief. 

The  territories  of  the  Choctaws  in  1723,  in  which  year 
the  seat  of  the  French  government  in  Louisiana,  then  under 
Bienville,  was  definitely  transferred  from  Natchez  to  New 
Orleans,  then  containing  about  one  hundred  houses  and  three 
thousand  inhabitants,  extended  from  the  Mississippi  River 
to  the  Black  Warrior,  east:  and  from  Lake  Pontchartrain  to 
the  territories  of  the  Natchez,  west,  and  Chickasaws,  north. 
They  possessed  upwards  of  sixty  principal  towns,  and 
could  muster,  as  was  estimated,  twenty-five  thousand  war 
riors. 

The  Choctaws  called  all  fables  Shukha  Anump  (hog 
talk)  as  a  mark  of  derision  and  contempt.  Some  of  their 
fables,  handed  down  by  tradition  through  unknown  genera 
tions,  were  similar  in  the  morals- taught  byx  those  of  the 
famous  ^Esop.  One  of  these  Shukha  Anumpas  was  that  of 
the  turkey  and  the  terrapin: — A  haughty  turkey  gobbler, 
with  long  flowing  beard  and  glossy  feathers,  meeting  a  ter 
rapin  one  bright  and  beautiful  spring  morning,  thus  accos 
ted  him  with  an  expression  of  great  comtempt;  "What  are 
you  good  for?"  To  which  the  terrapin  humbly  replied 
"many  things."  "Name  one,"  continued  the  turkey.  "I 
can  beat  you  running,"  said  the  terrapin.  "What  nonsense!" 
"I  thought  you  were  a  fool,  now  I  know  it,"  continued  the 
turkey. 

"I  repeat  it,  I  can  beat  you  running,  distance  half  a  mile" 
continued  the  terrapin.  "To  prove  you  are  a  fool  in  believ 
ing  such  an  absurdity,  I'll  run  the  race  with  you,"  responded 
the  turkey  with  marked  disgust.  The  day  was  appointed, 
the  distance  marked  off,  and  the  agreements  entered  into, 
one  of  which  was,  the  .terrapin  was  to  run  with  a  white 
feather  in  his  mouth  by  which  the  turkey  might  be  able  to 
distinguish  him  from  other  terrapin;  another  was,  the  turkey 
was  to  give  the  terrapin  the  advantage  of  one  hundred  yards 
in  the  start.  In  the  intervening  time  of  the  race,  the  wily 


224  ;.  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

terrapin  secured  the  assistance  of  another  terrapin  to  help 
him  out  of  his  dilemma,  and  thereby  establish  the  reputation 
of  the  terrapin  family  in  point  of  fleetness  to  the  discomfiture 
of  the  haughty  turkey.  Therefore,  he  secretly  placed  his 
assistant,  with  the  white  insignia  also  in  his  mouth,  at  the 
terminus  to  which  the  race  was  to  be  run.  Early  on  the 
morning  of  the  day  agreed  upon,  the  competitiors  were  at 
their  posts — the  contemptuous  turkey  at  the  goal,  and  the 
dispassionate  terrapin  a  hundred  yards  on  the  line.'  The 
turkey  was  to  give  the  signal  for  starting  by  a  loud  gobble. 
The  signal  was  given,  and  the  race 'was  opened.  The  turkey 
soon  came  up  with  the  terrapin,  who  had  gotten  but  a  few 
feet  from  his  goal,  and  shouted  derisively  as  he  passed  by 
"What  a  fool!" 

To  which  the  terrapin  ejaculated — "Not  as  big  as  you 
imagine."  The  confident  turkey  ran  on  about  half  way,  and 
then  stopped  and  turned  off  a  little  distance  to  secure  his 
breakfast,  but  kept  an  eye  on  the  track  that  the  terrapin 
might  not  pass  unobserved.  After  feeding  about  some  time 
and  not  seeing  any  thing  of  the  terrapin,  he  began  to  fear  he 
had  passed  him  unobserved;  therefore,  he  started  again  at 
full  speed;  and  not'overtaking  the  terrapin  as  he  expected, 
he  redoubled  his  exertions  and  reached  the  goal  breathless, 
but  to  find  the  terrapin  with  the  white  feather  in  his  mouth 
(his  supposed  opponent)  already  there,  Moral. — The  scorn 
ful  are  often  outwitted  by  those  upon  whom  they  look  with 
contempt. 

In  estimating'  character,  all  the  ancient  Indians  that  once 
lived  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  if  the  statement  of  the 
early  writers  and  noble  missionaries  be  true,  and  he,  whose 
incredulity  would,make  him  doubt  their  statements  is  in 
capable  of  believing  any  thing — even  his  own  senses — regard 
ed  moral  worth  alone;  The  man  must  possess  truth,  honor, 
patriotism,  bravery,  hospitality  and  virtue  —  all  of  which 
seemed  intuitive  to  the  minds  and  hearts  of  those  North 
American  Indian's  of  the  south.  I  know  this  will  be  regarded 
by  thousands  of  my  own  race  as  untenable  ground.  Never 
theless,  I  speak  of  that  I  know — obtained  by  a  long  life, 
personal  acquaintance  with  the  Choctaws  ami  Chickasaws, 
and  the  same  acquaintance  with  different  missionaries  to  the 
Cherokees,  Muscogees  and  Seminoles,  all  sustained  by  the 
great  philanthorpist  Oglethorpe  and  the  noted  ministers  of 
the  gospel  John  and  Charles  Wesley,  and  George  Whitefield, 
and  their  missionary  successors  sent  out  to  the  Indians  by 
the  Presbyterian,  Methodist  and  Baptist  churches;  and  more, 
proving  beyond  doubt  the  susceptibility  of  the  Noi>th  Ameri 
can  Indians  to  easily  become  civilized  and  christianized. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  225 

^f  In  the  disposition  of  their  dead,  the  ancient  Choctaws 
practiced  a  strange  method  different  from  any  other  Nation 
of  people,  perhaps,  that  ever  existed.  After  the  death  of  a 
Choctaw,  the  corpse  wrapped  in  a  bear  skin  or  rough  kind 
of  covering-  of  their  own  manufacture,  was  laid  out  at  full 
length  upon  a  high  scaffold  erected  near  the  house  of  the 
deceased,  that  it  might  be  protected  from  the  wild  beasts  of 
the  woods  and  the  scavengers  of  the  air.  After  the  body 
had  remained  upon  the  scaffold  a  sufficient  time  for  the  flesh' 
to  have  nearly  or  entirely  decayed,  the  Hattak  fullih  nipi 
foni.  (Bone  Picker)  the  principal  official  in  their  funeral  cere 
monies  and  especially  appointed  for  that  duty — appeared 
and  informed  the  relatives  of  the  deceased  that  he  had  now 
come  to  perform  the  last  sacred  duties  of  his  office  to  their 
departed  friend.  Then,  with  the  relatives  and  friends,  he 
marched  with  great  solemnity  of  countenance  to  the  scaffold 
and.  ascending  which,  began  his  awful  duty  of  picking  off  the 
flesh  that  still  adhered  to  the  bones,  "with  loud  groans 
and  fearful  grimaces,  to  which  the  friends  below  responded 
in  cries  and  wailings. 

The  Bone-Picker  never  trimmed  the  nails  of  his  thumbs, 
index  and  middle  fingers  which  accordingly-  grew  to  an  as 
tonishing  length — sharp  and  almost  as  hard  as  flint — and  well 
adapted  to  the  horrid  business  of  their  owner's  calling. 
After  he  had  picked  all  the  flesh  from  the  bones,  he  then 
tied  it  up  in  a  bundle  and  carefully  laid  it  upon  a  corner  of 
the  scaffold;  then  gathering  up  the  bones  in  his  arms  he  de 
scended  and  placed  them  in  a  previously  prepared  box,  and 
then  applied  fire  to  the  scaffold,  upon  which  the  assembly 
gazed  uttering  the  most  frantic  cries  and  moans  until  it  was 
entirely  consumed.  Then  forming  a  procession  headed  by 
the  Bone-Picker  the  box  containing  the  bones  was  carried, 
amid  weeping  and  wailing,  and  deposited  in  a  house  erected 
and  consecrated  to  that  purpose  and  called  A-bo-ha  fo-ni, 
(Bone-house)  with  one  of  which  all  villages  and  towns  were 
supplied.  Then  all  repaired  to  a  previously  prepared  feast, 
over  which  the  Bone-Picker,  in  virtue  of  his  office,  presided 
with  much  gravity  and  silent  dignity. 

As  soon  as  the  bone-houses  of  the  neighboring  villages 
were  filled,  a  general  burial  of  the  bones  took  place,"to  which 
funeral  ceremony  the  people  came  from  far  and  near,  and, 
in  a  long  and  imposing  procession,  with  weeping  and  wailing 
and  loud  lamentations  of  the  women,  bore  off  the  boxes  of 
bones  to  their  last  place  of  rest,  and  there  despositing  them 
in  the  form  of  a  pyramid  they  were  covered  with  earth  three 
or  four  feet  in  depth  forming  a  conical  mound.  All  then 


226  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

returned  to  a  previously  designated   village   and   concluded 
the  day  in  feasting-. ''V.. 

Thus  many  of  the  mounds  found  in  Mississippi  and 
Alabama  are  but  the  cemeteries  of  the  ancient  Choctaws; 
since,  as  often  as  the  bone-houses  became  filled,  the  boxes  of 
bones  were  carried  out  to  the  same  cemetery  and  deposited 
on  the  previously  made  heap  commencing-  at  the  base  and 
ascending  to  the  top,  each  deposit  being  covered  up  with 
earth  to  the  depth  of  three  or  four  feet,  and  thus,  by  con 
tinued  accession  through  a  long  series  of  ages,  became  the 
broad  and  high  mounds,  concerning  which  there  has  been  so 
much  wild  speculation  with  so  little  foundation  for  truth  or 
common  sense.  Even  at  the  time  the  missionaries  were 
established  among  them  (1818),  many  of  the  mounds  were  of 
so  recent  date  that  not  even  bushes  were  growing  upon  them, 
though  the  custom  of  thus  laying  away  their  dead  had  become 
obsolete:  still  a  few  Bone-Pickers  had  survived  the  fall  of 
their  calling,  and  were  seen,  here  and  there,  wandering  about 
from  village  to  village  as  ghosts  of  a  departed  age,  with  the 
nails  of  the  thumb,  index  and  middle  fingers  still  untrimmed, 
and  whose  appearance  indicated  their  earthly  pilgrimage  had 
reached  nearly  to  a  century,  some  of  whom  I  personally 
knew. 

Shortly  before  the  advent  of  the  missionaries,  the  cus 
tom  of  placing  the  dead  upon  the  scaffolds  was  abolished, 
though  not  without  much 'opposition;  and  that  of  burial  in  a 
sitting  posture  was  adopted,  with  also  new  funeral  ceremon 
ies,  which  were  as  follows:  Seven  men  were  appointed 
whose  duty  it  was  to  set  up  each  a  smooth  pole  (painted  red) 
around  the  newly  made  grave,  six  of  which  were  about  eight 
feet  high,  and  the  seventh  about  fifteen,  to  which  thirteen 
hoops  (made  of  grape  vines)  were  suspended  and  so  united 
as  to  form  a  kind  of  ladder,  while  on  its  top  a  small  white 
flag  was  fastened.  This  ladder  of  hoops  was  for  the  easier 
ascent  of  the  spirit  of  the  deceased  to  the  top  of  the  pole, 
whence,  the  friends  of  the  deceased  believed,  it  took  its  final 
departure  to  the  spirit  land. 

They  also  believed  that  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  after  their 
flight  from  the  top  of  the  pole  to  the  unknown  world,  had  to 
cross  a  fearful  river  which  stretched1  its  whirling  waters 
athwart  their  way;  that  this  foaming  stream  has  but  one 
crossing,  at  which  a  cleanly  peeled  sweet-gum  log,  perfectly 
round,  smooth  and  slippery,  reached  from  bank  to  bank; 
that  the  moment  the  spirit  arrives  at  the  log,  it  is  attacked 
by  two  other  spirits  whose  business  is  to  keep  any  and  all 
spirits  from  crossing  thereon.  But  if  a  spirit  is  that  of  a 
good  person,  the  guardians  of  the  log  have  no  power  over  it, 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  227 

and  it  safely  walks  over  the  log  to  the  opposite  shore,  where 
it  is  welcomed  by  other  spirits  of  friends  gone  before, 
and  where  contentment  and  happiness  will  forever  be  the  lot 
of  all. 

But  alas,  when  the  spirit  of  a  bad  person  arrives  at  the 
log-crossing-  of  the  fearful  river,  it  also  is  assailed  by  the 
ever  wakeful  guards,  and  as  it  attempts  to  walk  the  slippery 
log  they, push  it  off  into  the  surging  waters  below,  to  be  help 
lessly  borne  down  by  the  current  to  a  cold  and  barren  des 
ert,  where  but  little  game  abounds  and  over  which  he  is 
doomed  to  wander,  a  forlorn  hope,  naked,  cold  and  hungry. 

When  a  death  was  announced,  which  was  made  by  the 
firing  of  guns  in  quick  succession,  the  whole  village  and  sur 
rounding  neighborhood — almost  to  a  man — assembled  at 
once  at  the  home  of  the  deceased,  to  console  and  mourn  with 
the  bereaved.  On  the  next  day  a  procession  was  formed 
headed  by  seven  men  called  Fabussa  Sholih  (Pole-bearer), 
each  carrying  on  his  shoulder  a  long,  slender  pole  painted 
red,  and  all  slowly  and  in  profound  silence  marched  to  the 
grave,  where  the  poles  were  at  once  firmly  set  up  in  the 
ground — three  on  each  side  of  the  grave,  and  one  at  the  head, 
on  which  thirteen  hoops  were  suspended  while  on  its  top  a 
small  white  flag  fluttered  in  the  breeze.  The  corpse  was 
then  carefully  placed  in  its  last  earthly  place  of  rest,  the 
grave  filled  up,  and  all  returned  to  the  former  home  of  the 
departed.  They  had  specified  cries  at  the  grave  of  the  de 
ceased,  which  continued  for  thirteen  moons.  At  the  termi 
nation  of  each  cry,  a  hoop  was  taken  off  of  the  pole,  and  so 
on  until  the  last  one  was  removed;  then  a  grand  funeral  cere 
mony  was  celebrated  called  Fabussa  halut  akuchchih,  (pole 
to  pull  down).  And  the  manager  of  the  pole-pulling  was  call 
ed  Hattak  iti  i  miko,  (their  chief  man);  and  the  hunters  sent 
out  to  provide  venison  for  the  company  on  that  occasion, 
were  called  Hattak  (man)  illi  (dead)  chohpa  (meat).  That  is, 
meat  for  the  dead  man;  or,  more  properly,  meat  for  the  obse 
quies  of  the  dead  man. 

To  this  celebration,  or  last  commemoration  the  dead, 
when  all  had  assembled,  the  Fabussa  halulli,  (the  same  Fa- 
"bussa  Sholih  who  'had  set  up  the  poles)  under  the  command 
of  the  Hattak  iti  i  miko  (the  same  who  bore  and  set  up  the 
long  pole  upon  which  was  attached  the  hoops  and  flag)  slowly 
and  silentl3T  marched  in  solemn  procession  to  the  grave  and 
pulled  up  the  poles,  and  carried  them  off  together  with  the 
hoops  and  concealed  them  in  a  secret  place  in  the  forest 
where  they  were  left  to  return  to  dust  forever  undisturbed. 

As  soon  as  the  Fabussa  Hallulli  had  disposed  of  the 
poles  and  hoops,  preparations  were  begun  for  the  finale — a 


228  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

feast  and  the  grandrAboha  hihlah,  home  dancing-,  or  dancing- 
home  of  the  deceased  good  man  to  the  land  of  plenty  and 
happiness,  and  the  bad  man  to  the  land  of  scarcity  and  suf 
fering. 

The  festivities  continued  during-  the  day  and  the  night 
following"  the  pole-pulling".  On  the  next  morning-  all  returned 
to  their  respective  homes;  and  from  that  day  he  or  she  of  the 
grave  became  a  thing'of  the  past,  whose  names  were  to  be 
mentioned  no  more.  And  they  were  not. 

Among-  the  ancient  Choctaws,  a  mare  and  colt,  cow  and 
calf,  and  a  sow  and  pig's  were  given  to  each  child  at  its  birth, 
if  the  parents  were  able  so  to  do, — and  all,  with  few  excep 
tions,  were  able;  this  stock,  with  its  increase  under  no  cir 
cumstances  whatever,  could  be  disposed  of  in  any  way;  and 
when  he  or  she,  as  the  case  might  be,  became  grown,  the 
whole  amount  was  formally  conveyed  over  to  him  or  her. 
Thus  when  a  young-  couple  started  out  in  life  they  had  a 
plenty  of  stock,  if  nothing-  more. 

Diseases,  they  believed,  originated  in  part  from  natural 
causes,  therefore  their  doctors  sought  in  nature  for  the 
remedies.  Graver  maladies,  to  them,  were  inexplicable,  and 
for  their  cures  they  resorted  to  their  religious  superstitions 
and  incantations.  They  were  very  skillful  in  their  treat 
ment  of  wounds,  snake  bites,  etc.,  Their  knowledge  of  the 
medicinal  qualities  of  their  various  plants  and  herbs,  in 
wrhich  their  forests  so  bountifully  abounded,  was  very  great. 
'Tis  true  they  were  powerless  against  the  attacks  of  many 
diseases— importations  of  the  White  Race,  such  as  small-pox, 
measles,  whooping-cough,  etc;  yet,  thev  did  not  exhibit  any 
greater  ignorance  in  regard  to  those  new  diseases,  to  them 
unknown  before,  than  do  the  doctors  of  the  White  Race,  who 
have  had  the  experience  of  ages  which  has  been  handed 
down  to  them  through  the  art  of  printing,  manifest  in  regard 
to  the  new  diseases  that  so  oft  attack  their  own  race.  The 
art  of  blood-letting  and  scarifying  was  well  understood  and 
practiced  by  many  of  their  doctors,  as  well  as  the  virtue  of 
cold  and  warm  baths;  and  in  many  of  the  healing-  arts  they 
fell  not  so  far  below  those  of  the  White  Race  as  might  be 
HUpgosed,  though  many  wrhite  doctors  imagine  themselves 
perfect  in  the  healing  art,  since  forsooth  their  diplomas 
coast  the  signatures  of  the  medical  faculties  in  the  world.. 

In  cases  of  bowel  affections  they  use  persimmons  dried 
by  the  heat  of  the  sun  and  mixed  with  a  light  kind  of  bread. 
In  case  of  sores,  they  applied  a  poultice  of  pounded  ground 
ivy  for  a  few  days,  then  carefully  washing'  the  afflicted  part 
with  the  resin  of  the  copal-tree.  For  fresh  wounds  they 
made  a  poultice  of  the  root  of  the  cotton-tree  which  proved 


HISTORY    OF    THK   INDIANS  229 

very  efficacious;  to  produce  a  copious  perspiration,  a  hot 
decoction  of  the  China  root  swallowed,  had  the  desired  effect. 
They  possessed  an  antidote  for  the  bite  and  sting-  of  snakes 
and  insects,  in  the  root  of  a  plant  called  rattle  snake's  master, 
having-  a  pungent  yet  not  unpleasant  odor.  The  root  of  the 
plant  was  chewed,  and  also  a  poultice  made  of  it  was  applied 
to  the  wound,  which  at  once  checked  the  poison  and  the 
patient  was  well  in  a  few  days.  The  medical  properties  of 
the  sassafras,  sarsaparilla,  and  other  medicinal  plants,  were 
known  to  them.  They  possessed  many  valuable  secrets  to 
cure  dropsy,  rheumatism,  and  many  other  diseases,  which, 
no  doubt,  will  ever  remain  a  secret  with  them,  proving-  that 
their  powers  of  observation,  investigation  and  discrimination, 
are  not,  by  any  means,  to  be  regarded  as  contemptible; 
while  their  belief,  that  the  Great  Spirit  has  provided  a 
remedy  in  plants  for  all  diseases  to  which  poor  humanity 
seems  an  heir,  and  never  refuses  to  make  it  known  to  those 
who  seek  the  knowledge  of  it  by  proper  supplications,  is 
praiseworthy  in  them  to  say  the  least  of  it. 

Their  doctors  were  held  in  great  veneration,  though 
they  oft  practiced  upon  their  patrons  many  frauds.  Mill- 
fort,  p.  298,  says:  "when  one  of  them  had  a  patient  on  hand 
a  long  time,  and  the  poor  sick  fellow's  means  had  been  ex 
hausted  he  privately  told  the  relatives  that  his  skill  was  ex 
hausted,  that  he  had  done  all  in  his  power  to  no  avail,  and 
that  their  friend  must  die  within  a  few  days  at  farthest;  and, 
with  great  seeming  sympathy,  set  forth  the  propriety  of 
killing-  him,  and  so  terminate  his  sufferings  at  once.  Having 
the  utmost  confidence  in  the  doctor's  judgment  and  knowl 
edge  of  the  case,  and  also  believing  the  case  hopeless,  the 
poor  fellow  was  at  once  killed."  In  proof  of  this,  he  states 
that  in  1772  a  doctor  thus  advised  concerning  one  of  his  pa 
tients.  "The  sick  man,"  he  says,  "suspecting,  from  the 
actions  of  his  physician,  that  he  was  advising  the  propriety 
of  ending  his  suffering  by  having  him  killed,  with  great  effort 
succeeded  one  night  in  crawling  out  of  the  house  and  making 
good  his  escape.  After  much  suffering  he  succeeded  in 
making  his  way  into  the  Muscogee  Nation,  and  fortunately 
went  to  the  house  of  Col.  McGillivry,  who,  Samaritan  like, 
took  him  in^o  his  house,  and  soon  restored  him  to  his  usual 
health.  At  the  expiration  of  several  months  he  returned  to 
his  home,  and  found  his  relatives  actually  celebrating  his 
funeral  by  burning  the  scaffold  which  they  had  erected  to  his 
memory,  with  the  accustomed  weeping  and  wailing, — -^be 
lieving  him  to  be  dead.  His  unlocked  for  appearance  among 
them,  at  that  solemn  hour  and  place,  threw  them  into  the 
.greatest  consternation,  and,  in  horror  and  wild  dismay,  all 


230  HISTORY   OF   THE  INDIANS. 

fled  to  the  woods.  Finding-  himself  thus  received  by  his 
own  relatives  and  friends,  he  returned  in  disgust  to  the^ 
Muscogees  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  among 
them.  But  when  his  relatives  had  become  truly  satisfied 
that  he  did  not  die,  and  was  actually  alive  and  well,  they 
made  the  doctor  pay -heavily  for  the  deception  he  had  prac 
ticed  upon  them,  by  killing  him." 

The  greatest  mortality  among  them  was  most  generally 
confined  to  the  young-er  children;  while  longevity  was  a 
prominent  characteristic  among  the  adults.  After  the  age  of 
six  or  eight  years  the  mortality  of  disease  among  them  -was 
less  than  among  the  white  children  of  the  present  day  after 
that  age.  But  after  those  baneful  diseases,  scarlet  fever, 
measles,  mumps,  whooping-cough,  diseases  unknown  to  them 
before,  had  been  introduced  among  them,  the  fatality  among 
the  children  was  distressing,  frequently  destroying  the 
greater  number  of  the  children  in  a  village  or  neighborhood; 
—being  wholly  ignorant  as  they  were  of  the  proper  mode  of 
treatment  was  a  great  cause  of  the  fearful  fatality.  Mental 
or  nervous  diseases  were  unknown  to  the  ancient  Choctaws; 
and  idiocy  and  deformity  were  seldom  seen.  But  of  all  the 
"diseases"  introduced  among  them  by  the  white?,  the  most 
pernicious  and  fatal  in  all  its  features,  bearings,  and  con 
sequences,  to  the  Choctaw  people,  was,  is,  and  ever  \vill  be, 
Okahumma  (red  water  or  whiskey);  which,  when  once 
formed  into  habit,  seemed  to  grow  to  a  species  of  insanity 
equal  even  to  that  so  often  exhibited  among  the  whites. 

"The  Medicine  Man,"  was  a  dignitary  who  swayed  his 
scepter  alike  among  all  Indians,  but  was  altogether  a  very  dif 
ferent  personage  from  the  common  physician.  The  Medicine 
Man  professed  an  insight  into  the  hidden  laws  of  Nature;  he 
professed  a  power  over  the  elements,  the  fish  of  the  waters 
and  the  animals  of  the  land;  he  could  cause  the  fish  to  volun 
tarily  suffer  themselves  to  be  caught,  and  give  success  to  the 
hunter  by  depriving  the  denizens  of  the  forest  of  their  natural 
fear  of  man;  he  could  impart  bravery  to  the  heart  of  the  war 
rior,  strength  and  skill  to  his  arm  and  fleetness  to  his  feet; 
yea,  could  put  to  flight  the  evil  spirits'  of  disease  from  the 
bodies  of  the  sick.  He  could  throw  a  spell  or  charm  over  a 
ball  player  that  would  disenable  him  to  hit  the  post;  or  over 
the  ball-post  that  would  prevent  its  being  hit  by  anyone 
whom  he  wished  to  defeat.  Such  were  the  professed  attain 
ments  of  the  Indian  "Medicine  Man."  But  whether  he 
possessed  all  or  any  of  the  supernatural  powers  he  profess 
ed,  it  matters  not,  it  is  certain,  however,  that  he  possessed 
one  thing,  the  power,  art,  or  skill,  call  it  which  you  may,  to 
make  his  people  believe  it,  and  that  was  all-sufficient  for  him 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  231 

— even  as  it  is  with  all.  humbug's.  The  Choctaws  regarded 
dreams  as  the  direct  avenues  to  the  invisible  world,  the  divine 
revelations  of  the  Great  Spirit.  If  a  vision  of  the  spirit  of  an 
animal  appeared  to  the  hunter  in  his  dream,  he  felt  confident 
of  success  on  the  morrow's  hunt.  But  though  he  invoked  the 
friendship,  the  protection  and  the  good  will  of  spirits,  and 
besought  the  mediation  of  the  Medicine  Man,  he  never  would 
confess  his  fear  of  death.  But  chide  not  too  harshly,  reader, 
the  poor,  unlettered  Indian  for  his  superstitions  and  wild 
beliefs,  for  the  same  long  existed  among  the  civilized  Na 
tions  of  the  world,  nor  are  they  entirely  exempt  even  at  the 
present  day,  nor  is  it  likely  they  ever  will  be. 

They  lived  in  houses  made  of  logs,  but  very  comfortable; 
not  more  rude  or  uncouth,  however,  than  many  of  the  whites 
even  of  the  present  day.  Their  houses  consisted  generally 
of  two  rooms,  both  of  which  were  used  for  every  domestic 
purpose — cooking,  eating,  living  and  sleeping;  nor  was  their 
furniture  disproportionate  with  that  of  the  dwelling — for  the 
sitting  room,  a  stool  or  two;  for  the  kitchen,  a  pot  or  kettle, 
two  or  three  tin  cups,  a  large  and  commodious  wooden  bowl, 
and  a  horn  spoon,  constituted  about  the  ultimatum — 'twas  all 
they  needed,  all  they  wanted,  and  with  it  they  were  perfectly 
contented  and  supremely  happy. 

Tafula;  (pro.  Tarm-ful-ah,"  hominy;  corrupted  to  Tom- 
fuller),  is  made  of  pounded  corn  boiled,  using  lye  for  fermen 
tation,  and  tafula  tobi  ibulhtoh  (boiled  corn  mixed  with 
beans)  were,  and  are  to  the  present  day,  favorite  dishes 
among  the  Choctaws;  nor  need  it  be  thought  strange,  as  they 
are  dishes  Worthy  the  palate  of  the  most  fastidious.  The 
taf  ula,their  favorite  and  indispensable  dish  was  put  into  a  large 
bowl,  around  which  all  gathered,  and  each  in  turn  using  the 
horn  spoon  to  replenish  his  waiting  mouth  with  the  coveted 
luxury.  But  little  pains  was  taken  in  the  preparation  of 
their  food,  which  was  as  rude,  though  clean  and  nice,  as  the 
means  of  preparing  it.  Having  no  tables  or  dishes,  except 
the  wooden  bowl,  nor  knives  and  forks,  they  squatted  around 
the  pot  of  boiled  meat  and  bowl  of  tafula,  and  each  used  his 
or  her  fingers  in  extracting  the  contents  of  the  pot,  and  con 
veying  it  to  the  mouth,  and  the  horn  spoon  by  turns  in 
doing  obeisance  to  the  tafula — all  in  perfect  harmony  and 
jollity. 

They  use  another  preparation/ for  food  called  Botah 
Kapussa,  (cold  flour)  which  was  made  of  parched  corn 
pounded  very  fine;  an  ounce  of  which  mixed  with  a  little 
water  would  in  a  few  minutes  become  as  thick  as  soup  cooked 
by  a  fire.  Two  or  three  ounces  of  this  were  sufficient  to 
sustain  a  man  for  a  day.-  In  their  war  expeditions  it 


232  HISTORY   OF   THE 'INDIANS. 

was  an  indispensable  adjunct — the  .sine  qua  non — to  the 
warrior's  bill  of  fare,  as  they  could  not  shoot  game  with  the 
rifle  when  upon  the  war-path  in  their  enemy's  territories  for 
fear  of  giving  notice  of  their  presence.  Bunaha  was  another 
food  much  used  in  the  long  ago.  It  was  made  ,  of  pounded 
meal  mixed  with  boiled  beans  to  which  is  added  a  little  lye, 
then  made  into  a  dough  wrapped  in  corn  husks  and  boiled. 
Oksak  (hickory  nut),  atapah  (broken  in)  is  still  another;  this 
was  made  of  pounded  meal  mixed  with  the  meat  of  the 
hickory  nut  instead  of  boiled  beans,  and  cooked  as  buiiaha. 
I  have  eaten  the  three  kinds,  and  found  them  very  palatable. 

They  were  great  lovers  of  tobacco;  yet  never  chewed  it, 
but  confined  its  use  exclusively  to  the  pipe,  in  which  they 
smoked  the  weed  mixed  with  the  dried  leaf  of  the  aromatic 
sumac,  which  imparted  to  the  smoke  a  delightful  flavor, 
agreeable  even  to  the  most  fastidious  nose.  But  they  now 
have  learned  to  chew,  which  I  ascertained  by  actual  observa 
tion,  when  riding  over  their  country  visiting  them  during 
the  year  1884  to  18(JO.  Frequently  I  have  ridden  several  miles 
with  different  Choctaws,  with  whom  I  accidental!}'  fell  in  com 
pany,  and  to  whom  }  offered  a  chew  of  tobacco,  which  was 
frequently  accepted;  and  I  noticed  they  chewed  it  with  as 
much  apparent  delight  and  gusto,  as  their  white  brothers, 
proving  themselves  worthy  rivals  in  the  accomplished  art. 
However,  I  could  state^that  the  habit  is  not  as  universal,  by 
great  odds,  as  among  the  white. 

All  the  drudgery  work  about  the  house  and  the  hunting' 
camp  was  done  by  the  wife  assisted  by  her  children;  and  as 
the^wife  of  the  Choctaw  warrior  and  hunter  was  regarded  as 
the  slave  of  her  husband,  so  likewise  may  equally  be 
regarded  the  unfortunate  wives  of  many  oi"  the  boasted 
civilized  white  men  of  this  19th  century. 

With  the  Choctaw  wife,  as  with  all  Indians,  parturition 
was  matter  that  gave  no  uneasiness  whatever;  nor  did  it 
interfere  with  her  domestic  affairs,  but  for  a  few  hours. 
Unlike  her  civilized  sister,  she  neither  required  nor  desired, 
nor  accepted  any  assistance  whatever.  I  have  known  them 
to  give  birth  to  a  child  during  the  night,  and  the  next  morn 
ing  would  find  them  at  the  cov/pen  attending  to  the  affairs 
of  the  dairy.  To  have. a  man  physician,  on  such  occasions, 
was  as  abhorrent  to  her  sense  of  modesty  and  revolting  to  her 
feelings,  as  it  was  wholly  unnecessary.  And  the  old  cus 
tom  is  still  adhered  to  by  the  present  Choctaw  wife  and 
mother.  After  a  child  was  born,  after  undergoing  the  usual 
necessary  preliminaries,  it  was  placed  in  a  curiously  con 
structed  receptacle  called  Ullosi  afohka,  (infant  receptacle) 
where,  it  spent  principally  the  first  year  of  its  life,  only 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  233 

when  taken  out  for  »the  purpose  of  washing  and  dressing1. 
This  curiously  made  little  cradle  (for  such  it  may  truly  be 
called)  was  often  highly  ornamented  with  all  the  pharapher- 
nalia  that  a  mother's  love  and  care\ could  suggest  or  obtain. 
The  little  fellow's  face,  which  was  always  exposed  to  view, 
was  carefully  protected  by  a  piece  of  wood  bent  a  few  inches 
above  and  over  it.  Contented  as  Diogenes  in  his  tub,  the 
babe  would  remain  in  its  little  prison  for  hours  without  a 
whimper;  part  of  the  time  asleep,  and  part  of  the  time  awake 
looking  around  in  its  innocence  with  calm  and  tranquil 
resignation.  According  to  her  convenience,  the  mother  sus 
pended  her  thus  cradled  child  on  her  back,  when  walking, 
or  the  saddle  when  riding;  or  stood  it  up  against  a  neighbor 
ing  tree,  if  a  pleasant  day,  that  it  might  enjoy  the  fresh  and 
pure  air,  and  exhilarating  sunshine;  or  suspend  it  to  the 
projecting  limb  of  a  tree  there  to  be  rocked  to  sleep  and 
pleasant  dreams  by  the  forest  breeze.  As  soon  as  it  was 
old  enough  to  begin  to  crawl,  it  bade  an  informal  adieu 
to  its  former  prison,  but  to  be  found  perched  upon  its  moth 
er's  back,  wliere  it  seemed  well  contented  in  all  its  journeys 
— long  or  short.  It  was  truly  astonishing  with  what  appar 
ent  ease  the  Choctaw  mother  carried  her  child  upon  her  back. 
The  child  was  placed  high  up  between  the  shoulders  of  the 
mother,  and  over  it  was  thrown  a  large  blanket,  which  was 
drawn  tightly  at  the  front  of  the  mother's  neck,  forming  a 
fold  behind;  in  this  the  child  was  placed  and  safely  carried, 
with  seemingly  little  inconvenience  to  either  mother  or  child. 
When  the  little  chap  had  grown  to  such  proportions  as  to  be 
no  longer  easily  thus  transported,  he  was  fastened  to  the 
saddle  upon  the  back  of  a  docile  pony,  which  follower  the 
company  at  pleasure;  though  here  and  there  stopping 
momentarily  to  bite  the  tempting  grass  that  grew  along  the 
pathway,  then  briskly  trotting  up  until  it  had  again  reached 
its  proper  place  in  rank  and  file,  indifferent  to  the  jolting 
experienced  by  the  youthful  rider  tied  upon  its  back,  who, 
ho\vever,  seemed  to  regard  it  with  stoical  indifference. 
When  arrived  at  the  age  of  four  or  five  years,  he  was  con 
sidered  as  having  passed  through  his  fourth  and  last  chrys 
alis  stage,  and  was  then  untied  from  the  saddle  and  bid  ride 
for  himself;  and  soon  did  the  young  horseman  prove  himself 
a  true  scion  of  the  parent  tree,  as  a  fearless  and  skillful 
rider. 

Though  the  Allosi  afohka  has  long  since  passed  away 
with  other  ancient  customs,  still  the  Choctaw  mother  carries 
her  child  upon  her  back  as  she  of  a  century  ago,  and  loves  it 
with  the  same  fond-'and  strong  love;  and  though  she  did  not, 
nor  does  not,  express  it  by  any  outward  manifestations,  yet 


234  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

her  love  was  and  is  real,  perfect  and  constant;  nor  was  she 
ever  known  to  trust  her  babe  to  a  hired  nurse.  The  love 
for  their  children  and  untiring-  devotion  to  their  homes  and 
families,  and  their  profound  regard  for  the  aged,  were  in 
deed  beautiful  and  touching  traits  in  the  characteristics  of 
the  Choctaw  women.  In  fact,  the  great  respect  and  uniform 
kindness  paid  by  the  Indians  everywhere,  and  under  all  cir 
cumstance,  to  the  aged  of  their  people,  might  justly  bring 
the  blush  of  shame  upon  the  face  of  many  of  the  young  twigs 
of  the  professed  enlightened  white  race.  The  Choctaw 
women  of  years  ago  were  a  merry,  light-hearted  race,  and 
their  constant  laugh  and  incessant  prattle  formed  a  strange 
contrast  to  the  sad  taciturnity  of  the  present  day.  The 
easily  conjectured  cause  precludes  the  necessity  of  being 
mentioned  here. 

Adair  (p.  89)  says;  "the  Choctaws,  in  an  early  day, 
practiced  the  custom  of  flattening  the  heads  of  their  infants 
by-  compression,  and  were  first  known  to  the  whites  by  the 
name  of  Flat  Heads."  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  custom  had 
long  ceased  to  be  practiced,  when  later  known. 

Wherever  they  went,  distant  or  otherwise,  many  or 
few,  they  always  traveled  in  a  straight  line,  one  behind  the 
other.  (  They  needed  no  broad  roads,  nor  had  they  any; 
hence,  they  dispensed  with  the  necessity  of  that  expense, 
road-working,  so  grudgingly  bestowed  by  all  white  men. 
Paths  alone,  plain  and  straight,  then  led  the  Choctaws  where 
now  are  broads  roads  and  long  high  bridges,  from  village  to 
neighborhood,  and  from  neighborhood  to  village,  though  many 
iniles  apart;  and  so  open  and  free  of  logs,  bushes,  and  all 
fallen  timber,  was  their  country  then,  rendered  thus  by  their 
annual  burning  off  of  the  woods,  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  travel 
in  any  direction  and  any  distance,  except  through  the  vast 
cane-brakes  that  covered  all  the  bottom  lands,  which  alone 
could  be  passed  by  paths. 

On  hunting  excursions,  when  a  party  moved  their  camp 
to  another  point  in  the  woods,  whether  far  or  near,  they 
invariably  left  a  broken  bush  with  the  top  leaning  in  the 
direction  they  had  gone,  readily  comprehended  by  the  practi 
ced  eyeof  the  Choctaw  hunter .  They  kept  ona  straight  line  to 
where  a  turn  was  made,  and  whatever  angle  there  taken,  they 
travelled  it  in  a  straight  line,  but  left  the -broken  bush  at  the 
turn  indicating  the  direction  they  had  taken.  If  a  wandering- 
hunter  happens  to  stumble  upon  the  late  deserted  camp  and 
desired  to  join  its  former  occupants,  the  broken  but  silent 
bush  gave  him  the  information  as  to  the  direction  they  had 
gone.  .He  took  it  and  traveled  in  a  straight  line  perhaps  for 
several  miles;  when  suddenly  his  ever  watchful  eye  saw  a 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  235 

broken  bush  with  its  top  leaning  in  another  direction.  He  at 
once  interpreted  its  mystic  language — "Here  a  turn  was 
made."  He  too  made  the  turn  indicated  by  the  bush;  and 
thus  traveled  through  the  unbroken  forest  for  miles,  directed 
alone  by  his  silent  but  undeviating  guide,  which  was  sure  to 
lead  him  to  his  desired  object. 

All  North  American  Indians,  have  always  held  their  lands 
in  common;  occupancy  alone  giving'  the  right  of  possession,  a 
custom  peculiar  to  the  North  American  Indians,  and  a  living 
proof  of  practical  communism,  as  far  as  land  is  concerned,  at 
least.  When  a  Choctaw  erected  a  house  upon  a  spot  of 
ground,  and  prepared  a  few  acres  for  his  corn,  beans,  potatoes, 
etc.,  so  long  as  he  resided  upon  it  as  his  home,  it  was  exclus 
ively  his,  and  his  rights  were  strictly  respected  by  all;  but  if 
he  left  it  and  moved  to  another  place,  then  his  claim  to  his 
forsaken  home  was  forfeited;  and  whoever  saw  proper  could 
go  and  take  possession;  nor  was  the  second  occupant  expected 
to  remunerate  the  first  for  the  labor  he  had  done.  However, 
if  No.  1,  afterward  should  desire  to  return  to  his  previous 
home  he  could  do  so,  provided  no  one  had  taken  possession.. 
The  present  time,  if  one  improves  a  place  and  leaves  it,  no  one 
has  the  right  to  take  possession  of  the  deserted  place  without, 
permission  of  the  one  who  improved  it. 

The  famous  little  Choctaw  pony  was  a  veritable  forest 
camel  to  the  Choctaw  hunter,  as  the  genuine  animal  is  to  the 
sons  of  Ishmael.  His  unwearied  patience,  and  his  seemingly 
untiring  endurance  of  hardships  and  fatigue,  were  truly 
astonishing — surpassing,  according  to  his  inches,  every  other 
species  of  his  race — and  proving  himself  to  be  a  worthy  de 
scendant  of  his  ancient  parent,  the  old  Spanish  war-horse, 
introduced  by  the  early  Spanish  explorers  of  the  continent. 
In  all  the  Choctaws'  expeditions,  except  those  of  war  in 
which  they  never  used  horses,  the  chubby  little  pony  always, 
was  considered  an  indispensable  adjunct,  therefore  always, 
occupied  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  cavalcade.  A  packsaddle 
which  Choctaw  ingenuity  had  invented  expressly  for  the 
benefit  of  the  worthy  little  fellow's  back,  and  finely  adapted 
in  every  particular  for  its  purpose,  was  firmly  fastened  upon 
his  back,  ready  to  receive  the  burden,  which  was  generally 
divided  into  three  parts,  each  weighing  from  forty  to  fifty 
pounds.  Two  of  these  were  suspended  across  the  saddle 
by  means  of  rawhide  rope  one-fourth  of  an  inch  in  diameter 
and  of  amazing  strength,  and  the  third  securely  fastened 
upon  the  top,  over  all  of  which  a  bear  or  deer  skin  was- 
spread,  which  protected  it  from  rain.  All  things  being 
ready,  the  hunter,  as  leader  and  protector,  took  his  position 
in  front,  sometimes  on  foot  and  sometimes  astride  a  pony  of 


236  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

such  diminutive  proportions,  that  justice  and  mercy  would 
naturally  have  suggested  a  reverse  in  the  order  of  thing's, 
and,  with  his  trusty  rifle  in  his  hand,  without  which  he  never 
went  anywhere,  took  up  the  line  of  march,,  and  directly  after 
whom,  in  close- order,  the  loaded  ponies  followed  in  regular 
succession  one  "behind  the  other,  while  the  dutiful  wife 
and  children  brought  up  the  rear  in  regular,  successive 
order,  often  with  from  three  to  five  children  on  a  single  pony 
—literally  hiding  the  submissive  little  fellow  from  view. 
Upon  the  neck  of  each  pony  a  little  bell  was  suspended, 
whose  tinkling  chimes  of  various  tones  broke  the  monotony 
of  the  desert  air,  and  added  cheerfulness  to  the  novel  scene. 
Long  accustomed  to  their  duty,  the  faithful  little  pack-ponies 
seldom  gave  any  trouble,  but  in  a  straight  line  followed  on 
after  their  mastery  sometimes,  however,  one  here  and  there, 
unable  to  withstand  the  temptation  of  the  luxuriant  grass 
that  offered  itself  so  freely  along  the  wayside,  would  make  a 
momentary  stop  to  snatch  a  bite  or  two,  but  the  shrill,  dis 
approving  voice" of  the  wife  in  close  proximitv  behind,  at  once 
reminded  him  of  his  dereliction  of  order  and  he  would  hastily 
trot  up  to  his  position;  and  thus  the  little  caravan,  with  the 
silence  broken  only  by  the  tinkling  pony  bells,  moved  on  amid 
the  dense  timber  of  their  majestic  forests,  until  the  declin 
ing  sun  gave  warning  of  the  near  approaching  night.  Then 
a  halt  was  made,  and  the  faithful  little  ponies,  relieved  of 
their  wearisome  loads  which  they  had  borne  throughout  the 
day  with  becoming  and  uncomplaining  patience,  were  set 
free  that  they  might  refresh  themselves  upon  the  grass  and 
cane — nature's  bounties  to  the  Indian — that  grew  and  cover 
ed  the  forests  in  wild  abundance.  Late  next  morning — (for 
who  ever  knew  an  Indian,  in  the  common  affairs  of  life,  to  be 
in  a  hurry  or  to  value  time?  Time!  He  sees  it  not;  he  feels 
it  not;  he  regards  it  not.  To  him  'tis  but  a  shadowy  name— 
a  succession  of  breathings,  measured  forth  by  the  change  of 
night  and  day  by  a  shadow  crossing  the  dial-path  of  life) 
the  rested  and  refreshed  ponies  were  gathered  in,  and,  each 
having  received  his  former  load,  again  the  tinkling  chimes  of 
the  pony  bells  alone  disturbed  the  quiet  of  the  then  far  ex 
tending  wilderness,  announcing  in  monotonous  tones  the 
onward  march,  as  the  day 'before,  of  the  contented  travelers; 
and  thus  was  the  journey  continued,  day  by  day,  until  the 
desired  point  was  reached. 

The  Indian  unlike  the  white  man,  often  received  a  new 
name  from  some  trivial  incident  or  some  extraordinary  ad 
venture,  which  frequently  occurred,  especially  in  their  wars. 
Anciently  the  Choctaws  and  Muscogees  were  uncompromis 
ing  enemies,  ever  making  raids  into  each  others  territories. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  237 

At  one  time  a  Muscogee  party  invaded  the  Choctaw  countryy 
and  made  a  sudden  and  unexpected  attack  upon  a  band  of 
Choctaw  warriors.  The  Choctaws,  though  surprised,  made 
a  brave  resistance,  and,  after  a  short  but  furious  light,,  de 
feated  and  put  their  assailants  to  flight.  A  vigorous  pursuit 
at  once  ensued  in  which  a  fleet  young  Choctaw  warrior  nam 
ed  Ahaikahno,  (The  Careless)  had  far  in  advance  of  his 
comrades,  killed  a  MuscOgee,  and  was  in  the  act  of  scalping 
him,  when  two  Muscogee  warriors  turned  and  rushed  toward 
him  with  their  utmost  speed.  The  Choctaws  in  the  rear, 
seeing  the  danger  of  Ahaikahno,  who  was  ignorant  of  his 
two  fast  approaching  foes,  shouted  to  him  with  all  the 
strength  of  their  voices — Chikke-bulilih  chia!  Chikke  bulilih 
chia!  (pro.  Chik-ke  (Quickly)  bul-elih  (run)  che-ah  (3*011!). 
Ahaikahno,  hearing  the  shout  and  seeing  his  danger,  was 
not  slow  in  heeding  the  advice.  Ever  afterwards  Ahaikahno 
bore  the  additional  name  Chikke  Bulilih  Chia.  Both  parties 
lost  many  warriors  in  this  short  but  bloody  fight,  and  the 
little  mound  erected  by  the  Choctaws  over  the  common  grave 
of  their  slain  warriors  was  still  to  be  seen  down  to  the  \-ear 
of  the  Choctaw  migration  west,  in  1831-?2. 

Nearly  every  river,  creek,  lake,  rock,  hill  and  vale,  was 
endeared  to  them,  by  a  name  given  to  it  from  some  peculiar-' 
ity.  some  incident  or  adventure  of  the  past,  that  was  signifi 
cant  of  the  same;  and  in  which  were  embodied  the  remem 
brance  of  the  heroic  achievements  of  a  long"  line  of  ances 
try;  some  in  nature's  rocks,  mountains,  hills,  dells,  woods, 
and  waters;  while  others  took  substantial  form  in  the  im 
pressive  memorials  reared  by  loving  hearts  and  willing  nands 
in  the  form  of  mounds  over  their  dead.  Many  of  those  names 
were  beautifully  significant;  but  alas,  how  corrupted  b\T  the 
whites,  to  that  extent  indeed,  that  not  even  one  has  retained 
its  original  purity.  Think  you,  reader,  it  was  an  easy  matter 
for  the  Choctaws,  with  such  a  country*  as  the\r  then  posses^ 
sed,  endeared  to  them  by  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand 
ties  as  strong  as  were  ever  interwoven  around-  the  human 
heart,  to  cut  loose  from  this  their  ancient  home,  and  set  sail 
on  an  unknown  sea  foij  distant  ports  in  an  unknown  land, ''and 
under  the  pilotage  of  those  pretended  friends,  who  they 
bad  found  could  not  be  trusted. 

Of  all  the  wild  animals  of  the  cane-brake,  the  wild  boar 
truly  merited  the  name  of  being  the-  most  dangerous,  when 
brought  to  bay,  the  panther  or  bear  not  excepted,  and  in  at 
tacking  him,  coolness  and  a  steady  nerve  were  as  necessary 
as  perfect  marksmanship.  In  this  kind  of  sport  a  novice  would 
always  find  it  the  better  part  of  valor  to  keep  in  mind  that 
"distance  lends  enchantment  to  the  view"  for  ke  seldom 


238  HISTORY   OF   THE  INDIANS. 

made  a  charge  without  leaving-  his  mark,  since  that  charge 
I  can  attest  by  frequent  observation,  was  no  child's  play.  One 
stroke  with  his  long,  keen  tusks,  was  all  he  wanted  to  kill  an 
offending  dog,  or  even  disembowel  a  horse;  and  woe  to  the 
hunter  that  carelessly  or  with  foolhardiness  approached  too 
near;  if  he  failed  to  make  a  dead-shot,  his  life  was  the  forfeit; 
for  with  the  rush  of  a  whirlwind,  and  the  agility  of  a  cat,  he 
sprang  from  his  lair,  and  more  sure  and  fatal  was  his  stroke 
as  he  passed,  than  the  stroke  of  a  dagger  in  the  hands  of  an 
enraged  man.  An  effectual  shot  was  only  made  by  shooting 
him  through  the  brain,  as  his  shoulders  were  protected  by 
a  massive  shield  extending  from  his  short  neck  two-thirds  of 
the  way  to  the  hips,  and  impervious  even  by  a  ball  shot  from 
-the  rifle  of  that  day;  his  enormous  head,  set  of  by  ears  about 
the  size  of  a  man's' hand,  standing  straight  up,  and  his  pow 
erful  jaws,  armed  with  four  fearful  tusks,  two  short  stubby 
ones  protruding  from  the  upper  and  two  long,  dagger-like 
ones  from  the  lower  lips,  with  a  backward  curve,  combined 
with  his  strength  and  activity,  rendered  him  a  formidable 
foe,  and  made  him  truly  the  monarch  of  the  Mississippi  cane- 
brake  70  years  ago.  From  his  short  legs  and  sluggish'  ap 
pearance,  when  secretly  seen  from  a  distance  moving  about 
at  his  leisure,  one  would  have  supposed  him  slow  in  point  of 
speed;  but  such  was  not  the  case.  For  as  soon  as  you  gave 
him  a  good  cause  to  bestir  himself,  he  did  it  to  such  a  good 
purpose  that  it  was  hard  for  a  common  horse  to  escape  his 
pursuit  for  a  short  distance,  or  to  overtake  him  in  his  flight. 
But  of  the  two  contingencies  the  latter,  so  far  as  the  hunter 
was  concerned,  was  immeasurably  the  safer;  since  his  temper 
was  as  short  as  his  legs,  and  very  little  indeed  sufficed  his 
boarship's  philosophy  to  constitute  sufficient  provocation,  to 
make  a  sudden  whirl,  present  and  about  face,  and  instantly 
make  a  furious  charge;  then,  if  the  horseman  was  not  as 
quick  to  make  the  turn,  there  was  a  collision,  always  to  the 
great  advantage  of  the  boar. 

To  intrude  upon  his  retreat  when  at  bay,  even  though 
no  malicious  propensities  had  been  proven  against  the  tres 
passer,  was  madness;  for  he  charged  the  intruder  without 
hesitation  and  with  positively  such  terrific  impetuosity  that 
proved  there  was  no  reservation  about  his  conduct  nor 
opportunity  intended  to  be  given  to  the  incautious  visitor  for 
making  any  mistake  as  to  his  intentions;  and  he  then  and 
there  learned  to  his  entire  satisfaction  that,  if  he  intended  to 
have  apologized  to  his  boarship,  it  would  be  policy  to  do  so  in 
writing  at  some  future  day;  as,  at  that  moment,  it  was  de 
cidedly  the  best  to  get  out  of  the  way  nor  seek  leisure  for 
explanation  of  the  intrusion,  since  the  monster  was  coming 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

•*^ 

down  upon  him,  with  now  and  then  a  snort,  that  emphatically 
said,  "Out  you  go,"  as  intelligibly  as  ever  snorts  said  any 
thing-,  yet  singularly  expressive,  unmistakably  meaning 
prompt  ejection  from  his  premises;  and  though  his 
progeny  were  styled  the  "racers,  razor  backs,  subsoilers, 
jumpers,  and  rail  splitters,"  by  the  early  white  settlers,  yet, 
with  his  fleetness,  agility,  strength  and  savage  snout  armed 
.with  those  terrible  tusks — veritable  lancets  indeed — which  in 
many  instances  grew  to  incredible  dimensions  both  in  size 
and  length — his  majesty  was  justly  styled  the  undisputed 
monarch  of  the  Mississippi  cane-brakes.  His  courage  was 
indeed  fearless  and  defiant,  and  with  a  reckless  ferocity  that 
no  sane  hunter  had  the  nerve  to  resolutely  receive.  Oft  he 
waited  not  for  presumptuous  provocation,  but  waged  war 
at  once  on  hunter  and  dogs  as  soon  as  trespassing  on  his 
domains,  whom  he  calmly  faced  with  a  defiant  front  that 
indicated  a  business  propensity  not  to  be  safely  misjudged, 
as  he  slowly  turned  from  side  to  side  seemingly  to  scan  the 
immediate  surroundings  and  take  in  the  situation;  but  when 
he  set  himself  to  going  after  man  or  dog,  he  displayed  an 
agility  and  address  which  those  who  have  once  experienced 
it  pronounced  amazing,  nor  desires  ever  again  to  test  his 
boarship's  peculiarities  by  personal  experience.  He  often 
wandered  companionless,  then  he  became  more  morose  and 
malignant,  and  more  dangerous  to  intrude  upon.  One  of 
this  character,  for  reasons  best  known  to  himself,  ventured 
under  the  cover  of  a  dark  night,  to  sleep  wTith  the  tame  hogs 
belonging  to  the  missionary  station,  Hebron,  over  which  Mr. 
Calvin  Cushmaii  had  jurisdiction,  soon  after  the  exodus  of 
the  Choctaws.  At  that  early  day,  hounds  were  a  protective 
necessity  against  the  carnivorous  wrild  animals  that  numer 
ously  abounded  in  the  forests,  though  Mr.  Calvin  Cushman 
was  never  known  to  fire  a  gun  at  a  wild  animal  of  any  kind, 
or  to  go  into  the  woods  as  a  hunter,  but  left  that  wholly  to 
others,  among  whom  his  three  sons  were  generally  found. 
The  visitor  had  overslept  himself,  or,  at  least,  was  a  little 
dilatory  the  next  morning  in  starting  for  his  home  in  the 
cane-brake,  and  thus  was  discovered  about  daybreak,  'by  one 
of  the  hounds  between  whom  and  his  boarship  uncompromis 
ing  hostility  existed.  At  once  the  hound  gave  notice  to  his 
companions  in  the  yard  of  the  presence  of  their  hated  and 
dreaded  enemy  by  loud  and  vociferous  barking,  to  which  the 
whole  pack,  gave  immediate  response  by  rushing  headlong 
over  the  yard  fence,  and  in  full  cry  hastened  to  the  call  of 
their  fellow.  At  once  they  rushed  for  the  wild  intruder, 
who,  taking  in  the  surroundings,  broke  at  once  for  his  citadel 
in  the. swamp  two  miles  away  across  an  intervening  forest 


240-  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

•*''" 

with  110  undergrowth  in  which  to  shelter  himself  in  case  of 
being-  overtaken  by  his  pursuing-  foes.  My  brother  and  I, 
knowing-  from  the" wild  outcry  of  the  hounds  that  they  had 
discovered  some  wild  animal  of  merit,  seized  our  rifles,  rushed 
to  the  barn,  saddled  our. hunting'  horses  and  mounted;  then 
listened  a  moment  to  ascertain  the  bearings  of  the  hounds 
whose  cry  was  now  faintly  heard  in  the  distance,  but  gave 
evidence  that  the  object  of  their  pursuit  was  no  small  matter. 
At  once  wre  started  at  full  speed  through  the  open  forest,  and, 
after  running-  a  mile  or  more,  stopped  to  listen,  when  we 
ascertained  that  they  had  overtaken  the  night  intruder, 
whatever  he  was,  and  brought  him  to  bay,  but  still  nearly  a 
mile  distant.  Ag'ain  we  put  our  horses  at  full  speed,  and 
thus  continued  until  we  had  reached  the  top  of  a  high  ridge, 
where  came  into  full  view,  about  three  hundred  yards  distant, 
the  hounds  encircling  a  hug'e  wild  boar.  For  a  minute  we- 
silently  stood  and  gazed  upon  the  exciting  scene. 

The  hounds  (eight  in  number)  knowing,  from  sad  ex 
perience,  the  characteristics  of  their  foe.  were  running  this 
way  and  that  around  the  old  monarch  of  the  canebrake,  but 
observing*  the  judicious  caution  to  keep  twenty  or  thirty  feet 
distant  from  him.  who  defiantly  stood  in  the-  centre  of 
the  circle  and  boldly  solicited  closer  quarters.  No  under 
growth  obstructed  our  view,  and  the  whole  play  was  being 
enacted  before  us.  Now  a  hound  would  make  a  dash  at  his 
rear  only  to  be^net  by  the  about  face  of  the  agile  boar,  which 
caused  the  hound  to  also  make  an  about  face  followed  by  a 
hasty  retreat,  then  one  would  succeed  in  giving  him  a  snap 
in  the  rear,  which  caused  the  boar,  not  only  to  make  a  quick 
turn,  but  also  to  make  a  rush  for  a  few  paces  after  the  now 
retreating  dog-,  but  to  be  again  pinched  in  the  rear  by  some 
one  of  his  more  venturesome  assailants.  Finally  one  made  a 
dash  at  the  rear  of  the  boar  with  high  expectations  of  secur 
ing  a  good  bite;  but  poor  Pete  was  not  quick  enough  in  his 
whirl,  for  the  boar,  in  his  sweep,  struck  him  with  his  curv 
ing-  tusks  upon  the  thigh  making  art>  ugly  wound  three  or 
four  inches  in  length  and  to  the  bone.  .  Pete  at  once  acknowl 
edged  his  defeat  by  a  shrill  cry  and  immediate  retreat  to  the 
rear.  Thinking  it  time  to  take  a  hand  in/  the  fray,  wre  dis 
mounted,  and  leaving  our  horses  concealed,  cautiously  ad 
vanced  to  the  scene  of  action,  but  taking  care  not  to  let  his 
boarship  learn  of  our  proximity.  But  not  much  danger  of 
that,  as  his  attention  was  wholly  engaged  with  the  still  tor 
menting  dogs.  When  we  had  approached  within  a  hundred 
yards,  we  halted  behind  a  large  tree  and  formed  our  plan  of 
attack,  as  we  silently  peeped  from  our  hiding  place  and  view 
ed  the  scene.  The  boar  was  still  ignorant  of  our  presence; 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  241 

but  the  hounds  had  evidently  suspected  our.  presence  some 
where,  by  frequently  looking  back  and  sniffing  the  air,  and 
then  barking  more  vigorously  at  the  boar  and  making  bolder 
and  more  frequent  attacks  upon  his  rear. 

He  was  truly  a  magnificent  specimen  of  his  race/  of  a 
sandy  color,  full  grown,  and  in  fine  condition.  His  huge 
head" was  adorned  with  enormous,  curving  tusks  with  one 
sweep  of  which  he  could  cut  a  man,  dog  or  horse  into 
threads.  His  little  red  eyes,  nearly  covered  with  shaggy 
hair,  now  glowed  like  coals  of  fire,  beneath  a  pair  of  ears 
about  the  size  of  a  man's  hand  which  stood  perfectly  erect; 
his  tail,  though  curled  once  at  his  body,  nearly  touched  the 
ground  with  its  long  shaggy  hairs;  his  cavernous  mouth  was 
white  with  foam — proof  tha't  he  was  mad  all  over;  his  bristles 
about  four  inches  long,  extended  from  his  ears  to  his  tail, 
and  stood  up  erect  and  stiff,  while  every  hair  upon  his  body 
seemingly  quivered  with  rage;  the  massive  sinews  of  his 
great  chest  stood  out  like  small  ropes  as  he  turned  from  side 
to  side,  exposing  also  to  view  the  outlines  of  the  almost  im 
pervious  shield  that  enveloped  his  shoulders.  He  was  truly 
an  incarnation  of  immense  strength,  activity,  courage,  and 
brutal  ferocity. 

Our  curiosity  being  satisfied 'in  viewing  his^dimensions 
and  appearance,  it  was  resolved -that  my  brother,  who  was 
the  more  courageous  and  the  better  marksman,  should  crawl 
to  a  large  tree  that  stood  exactly  between  us  and  the  boar, 
which  would  bring  him  within  fifty  or  sixty  yards  of  his  boar- 
ship,  and  also,  the  sure  range  of  his  rifle,  while  I  was  to  keep 
my  position  as  a  rear  guard  in  case  of  a  compulsory  retreat. 
By  good  fortune  he  gained  the  tree  unobserved  by  hound  or 
boar;  then  arose  to  his  feet  and  brought  his  rifle  to  his  shoul= 
der,  with  the  barrel  resting  against  the  right  si<le  of  the  tree, 
thus  being  enabled  to  keep  his  body  wholly  concealed.  Soon 
I  saw  the  boar  turn  his  head  exactly  toward  the  tree  and  in 
stantly  the  crack  of  the  rifle  mingled  with  the  baying  of  the 
hounds,  and  the  fierce  brute  pitched  over  on  his  nose  to  be 
instantly  covered  with  exultant  dogs  who  bit  and  snapped 
their  fallen  foe.  We  hurried  up, only  to  see  a  convulsive  shiver 
run  through  the  huge  mass  of  flesh  and  bone,  and  the  fierce 
glare  of  the  eye  as  it  died  out  slowly,  like  a  coal  fading  in  the 
sunlight  as  t|j£  white  ashes  cover  it.  The  vi;ifle  ball  had  ac 
complished  its  mission  of  death. 

In  conclusion,  I  will  but  add:  If  those,  who  to-day  talk 
about  dangerous  game,  would  like  to  enjoy  a  rough  and  tum 
ble  encounter,  I  would,  could  I  recall  the  last  seventy  years, 
recommend  to  them  a  wild  boar  of  the  Mississippi  cane- 


242  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

breaks,  with  strong-  testimonials;  nor  would  they  have  far  to 
go,  at  that  day,  to  find  him. 

O-ka-it-tib-ih-ha  -county,  Mississippi,  as  well  as  its 
sister  counties,  has  been  the  scene  of  many  hard  struggles 
between  the  contending  warriors  of  the  different  tribes, 
who  inhabited  the  noble  old  state  in  years  of  the  long  past; 
not  only  from  the  statements  and  traditions  of  the  Choctaws, 
who  were  among  the  last'  of  the  Indian  race  whose  council- 
iires  lit  up  her  forests,  and  whose  hoyopatassuha  died  away 
upon  her  hills,  but  also  from  the  numerous  fortifications  and 
intrenchments,  that  were  plainly  visible,  ere  the  ploughshare 
had  upturned  her  virgin  soil,  and  her  native-  forests  still 
stood  in  their  primitive  beauty  and  grandeur.  From  those 
rude  fortifications,  plainly  identified  many  years  after  the 
advent  of  the  missionaries,  strong  positions  were  evidently 
held  by  each  contending  party;  yet  they  seemed  to  have 
been  constructed  with  no  regard  to  mathematical  skill,  but 
rather  as  circumstances  demanded  or  would  admit.  Such 
at  least  were  the  intrenchments  enclosing  the  Shakchi 
Humma  old  fort;  and  the  mail}*  evidences,  such  as  rusted 
tomahawks,  arrow-heads,  human  bones,  teeth  and  fragments 
of  skulls  that  were  continually  being  ploughed  up  for 
many  years,  proved  the  hard  contested  fight  of  the  Shak 
chi  Hummas  and  the  allied  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws;  and 
that  the  brave  but  greatly'  out-numbered  Shakchi  Hummas 
had  disputed  every  inch  of  the  ground,  and  had  only  yielded 
to  the  superior  numbers  of  the  combined  Choctaws  and 
Chickasaw  warriors.  The  ancient  Choctaws,  as  well  as  all 
other  Indians,  did  not  confine  their  battles  to  forts  and  in 
trenchments,  but  fought  as  circumstances  offered,  oftener 
in  small  bodies  than  in  large.  Hence,  they  never  drew  out 
their  forces  in  open  field,  but  fought  from  behind  trees, 
stumps  and  logs;  each  seeking  every  possible  advantage  of 
his  enemy,  regarding-  all  advantages  gained  as  wholly  at 
tributable  to  superior  skill;  all  advantages  lost,  to  want 
of  it. 

According  to  the  statements  made  by  the  Choctaws  to 
Mr.  Calvin  Cushman,  when  first  established  among  them 
as  a  missionary,  nearly  eighty  years  ago,  the  Shakchi 
Hummas,  a  warlike  and  very  overbearing  tribe  of  Indians, 
were  wholly  exterminated  by  the  combined  forces  of  the 
Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  about  the  year  1721.  ^» 

I  was  personally  acquainted  with  a  remarkable  old  Choc- 
taw  warrior,  by  the  name  of  Ish-iah-hin-la,  (you  liable  to  go) 
who  claimed  to  have  fought  through  the  Shakchi  Humma 
war.  He  was  said  to  be  the  last  surviving  Choctaw  warrior 
of  that  memorable  conflict,  and  died  in  1828  at  the  advanced 


HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS.  243 

-age  of  107  years,  so  he  claimed  to  be.  Indeed  the  old  war 
rior's  white  locks,  wrinkled  face,  shriveled  and  decrepit 
body,  indicated  life's  journey  to  have  reached  that  point; 
and,  as  longevity  was  frequent  at  that  time  (as  even  to-day) 
among  the  Indians,  many  then  living  whose  ages  reached 
eighty  and  ninety  years.  I  did  not  doubt  the  old  man's  state 
ment.  He  took  great  delight  in  relating  many  incidents  of 
that  war  and  oft  amused  my  boyish  fancy  in  telling  many 
thrilling  scenes  in  which  he  participated.  This  war  had  its 
•origin  from  the  overbearing  disposition  of  the  Shakchi  Hum- 
mail,  and  the  frequent  murders  committed  by  their  war  par 
ties  upon  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws.  The  account,  as 
related  by  the  Choctaws  to  the  missionaries,  is  in  substance, 
about  as  follows:  Many  years  after  the  Choctaws  and 
•Chickasaws  had  established  themselves  east  of  the  Missis 
sippi  river,  a  Choc  taw  chief,  named  Shakchi  Hum  ma  (Craw 
fish  Red),  recrossed  the  Mississippi  river,  with  his  family 
and  a  large  number  of  his  adherents,  and  established  a  col 
ony  (under  the  name  of  their  chief,  Shakchi  Hum  ma)  in, 
now  the  state  of  Arkansas, 

In  the  course  of  years  this  colony  became  greatly  en 
larged  by  constant  accessions;  and,  with  increasing  numbers 
and  strength,  also  became  insolent  and  overbearing*  to  that 
extent  that  a  war  arose  between  them  and  another  tribe,  in 
which  they  were  defeated  and  driven  back  over  the  Missis 
sippi  "to  their  former  country.  After  being  established 
there,  (not  as  Choctaws  but  as  Shakchi  Hummas,  disregard 
ing  their  ancient  kindred  ties)  they  adopted  an  arrogant  and 
aggressive  policy  towards  both  the  Choctaws  and  Chicka 
saws,  who,  provoked  beyond  longer  endurance,  formed  a 
secret  alliance  in  an  exterminating  war  against  the  Shakchi 
Hummas. 

Then  followed  a  three  years  war  of  extermination  (fa 
mous  in  Choctaw  tradition)  culminating  at  the  battle  of  Oski 
Hlopah  and  blotting  out  the  Shakchi  Humma  nation.  The 
Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  took  the  war  path  together,  re 
solving  to  exterminate  their  insolent  enemies  or  be  exter 
minated  themselves.  At  this  juncture,  several  large  parties 
of  Shakchi  Hummah  hunters  were  camped  on  Noxubee 
creek,  as  much  game  had  congregated  there  owing  to  the 
destruction  of  the  range  in  many  parts  of  the  country  by  the 
accidental  fall  fires.  The  Choctaws,  being  aware  of  the  lo 
cality  of  the  Shakchi  Humma  hunters,  opened  the  war  by 
making  an  unexpected  attack  upon  them  and  slew  the  greater 
part,  throwing  their  dead  bodies  into  the  creek  which  caused 
;in  awful  stench,  which  gave  the  name  Nahshobili  to  the 
creek,  and  .opened  hostilities  in  good  earnest  between  the 


244  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

Choctaws   and   Ghickasaws    on   one    side   and  the    Shakchf 
Hummas  on  the  other. 

Extermination  being   th  ewar-cry    adopted  by   the    con 
testants,    both    parties   fought    with  desperation.     But,    un 
expectedly  as  the  two  allied    tribes   had    rushed    upon   their 
unsuspecting-  and  unprepared    enemies   (thus   in   the   outset 
gaining   great   advantage)   yet    the   Shakchi     Hummas   soon 
rallied  from  their  discomfiture  caused  by  their  surprise;  and 
then  commenced  one  of  those  fierce   and  bloody  conflicts,   so 
oft  engaged  in  by  the  Red  Men   in   the  years   of   the   hoWy 
past,  but  known  only  to  themselves.  In  union  there  is  strength, 
is  an  old  but  true  adage;  and  thus  it  proved  to  the    Choctaws 
and  Chickasaws.     Though  fortune  for  a  while   appeared   to 
waver,  vacillating1  from  the  one  side  to  the  other  and  seeming" 
at  a  loss  on  whom  to  bestow   her   smiles,    but  finally   looked 
with  favor  upon  the  two  allied  tribes.    The  Shakchi  ifummas, 
after  many  reverses  and  great   losses,   finally  sought   to  pro 
tract  the  strong-  struggle  by  taking-  refuge  in  their  intrenched 
villages.     But  one  after  another  of  these  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the    victorious   Choctaws     and    Chickasaws,    who     now    had 
become  fearless  by  their  success,  and,   e're  the  third  year  of 
the   desperate    conflict   had    closed,    every   village   had    been 
taken,  and  destroyed,    and    the    majority  of   the   inhabitants 
slain.  The  few  who  escaped  united  their  strength  and  finally 
took  their  last  stand  at  a  point  now  known  as  Ly oil's  bluff  on 
Oski  Hlopah  (Cane  stripped)  river  known   now  as  Trimcane, 
about  nine  miles  northeast  of   Starkville,    Mississippi,    hope 
less,  yet  determined  to  fight  to   the   death.     Sheltered   by   a 
few  logs  and  banks  of  earth,  the  last    of   that   once    powerful 
and  arrogant  tribe,  now  f ought  as  only    men    in   despair    can 
and  do  fight,  sending  many  of  their  enemies  to  precede  them 
to  the  hunting  grounds  in  the  great  beyond.     How  true  it  is, 
that  man  is  a  being,  when    placed    in    danger   and    devoid   of 
hope — that  oasis. amid  the  arid  desert  of  life — who    is   to   be 
dreaded!     When  hope  has  fled,  despair  usurps  its   place;  and 
none  despair  till  they  behold  death  staring  them  in  the    face; 
dnd  .when  life,  with    all   its    beautiful  shades   and    colors,    is 
bleached  with  the  bitterness  of  death,  'tis  then  man  becomes 
desperate;  and  even  the  most  timid   have   then   accomplished 
feats  of  daring  seemingly  incredible.     Such  was   the  forlorn 
hope  cooped  up  in  that  little  fort,  if  fort    it   might    be    called. 
Surrounded  on  all    sides  without   the    possibility   of   escape, 
and  sheltered  only  by  a  few  logs  and  piles   of   dirt;   yet   they 
baffled  all  attempts  of  their  enemies  to  dislodge  them. 

Like  tigers  at  bay,  they  fought  day  and  night,  though 
hour  by  hour  thinned  in  numbers,  till  at  last  but  few  re 
mained;  yet  that  handful  yielded  not,  nor  asked  for  quarter. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  245 

sing-ing  their  death  song-,  and  ever  and  anon  hurling 
back  their  defiant  war-whoops,  they  continued  to  fight,  kill 
ing  everyone  who  attempted  to  scale  their  little  breast-work 
of  logs  and* 'earth.  For  many  days  did  the  warriors  of  that 
log  and  mud 'fort  successfully  hold  out,  bravely  driving  back 
their  assailants  in  every  charge.  At  length,  the  Choctaws 
and  Chickasaws,  maddened  at  the  obstinate  resistance  of  the 
now  desperate  Shakchi  Hummas,  and  the  continued  falling 
here  and  there  of  'their  own  warriors,  with  a,  mighty  rush 
broke  over  the  feebly  defended  walls  of  logs  and  earth,  but 
to  be  met  by  the  little  squad'of  still  defiant  Shakchi  Hum 
mas,  who  received  them  with  the  last  shout  of  their  still  defi 
ant  war-whoop.  Then,  for  a  few  moments,  was  heard  the 
clashing  and  ringing  of  the  tomahawks  as  the  busy  scene  of 
death  went  on;  each  Shakchi  Humma  warrior  fighting,  not 
for  life  or  for  glory,  but  in  mad  despair — seeking  to  kill  ere 
he  was  killed/  But  soon  the  last  death-dealing-  blow  was 
struck  that  blotted  out  forever  the  Shakchi  Humma  Nation. 
Only  one  of  the  whole  tribe  was  left,  and  that  one  was  a 
young  girl  about  sixteen  or  eighteen  years  of  ag*e,  who  was 
spared  on  account  of  her  wonderful  beauty.  She  was  adopt 
ed  by  the  Choctaws,  and  lived  to  be  nearly  or  quite  a  hun 
dred  years  old,  and  was  living  some  years  after  the  advent 
of  the  missionaries  among  them.  Mr.  H.  Peden,  who  lived 
fourteen  miles  from  Hebron,  the  home  of  Mr.  Calvin  Cush- 
man,  stated  that  Mr.  P.  P.  Pitchlynn,  who  had  often  spoken 
to  him  of  this  old  Shakchi  Humma  captive,  one  day  pointed- 
her  out  to  him  at  a  religious  meeting  of  the  Choctaws.  Mr. 
Peden  stated  that  she  was  the  oldest  looking  human  being 
that  he  had  ever  seen,  and  from  her  appearance,  he  judged 
her  to  be  over  a  century  old.  She  died  a  few  years  before 
the  venerable  old  warrior,  Stahenka;  but  lived  to  hear  the 
tidings  of  the  Cross  preached  to  her  race,  though  the  only 
survivor  of  her  own  tribe,  exterminated  in  the  bright  morn 
of  her  youthful  but  eventful  life.  Alas,  the  single  combats 
of  the  heroes  of  history  or  fable  may  amusev  the  fancy  and 
engag'e  the  admiration;  the  skillful  evolutions  of  war  may 
inform  the  mind;  but  in  the  uniform  and  terrible  picture  of 
a  general  assault,  all  is  blood,  horror  and  desolation;  nor  shall 
I  further  attempt  to  delineate,  at  the  distance  of  nearly  two 
centuries,  a  scene  at  which  the  actors  themselves  were  in 
capable  of  forming  any  just  or  adequate  idea.  But  such  is 
the  only  history  of  the  Shakchi  Hummas  whose  blood  still 
runs  in  the  veins  of  a  few  Choctaws — descendants  of  the  girl 
saved  at  the  tragic  destruction  of  her  tribe — one  of  whom 
.became  a  chief  of  the  Choctaws  and  died  in  1884  at  his  home 


246  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

a  few  miles  east  of  Atoka,  Choctaw  Nation,  Indian  Territory.. 
His  name  is  Coleman  Cole.      ,  %          . 

The  Choctaws,  like  all  of 'their  race,  had  no'written.  laws, 
and  their  government  rested  alone  on  custom  and  usage, 
growing-  out  of  their  possessions  and  their  wants  ;  yet  was 
conducted  so  harmoniously  by  the  influence  of  their  native 
genius  and  experience,  that  'one  would  hardly  believe 
that  human  society  could  be  maintained  with  so 
little  artifice.  As  they  had  no  money,  their  traffic  con 
sisted  alone  in  mutual  exchang-e  of  all  commodities  ;  as 
there  was  no  employment  of  others  for  hire,  there 
were  no  contracts,  hence  judges  and  lawyers,  sheriffs 
and  jails  were  unknown  among  them.  There  were  no  beg 
gars,  no  wandering  tramps,  no  orphan  children  unprovided 
for  in  their  country,  and  deformity  was  almost  unknown, 
proving  that  nature  in  the  wild  forest  of  the  wilderness  is 
true  to  her  type.  Their  chief  had  no  crown,  110  sceptre,  no 
body  guards,  no  outward  symbols  of  authority,  nor  power  to 
give  validity  to  their  commands,  but  sustained  their  author 
ity  alone  upon  the  good  opinion  of  their  tribe.  No  Choctaw 
ever  worshipped  his  fellow  man,  or  submitted  his  will  to  the 
humiliating  subordinations  of  another,  but  with  that  senti 
ment  of  devotion  that  passed  bevorid  the  region  of  humanity, 
and  brought  him  in  direct  contact  with  nature  and  the  imag 
inary  beings  by  whom  it  was  controlled,  which  he  divined  but 
could  not  fathom;  to  these,  and  these  alone,  he  paid  his  hom 
age,  invoking  their  protection  in  war  and  their  aid  in  the 
chase. 

The  ancient  Choctaws  believed,  and  those  of  the  present 
day  believe,  and  I  was  informed  bv  Governor  Basil  LeFlore,. 
in  1884,  isince  deceased)  that  there  is  an  appointed  time  for 
every  one  to  die;  hence  suicide  appeared  to  them,  as  an  act 
of  the  meanest  cowardice.  Though  thev  regarded  it  as  a 
sacrilege  to  mention  the  names  of  their  dead,  still  they  spoke 
of  their  own  approaching  death  with  calmness  and  tran- 
quility.  No  people  on  earth  paid  more  respect  to  their  dead, 
than  the  Choctaws  did  and  still  do;  or  preserved  with  more 
affectionate  veneration  the  graves  of  their  ancestors.  They 
were  to  them  as  holy  relics,  the  only  pledges  of  their  history; 
hence,  accursed  was  he  who  shouldfdespoil  the  dead.  They 
had  but  a  vague  idea  of  future  rewards  and  punishments. 
To  them  a  future  life  was  a  free  gift  of  the  GreatjSpirit,  and 
the  portals  of  the  happy  hunting  grounds  would  be  opened 
to  them,  in  accordance  as  their  life  had  been  meritorious  as 
a  brave  warrior.  They  were  utterly  ignorant  of  the  idea  of 
a  general  resurrection,  and  it  was  difficult  for  them  to  be  in 
duced  to  believe  that  the  body  would  again  be  raised  up. 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  247 

But  to-day  finds  the  Choctaws  advanced  in  knowledge  and 
improvement,  which  has  produced  a  revolution  in  their  moral 
and  intellectual  condition  and  in  the  current  of  their  thoughts 
and  ideas.  Though  seemingly  slow  to  many  has  been  their 
progress,  yet  not  more  so  than  other  nations.  For  it  must 
be  remembered,  that  to-day  there  are  many  nations  on  the 
eastern  continent,  where  a  knowledge  of  letters  has  been 
known  for  centuries,  and  whose  intellectual  advantages  have 
been  much  superior  to  that  of  the  North  American  Indians, 
who  have  not  yet  reached  that  moral  and  intellectual  culture 
that  many  tribes  of  the  Indians  have.  It  required  over  2000, 
years  for  us  to  rise  from  a  state  of  savage  barbarity  to  our 
present  state  of  advancement,  though,  'tis  true  they  have 
had,  to  a  small  extent,  the  advantages  of  pur  civilization;  but 
when  we  take  into  consideration  the  great  disadvantages 
which  even  the  five  civilized  tribes  have  labored  under  and 
the  many  oppositions  they  have  had  to  encounter  from  first 
to  last,  in  their  commendable  efforts  to  moral  and  intellectual 
improvement,  (though  enjoying  the  advantages  of  the  teach 
ings  of  the  faithful  and  noble  missionary  for  half  a  century) 
from  the  corrupting  influences  and  pernicious  examples  of 
the  base  white  men  who  have  ever  cursed  their  country,  even 
as  fated  Egypt  of  old  was  cursed  by  the  visitations  of  the 
locusts,  frogs  and  lice,  we  have  just  and  good  reasons  to  be 
surprised  that  they  have  made  the  progress  they  have. 

As  a  proof  of  the  Indian's  love  of  country  and  the  scenes 
of  his  childhood,  so  cruelly  denied  him  by  his  oppressors,  I 
will  state  that  a  few  years  after 'they  had  moved  west,  a  few 
Choctaw  warriors,  seemingly  unable  to  resist  the  desire  of 
once  more  looking  upon  the  remembered  scenes  of  the  un- 
forgotteii  past,  returned  to  the  homes  of  their  youth;  for 
a  few  weeks  they  lingered  around,  the  very  .personification 
of  hopeless  woe,  with  a  peculiar  something  in  their  manner 
and  appearance,  which  seemed  to  speak  their  thoughts  as 
absently  following  a  long  dream  that  was  leading  them  to 
the  extreme  limits  of  their  once  interminable  fatherland. 
But  their  souls  could  not  brook  the  change,  or  the  ways  of 
the  pale-face.  They  gazed  awhile,  as  strangers  in  a  strange 
land,  then  turned  in  silence  and  sorrow  from  the  loved  vision 
they  never  would  enjoy  or  look  upon  again,  but  which  they 
never  would  forget,  and  once  more  directed  their  steps  to 
ward  the  setting  sun  and  were  seen  no  more.  But  nothing 
strange  in  this;  for  who  does  not  delight,  even  in  after  years, 
to  return  to  the  well  remembered  walks  of  early  life!  the 
touch  of  the  long  vanished  hands,  and  the  echo  of  the  voices, 
that  are  hushed,  all  seem  to  return,  reminding  us  in  touch 
ing  accents  of  unutterable  pathos,  of  the  days  that  are  no 


248  HISTORt  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

more!  again  are  we  united  with  the  days  of  childhood,  call 
ing  up  by-gone  joys.  Truly,  what  a  hallowing  glory  invests 
our  past,  beckoning  us  back  to  the  haunts  of  boyhood's  days! 
again  the  songs  we  sang  sweep  o'er  the  harp  of  memory  in 
tones  of  sweetest  melody!  again  the  faces  that  early  weht 
down  to  the  tomb,  that  cheerless  habitation  of  the  dead, 
smile  on  us  with  unchanging  love  and  tenderness.  The 
past!  To  every  heart,  what  a  fairy  land.  Who  would  not 
keep  the  memory  of  those  days  unsullied,  unalloyed  from 
those  that  raise  a  sadness  in  the  soul!  Ah!  as  a  token  from 
some  lost  loved  one,  whose  name  is  only  spoken  within  the 
secrets  of  the  heart,  would  I  cherish  and  keep  them  with 
'memories  that  never  die. 

The  Indians  have  ever  been  termed  a  nomadic  race,  and 
as  such  have  been  represented  by  all  who  have  written  about 
them.  There  certainly  never  has  a  greater  error  been  pro 
mulgated  about  any  people.  I  refer  to  the  southern  Indians 
who  formerly  lived  east  of  the  Mississippi  river.  How  far 
the  Indians  of  the  western  plains  may  merit  the  title,  I 
will  not  attempt  to  judge,  being  but  little  acquainted  with 
their  habits  and  customs,  ancient  or  modern.  But  I  have  no 
fears  in  saying  that  no  people  merited  less  the  appellation, 
nomadic,  than  those  who  formerly  dwelt  east  of  the  Missis 
sippi  river.  Webster,  the  standard  authority,  gives  the  defi 
nition  of  nomadic -as  signifying,  "Moving  from  place  to 
place,"  and  how  that  word  could  in  any  way  justly  be  ap 
plied  to  the  Choctaw',  Chickasaw  and  Muscogee  Indians,  who 
were  never  known  to  move  in  the  knowledge  of  the  whites, 
'until  moved  by  them  from  their  ancient  domains  to  their 
present  location,  is  a  difficult  matter  to  comprehend.  In 
15^0,  De  Soto  found  them  in  the  very  spot  from  which  the 
government  moved  them  in  1832,  1836,  and  1840.  In  1623, 
the  early  settlers  of  Virginia  found  them  exactly  where  De 
Soto  had  left  them.  When  the  French  established  them 
selves  in  Mobile,  Alabama,  they  found  them  still  where  the 
Viginia  settlers  had  found  them.  In  1735,  the  Carolina 
traders  found  them  exactly  where  De  Soto,  the  Virginians 
and  the  French  had  found  them.  In  1744,  Adair  found  them 
still  where  De  Soto,  the  Virginians,  the  French,  and  the 
Carolina  traders,  had  found  them,  and  lived  among  the 
Chickasaws  thirty  years.  In  1771,  Roman  still  found  them 
at  the  very  place  where  De  Soto,  the  Virginians,  the  French, 
the  Carolina  traders  and  Adair,  had  found  them;  and  states, 
in  his  travels  through  the  Choctaw  Nation,  he  passed 
through  seventy  of  their  towns.  In  1815,  the  missionaries 
still  found  them  exactly  where  De  Soto,  the  Virginians,  the 
French,  the  Carolinian  traders,  Adair,  d.nd  Roman  had  found 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS  249 

-them.     In  1832,  the  United  States   Government   found  them 
still  where  De  Soto,  the  Virginians,    the    French,    the   Caro 
lina  traders,  Adair,  Roman,    and  the  missionaries  had  found 
them,  and  moved   them   to   their   present   place   of  abode  in 
1832;  and  1899,  A.  D.  finds  them  just  where  the  government 
put  them  sixty-seven  years  ago.     So  they  have  "moved  from 
place  to  place/'  once  in  359   years,   and    then   moved    by  the 
force  of  arbitrary  power,  they  are  called  nomadic. 
Of  the  Indians  it  may  be  truly  said: 
t 

"But  on  the  natives  of  that  land  misused, 

Not  long  the  silence  of   amazement  hung, 
Nor  brooked  they  long  their  friendly  faith  abused; 
For  with  a  common  shriek,  the  general  tongue 
Exclaimed,  'to  arms  !'  and  fast  to  arms  they  sprung." 

They  were  truly  men  of  the  past,  as  well  as  men  of  the 
woods,  yet  noble  and  true,  glorying  in  their  ancestors,  and 
living  in  their  deeds  by  reverencing  what  they  had  handed 
clown  to  them. 

The  Choctaws,  from  their  earliest  history,  have  ever 
maintained  their  independence,  and  their  love  of  country, 
amounting  to  almost  idolatry,  which  cannot  be  described  by 
words;  and,  in  defending  it,  they  utterly  despised  danger 
and  mocked  at  fear. 

Having  no  alphabet  nor  written  language,  their  know 
ledge  was  conveyed  to  the  eye  by  rude  imitation.  In  the 
pictures  of  various  animals  which  had  been  drawn  on  s-mooth 
substance,  a  piece  of  bark,  or  tree,  there  he  recognized  a 
symbol  of  his  tribe;  and  in  these  various  figures,  which  he' 
saw  sketched  here  and  there,  he  re,ad  messages  from  his 
friends.  The  rudest  painting,  though  silent  and  unintelligi 
ble  to  the  white  man,  told  its  tale  to  the  Choctaws.  He 
abhorred  restraint  of  any  kind,  while  liberty,  free  and  un 
restrained,  was  the  ruling  passion  of  his  soul;  the  natural 
and  unrestrained  propensities,  of  his  wild  nature  were  his 
system  of  morals,  to  which  he  firmly  adhered  and  tenaciously 
followed.  They  had  no  calendar,  but  reckoned  time  thus: 
The  months,  by  the  full  or  crescents  moons;  the  years  by 
the  killing  of  the  vegetation  by  the  wintry  frosts.  Thus,  for 
two  years  ago  the  Choc  taw  would  say:  Hushuk  (grass)  illi 
-(dead)  tuklo  (twice);  literally,  grass  killed  twice,  or,  more 
properly,  two  killings  of  the  grass  ago.  The  sun  was  called 
Nittak  hushi — the  Day-sun;  and  the  moon,  Neuak  hushi, 
\he  Night-sun  and  sometimes,  Tekchi  hushi  — the  Wife 
•of  the  sun.  Their  almanac  was  kept  by  the  flight  of 
the  fowls  of  the  air;  whose  coming  and  going  announced  to 
Ihem  the  progress  of  the  advancing  and  departing 


250  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

seasons.  Thus  the  fowls  of  the  air  announced  to  the  then 
blessed  and  happy  Choctaw  the  progress  of  the  seasons, 
while  the  beasts. "of  the  field  gave  to  him  warning-  of  the 
gathering  and  approaching  storm,  and  the  sun  marked  to 
him  the  hour  of  the  day;  and  so  the  changes  of  time  were 
noted,  not  by  figures,  but  by  days,  sleeps,  suns  and  moons- 
signs  that  spoke  the  beauty  and  poetry  of  nature.  If  a  shorter 
time  than  a  day  was  required  to  be  indicated  two  parallel 
lines  were  drawn  on  the  ground,  a  certain  distance  apart, 
then  pointing  to  the  sun  he  would  say:  "It  is  as  long  as  it 
would  take  the  sun  to  move  from  there  to  there."  The  time 
indicated  by  the  moon  was  from  its  full  to  the  next;  that  of 
the  year,  from  winter  to  winter  again,  or  from  summer  to 
summer.  To  keep  appointments,  a  bundle  of  sticks  contain 
ing  the  exact  number  of  sticks  as  there  were  days  from  the 
day  of  appointment  to  the  appointed,  was  kept;  and  every 
morning  one  was  taken  out  and  thrown  away,  the  last  stick 
announced  the  arrival  of  the  appointed.  This  bundle  of 
twigs  was  called  Fuli  (sticks)  kauah  (broken)  broken  sticks. 

The  abundant  game  of  his  magnificent  and  wide  extended 
forests,  which  he  never  killed  in  wanton  sport,  no  more  than 
a  white  man  would  kill  his  cattle,  but  only  as  his  necessities 
demanded,  together  with  the  fish  of  his  beautiful  streams, 
his  fields  of  corn,  potatoes,  beans,  with  that  of  the  inexhaus 
tible  supplies  of  spring  and  summer  berries  of  fine  variety 
and  flavor,  and  winter  nuts,  all  united  to 'consummate  his 
earthly  bliss  in  rendering  him  a  successful  huntsman, 
a  good  fisherman,  and  cheerful  tiller  of  the  ground. 
The  Choctaws  have  long  been  known  to  excel  all  the  North 
American  Indians  in  agriculture,  subsisting  to  a  considerable 
extent  on  the  produce  of  their  fields.  In  mental  capacity  the 
Choctaws,  as  a  race  of  people,  both  ancient  and  modern, were 
and  are  not  inferior  to  the  whites;  and  their'  domestic  life, 
as  I  know  them  seventy  years  ago,  would  sustain  in  many 
respects,  a  fair  comparison  with  average  civilized  white  com 
munities.  Their  perspective  faculties  were  truly  wonder 
ful;  and  the  Choctaws  of  to-day,  to  whom  the  advantages  of 
an  education  have  been  extended,  have  given  indisputable 
evidence  of  as  great  capacity  for  a  high  order  of  education 
as  any  people  on  earth,  I  care  not  of  what  nationality. 

There  were  no  degrees  of  society  among  them,  no  dif 
ference  in  social  gatherings;  all  felt  themselves  equal,  of  the 
same  standing  and  on  the  same  terms  of  social  equality. 
And  it  is  the  same  to  day.  They  had  no  sur-names,yet  their 
names  were  peculiar,  and  most  always  significant,  express 
ive  of  some  particular  action  or  incident;  even  as  the  names 
given  to  their  hills,  rivers,  creeks,  towns  and  villages.  As- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  251 

those  of  ancient,  classic  fame  in  the  eastern  world,  so  to  the 
superstitious  mind  of  the  Choctaw  of  the  western  world, 
caused  him  also  to  regard  the  sudden  appearance  of  certain 
birds  and  their  chirping's  and  twittering's,  the  howl  of  the 
wolf  and  thelonely  hootof  the  owl,  as  omens  of  evil,  whileothers, 
asomensof  good;  the  spiritual  significance  of  which,  however, 
he  interpreted  according  to  the  dictation  of  his  own  judg 
ment,  instead  of  that  of  an  augur  differing  in  this  particular 
from  his  ancient  brothers  of  Rome  and  Greece;  yet  like  them 
he  undertook  no  important  enterprise  without  first  consult 
ing  his  trusted  signs,  whether  auspicious  or  otherwise.  If 
the  former,  he  hesitated  not  its  undertaking;  if  the  latter,  no 
inducement  could  be  offered  that  would  prevail  upon  him  to* 
undertake  it;  but  he  returned  to  his  cabin  and  there  re 
mained  for  favorable  omens. 

But  how  far  mav  be  found  a  more  just  cause  for  admi 
ration  of  the  religious  superstitions  of  the  ancient  Romans 
and  Grecians  than  that  of  the  North  American  Indians,  it  is 
difficult  to  see,  since  the  Indians,  alike  with  them,  acknowl 
edged,  everywhere  in  nature,  the  presence  of  invisible  be 
ings;  and  it 'was  the  firm  belief  that  his  interests  were  under 
the  special  care  of  the  Great  and  Good  Spirit  that  the  Choc- 
taw  warrior  went  upon  the  war-path,  and  the  hunter  sought 
the  solitudes  of  his  native  forests  in  search  of  his  game;  and 
that  his  career  in  life  was  marked  out  for  him  by  a  decree 
that  could  not  be  altered.  True,  he  was  free  to  act,  but  the 
consequences  of  those  actions  were  fixed  beforehand;  his 
daily  food,  life,  joys,  all,  everything,  were  acknowledged  as 
coming  from  the  Great  Spirit,  who  knew  all  things  and  im 
parted  his  wisdom  to  man;  rewarded  good  deeds  and  pun 
ished  crimes;  implanted  unwritten  laws  of  right  and  wrong 
on  the  human  heart,  and  unfolded  to  him  coming  events- 
through  dreams.  The  mystery  of  nature  had  its  influence 
upon  the  untutored  minds  of  all  Indians,  as  well  as  its  phe 
nomena  upon  his  senses;  which,  to  them,  were  represented 
by  the  inferior  spirits  that  surround  the  Great  Spirit,  who 
was  the 'all-controlling  deity;  and  to  Him  they  all  turned  in 
gratitude  for  blessings,  and  for  aid  in  all  the  affairs  of  life. 
Surely,  it  is  the  part  of  humanity  in  us,  who  have  lived  under 
a  higher  dispensation,  in  tracing  the  deep  influences  that 
the  mythology  of  this  strange,  wonderful  and  peculiar  peo 
ple  had  over  them ;> to  admire  rather  than  condemn  without 
admitting  the  many  extenuating  circumstances.  And 
though  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Indians,  by  which 
they  expressed  their  belief  in  their  dependence  on  the  Great 
Spirit,  was  made  in  offerings  of  corn,  bread,  fruits,  etc,  in 
stead  of  the  sacrifices  of  animals;  and  sought  omens  in  the 


252  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

actions  of  living-  animals,  instead  of  an  augury  in  the  entrails 
of  dead  animals;  yet  the  sincere  feelings  of  piety,  of  grati 
tude  and  dependence,  which  gave  origin  to  those  offerings, 
gave  origin  also  to  that  universal  habit  of  self-examination 
.  and  secret  prayer  to  the  great  Spirit,  so  characteristic  of  the 
Indian  race.  They  believed  that  the  Great  Spirit  communi 
cated  his  will  to  man  in  dreams,  in  thunder  and  lightning, 
eclipses,  meteors,  comets,  in  all  the  prodigies  of  nature,  and 
the  thousands  of  unexpected'  incidents  that  occur  to  man. 
Could  it  be  otherwise  expected  from  those  who  walked  by 
the  light  of  nature  alone?  And  though  few  assumed  to  have 
attained  the  power  of  revealing  the  import  of  these  signs  and 
wonders,  yet  many  sought  the  coveted  prize  but  found  it  not, 
therefore,  became  self-constituted  prophets,  but  remained 
silent  as  to  the  character  and  functions  of  the  spirits  with 
whom  thev  held  their  mysterious  intercourse,  thus  leaving 
little  foundation  by  which  to  identify  their  mythology.  But 
that  they  derived  their  religious  beliefs  from  the  common 
seed  with  which  man  first  started,  there  can  be  no  doubt; 
but  ere  it  had  developed  to  any  extent  they  strayed  from  the 
parent  stock,  and  it  assumed  different  aspects  under  differ- 
en  circumstances,  during  the  long  period  of  isolation  that  en 
sued.  Still,  we  find  existing  everywhere  among  mankind 
the  same  sensitiveness  to  the  phenomena  of  nature,  and  the 
same  readiness  and  power  of  imagining  invisible  beings  as 
the  cause  of  these  phenomena. 

The  tendency  of  the  Indian  mind  was  thoroughly  prac 
tical,  stern  and  unbending,  it  was  not  filled  with  images  of 
poetry  nor  high  strung*  conceptions  of  fancy.  He  struggled 
for  what  was  immediate,  the  war  path,  the  chase  and  council 
life;  but  when  not  engaged  therein, -the  life  of  the  national 
games,  under  the  head  of  social  amusements,  filled  up  the 
measure  of  his  days — the  ball  plav,  horse-race,  foot-race, 
jumping  and  wrestling — to  them  as  honorable  as  the  gym 
nastic  exercises  of  the  eastern  nations  of  antiquity;  enduring 
heat  and  cold,  suffering"  the  pang-s  of  hunger  and  thirst,  fa 
tigue  and  sleeplessness.  The  object  of  the  Indian  boy  also, 
was  to  gain  all  the  experience  possible  in  all  manly  exercises, 
therefore  at  an  early  age  he  went  in  search  of  adventures. 
Their  tribal  council  consisted  of  the  best,  wisest  and  most 
worthy  of  the  tribe.  A  fact  from  which  we  might  draw 
many  useful  lessons.  In  its  meetings,  the  most  important 
topics  of  their  country  were  the  subjects  of  their  delibera 
tions;  nor  was  the  question  ever  asked  in  regard  to  any  new 
question  presented  before  that  body,  "If  there  was  any  money 
in  it?"  the  good  of  their  common  country  was  the  only  thing 
•discussed  or  even  thought  of.  It  was  a  body,  which,  in  point 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  253 

of  true  dignity,  if  not  of  wisdom,  has  seldom  been  equalled 
and  never  surpassed;  and  which  was  regarded  the  supreme 
power  of  the  tribal  commonwealth.  They  had  but  few  laws, 
but  the  few  were  rigidly  enforced. 

There  were  many  natural  orators  among-  the  ancient 
Choctaws  when  living1  in  undisturbed  prosperity  amTMiappi- 
ness  east  of  the  Mississippi  river.  Their  orations  were 
very  concise,  animating  and  abounding  in  many  beautiful  meta 
phors;  and  who,  had  they  possessed  the  embellishments  of  a 
refined  education,  would  have  compared  well  with  any  race 
of  mankind  that  ever  existed.  v 

The  Choctaws,  like  all  their  race,  deliberated  with  great 
dignity  and  solemnity  on  national  affairs;  and  jn  all  their 
assemblies,  both,  national  and  social,  everything-  was  carried 
on  in  the  best  order  and  unassumed  decorum.  Their  treaties 
were  ratified  by  smoking-  the  pipe  of  peace — an  emblem 
respected,  honored,  and  held  sacred  ^by  all  Indians  every 
where.  As  with  all  their  race,  so  war  was,  in  the  estimation 
of  the  ancient- Choctaws,  the  most  patriotic  avocation  in  which 
a  man  could  engage;  they  seldom  began  a  war  with  another 
tribe,  but  rather  waited  for  an  attack,  then  no  braver  or  more 
resolute  warriors  ever  went  upon  the  war-path.  The  open 
ing  of  hostilities  was  alwas  preceded  by  the  famous  Hoyopa- 
hihla,  War-dance.  Night  was  the  chosen  time  for  engaging-  in 
that  time-honored  ceremony;  and  as  soon  as  evening-  began 
to  spreadher  dark  mantle  o'er  their  forests, ahuge  pile  of  dry 
logs  and  brush  previously  prepared  was  set  on  fire,  whose' 
glaring  and  crackling  flames  intermingling- with  their  hoyopa- 
taloah  (war-songs)  and  soul-stirring  hoyopa-tassuhah  (war- 
hoops)  presented  a  scene  as  wild  and  romantic  as  can  possi 
bly  be  imagined. 

The  manly  forms  of  the  dusky  warriors  with  their  paint 
ed  faces  illuminated  with  the  wildest  excitement;  the  huge 
fire  blazing  and  crackling  in  the  centre  of  the  Wide  extended 
circle  of  excited  dancers,  which,  now  and  then,  a  kick  from  a 
dancing  warrior,  caused  to  send  the  flames  and  sparks 
hig-h  up  among-  the  wide  extended  branches  of  the  mighty 
forest  trees  that  stood  around;  the  stern  visages  of  the  old 
warriors,  whom  age  and  decrepitude  had  long  since  placed 
upon  the  retired  list  from  further  duty  upon  the  war-path  or 
in  the  chase,  sitting-  around  in  little  groups  where  the  light 
of  the  burning  log-heap  disputed  precedency  with  the  gloom 
of  night,,  calm  and  silent  spectators  of  the  weird  scene  in 
which  they  could  no  lorijger  participate,  but  which  awakened 
thrilling-  memories  of  the  past;  the  Goddess  Minerva's  fav 
orite  birds,  allured  from  their  dark  abode?}  in  the  forest  by 
the  glaring  light,  flitted  here  and  there  overhead  through 


254  HISTORY    OF   THE   mDIANS. 

the  extended  branches  of  the  overshadowing-  oaks,  and  anon 
joined  in  \vith  their  voices,  to  which  in  wild  response,  the 
distant  howl  of  a  pack  of  roving-  wolves  filled  up  the  meas 
ure  of  the  awe  inspiring-  scene.  But  those  who  have  wit 
nessed  it  will  not  be  easily  satisfied  with  any  vain  attempt  to 
d,epict  it  on  paper;  and  those  who  have  not  will  hardly  have 
their  anticipations  realized  by  anything-  short  of  the  opportun 
ity  of  judging  for  themselves.  Therefore,  have  I  contented 
myself  with  giving  a  mere  outline  of  my  own  impressions;  for 
he  who  would  attempt  to  picture  a  Choctaw  Hoyopa-hihla,  as 
it  was  exhibited  seventy  years  ago  in  the  midnight  solitudes 
of  a  Mississippi  forest,  would  have  to  aim  at  condensation  and 
exaggeration  and  yet  expect  failure  in  both;  for  adjectives 
would' only  confuse  and'sentences  but  veil  the  scene;  besides 
any  description  that  could  be  made  would  not  express  the 
-thousandth  part  of  what  ought  to  be  said,  and  if  but  a  weak 
picture  was  drawn,  even  then  it  would  be  called  the  wrild  hal 
lucinations  of  a  disordered  brain.  But  that  the  reader  may 
be  able  to  form  a  faint  idea  of  the  scene,  I  know  of  nothing 
more  appropriate,  (judging  from  what  I  have  read  and  also 
been  told  by  eye  witnesses)  to  which  it  ma}'  be  compared, 
than  a  Chicago  political  convention  of  the  present  age,  with 
this  exception  however;  the  yells  of  the  Indian  squaws  were 
not  heard  intermingling  with  the  war-whoops  of  the. forest 
warriors  in  wild  cadences  of  the  war-dance,  as  the  yells  of 
the  white  squaws  are  heard  mingling  with  the  political 
whoops  of  the  white  warriors  in  the  crazed  scenes  of  the  con 
ventional  dance. 

On  the  return  of  a  successful  war-path,  the  village  at 
once  became  the  scene  of  festivity  and  triumph.  The  varied 
trophies — scalps,  painted  shields,  etc.,  were  hung  on  poles 
near  the  houses.  Then  followed  war-feasts,  scalp-dances, 
.accompanied  with  war-songs  and  shouts  of  victory,-  while  the 
old  men  went  from  house  to  house  rehearsing  in 'a'  loud  tone 
•of  voice  the  events  of  the  battle  and  the  various  daring  ex 
ploits  of  the  warriors.  But,  amid  all  this,  sounds  of  another 
kind  were  also  heard  mingling  in  discordant  tones  with  those 
of  joy;  they  were  the  piteous  wailings  of  the  women  borne 
upon  the  air  from  the  surrounding  hills,  where  they  had 
retired  to  mourn  in  darkness  and  solitude  for  their  slain  in 
battle.  There  the  mother,  wife  and  sister  gave  full  sway  to 
the  anguish  of  their  hearts;  reminding  the  intelligent  hearer 
o£  that  affecting  pasasage  of  Scripture,  "In  Rama  was  there 
a  voice  heard,  lamentation,  and  weeping,  and  great  mourning, 
Rachel  weeping  for  her  children  and  would  not  be  comforted 
because  they  were  not." 

As  all  nations  of  the  human  family,  so   the    Choctaws   of 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  255 

both  sexes  delighted  in  ornaments.  Though  the  Choctaw 
warrior,  in  his  training"  for  the  duties  of  manhood,  inured 
himself  to  fatigue  and  privation, and  in  defense  of  his  country 
and  home,  and  resenting  an  insult,  was  as  brave  as  bravery 
itself;  yet  he  was  fond  of  admiring  himself  before  a  mirror 
when  arrayed  in  the  paraphernalia  of  Choctaw  fashion;  i.  e.  a 
red  turban,  highly  decorated  writh  the  gay  plumage  of  various 
kinds  of  birds  encircling  his  head;  with  face  painted  accord- 
to  Choctaw  etiquette;  with  crescents  of  highly  polished  tin 
supended  from  his  neck  and  extending  in  regular  order 
from  the  chin  to  the  waist;  with  shining  bracelets  of  the  same 
metal  encircling  his  wrists  and  arms  above  the  elbows;  with 
a  broad  belt  around  his  waist,  tastily  interwoven  with 
innumerable  little  beads  of  every  gay  and  flashing  color; 
with  feet  encased  in  moccasins  soft  and  pliant,  and  highly 
decorated  with  little  beads  of  sparkling  hue.  did  the  young 
Choctaw  warrior  walk  forth  among  the  admiring  beauties  of 
his  tribe  as  much  the  personification  of  a  modern,  first-class, 
white  dude,  complete  and  perfect,  as  ever  contested  for  the 
honor  of  superiority  in  the  "laudable"  occupation;,  yielding 
the  palm  of  victor}7  to  his  pale-face  brother  disputant,  only  in 
the  "gift  of  continuance;1'  since  the  Choctaw,  after  indulging 
in  momentary  paroxysms  of  self-admiration,  .turned  from  his 
mirror,  doffed  his  effeminate  plumage  to  soon  forget  what 
manner  of  man  he  appeared,  since  the  thought  of  his  noble 
aspirations  and  strivings  returned  to  excel  as  a  warrior  and 
conselor  in  his  nation,  but  leaving  his  pale-face  opponent 
master  of  the  field  to  live  and  die  contented  and  happ}-  in  his 
imbecility. 

The  Choctaws  were  strong  in  their  belief  in  the  exist 
ence  of  hat-tak  holth-kun-a  Twitches);  even  as  our  own  "en- 
-Tightened"  ancestors  in  the  days  of  Cotton  Mather — differ 
ing,  however,  in  this  particular;  the  Choctaws  selected  old 
and  decrepit  women  as  victims  of  their  superstitions,  wrhile 
their  white  brothers,  whose  boasted  civilization  had  rendered 
a  little  more  fastidious,  manifested  their  superiority  in 
intellectual  attainments  over  the  Indians,  by  selecting  the 
young  as  the  victims  of  their  wild  theories.  But  ghosts 
and  witches. have'  long  since  been  to  the  Choctaws  as  things 
r>f  the  forgotten  past. 

The  restless  and  fertile  imagination  of  the  Choctaws, 
.as  well  as  all  their  race,  peopled  with  beings  of  a  higher  or 
der  than  themselves  the  mountains,  plains,  woods,  lakes, 
fountains  and  streams.  But  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  man, 
the  one  generally  accepted  among  the  Choctaws,  as  well  as 
many  other  tribes  was  that  man  and  all  other  forms  of  life 
had  originated  froin^  the  common  mother  earth  through  the 


256  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

agency  of  the  Great  Spirit;  but  believed  that 'the,lruman  race- 
sprang-  from  many  different  primeval  pairs  created  by  the 
Great  Spirit  in  the  various  parts  of  the  earth  in  which  man 
was  found;  and  according  to  the  different  natural  features  of 
the  world  in  which  man  abode,  so  their  views  varied  with 
regard  'to  the  substance  of  which  man  was  created;  in  a 
country  of  vast  forests,  they  believed  the  primeval  pair,  o'r 
pairs,  sprang  from  the  trees;  in  a  mountainous  and  rocky 
district  of  country,  they  sprang  from  the  rocks;  in  valleys 
and  prairies,  from  the  earth;  but  their  views  as  to  the  time 
this  creation  of  man  took  place,  whether  at  the  same  time 
throughout  the  various  inhabited  regions  or  at  different 
periods,  their  traditions  are  silent. 

To  the  unlettered  and  untutored  mind  of  man  through 
out' the  world,  all  things  are  endowed  with  individuality  and 
life;  from  which  arose,  no  doubt,  the  great  number  of  mystic 
conceptions,  regarding  the  sun,  moon,  stars,  clouds,  winds 
and  storms,  as  being  animate  bodies,  possessing  life  as  all 
animate  creatures.  The  traditions  of  some  of  the  North 
American  Indian  tribes  are  said  to  state,  that  the  sun  was 
once  caught  in  a  snare  by  a  great  hunter,  and  was  set  free 
by  the  moles,  but  at  the  loss  of  their  eyes  from  its  intense 
light,  and  have  ever  since  been  blind.  Perhaps  the  primi 
tive  fathers  of  those  tribes  possessed  sonie  knowledge  of 
Joshua's  command  to  the  orb  of  day.  Brinton  states  in  his 
"Myths  of  the  New  World,"  page  55,  that  the  legend  of  the 
Peruvian  Incas,  in  regard  to  the  sun,  is\  "He  is  like  a  teth 
ered  beast  who  makes  a  daily  round  under  the  eye  of  a 
master."  Many  of  the  North  American  Indian  tribes  be-  . 
lieved,  in  regard  to  the  eclipse  of  "the  sun  and  moon,  that 
some  animal,  wolf,  dog,  etc.,  was  devouring  the  sun,  and' 
ma.de  every  effort  to  drive  him  away.  Some  whipped  their 
own  dogs  during  an  eclipse  because  a  "Big  dog"  was  eating 
the  sun  or  moon,  and  believed  the  "Big  dog"  might  be  in 
duced  to  postpone  his  meal  by  the  howls  of  their  whipped 
curs. 

p?he  ancient  Choctaws  believed  an  eclipse  was  caused  by 
a  little  black  squirrel,  which  had  resolved  to  devour  the  sun, 
and  which  could  only  be  saved  from  the  little  gormandizer 
by  frightening  him  away  by  a  great  noise,  to  which  I  have, 
more  than  once,  been  an  eye  witness,  and  to  the  modus  oper- 
randi  adopted  to  give'him  a  scare;  and  also  testify  from  ex 
perience  as  to  the  virtues  of  the  music;  at  least  the  sun  came 
out  all  right;  but  as  to  the  strict  adherence  to  the  accepted 
rules  of  harmony  during  the  performance,  I  will  write  more 
definitely  on  some  other  page.  It  is  also  stated,  that  the 
South  American  Indians  believed  that  the  moon,  when  in  an 


HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS  257 

eclipse,  was  being"  devoured  by  dog's,  and,  to  scare  them  off,, 
the  natives,  made  a  great  noise.  (Tyler,  "Culture,"  Vol.  1, 
p.  296.)  Also  of  the  African  Moors,  says  Grimm,  "Teuto 
nic  Mythology,"  Vol,  2,  p.  707.  When  the  sun  eclipse  was  at 
its  highest,  we  saw  the  people  running-  about  as  if  mad,  and 
firing  their  guns  at  the  sun,  to  frighten  the  monster  who, 
they  supposed,  was  wishing  to  devour  i^ie  orb  of  day.  The 
women  banged  copper  vessels  together,  making  such  a  din 
that  it  was  heard  miles  away."  ( 

A  legend  of  the  Mongolians  states  that  a  monster  con 
tinually  pursues  the  sun  and  moon,  and  when  overtaking  the 
one  or  the  other  an  eclipse  is  the  result.  The  Chinese  be 
lieve,  even  at  the  present  day,  the  sun  and  moon  are  being 
devoured  by  a  great  dragon  during  an  eclipse.  During  the 
eclipse  of  the  sun  in  1887,  the  Chinese  authorities,  in  accord 
ance  with  the  usage  of  the  empire,  commanded  the  Buddhist 
and  Tauist  priests  to  perform  their  incantations  to  rescue 
thejsun "from  the  jaws  of  a  devouring  monster.  It  was  at 
the  time  of  the  celebration  of  the  Emperor's  birthday, 
when  all  the  officials  were  required  to  wear  embroidered 
robes;  but  it  is  also  the  law  that  during  an  eclipse  officials 
who  participate  in  the  ceremonies  must  wear  ordinary 
clothing  until  the  sun  is  rescued.  An  edict  had  to  be  ob 
tained  from  the  Emperor  to  settle  it.  He  ordered  the  offi 
cials  to  ignore  .his  birthday  and  attend  to  the  wants  of  th& 
sun.  So  they  all  wore  ordinary  clothes,  The  EstheJfflabtis. 
believed  the  sun  and  moon  were  being  eaten  during  art 
eclipse  by  som^  animal,  and  endeavored  to  frighten  it  away 
by  conjuring.  "The  Hindoos,  to  this  day,  -believe  that  a- 
giant  lays  hold  of  the  luminaries,  and  tries  to  swallow  t&em.. 
The.  Romans  flung  fire-brands  into  the  air  and  blew  trum 
pets  and  clanged  brazen  pots  and  pans."  During  an  eclipse 
in  the  17th  century  the  Celtics  "run  about  beating  kettles 
and  pans  thinking  their  clamor  and  vexations  available  to  the 
assistance  of  'the  higher  orbs."  (Tyler,  Op.  Cit.  p.  301.) 
So  also  it  is  s*aid  of  the  Northern  Asiatics,  and  of  the  Finns 
of  Eurdpe. 

N     The  traditions  of  the  Polynesians  state  that  Mauiand  his 
brothers  thought  the  sun  went  too  fast  for  their  convenience 
and    determined  to    check  him;  therefore,  they  made  strong-' 
ropes,  and  then  went  "very  far  to  the  eastward,  and  came  to 
the   very   edge   of  the   place   out  . of   which   the   s>un   rises." 
There  they  placed  a  noose  to   catch  the  sun.     "He   rises  up 
his  head  passes  through  the   noose,  and  it  takes>in  more   and 
more  of   his   body,    uqftil  his  fore   paws  pass  Through;   then 
are    pulled    tight   the   ropes.     The   sun   screams   aloud;   he 
roars;  Maui  strikes  him   fiercely  'with   many  blows.     They 


258  I     HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

hold  him  for  a  long-  time;  at  last  they  let  him  go;  and  then 
weak  from  wounds  the  sun  crept  slowly  along-  his  course." 
(Grey's  Polynesian  Mythology,  p.  35-8.)  It  is  said,  however, 
that  there  are  different  versions  of  this  legend;  one,  that 
Maui  finally  released  the  sun;  another  that  he  still  has  him 
roped,  and  holds  him  in  check;  .and  the  Polynesians  still  be 
lieve  they  can-  see  the  ropes  at  the  rising  and  setting  of  the 
sun,  to  which  they  point  and  exclaim — "Behold  the  ropes  of 
Maui,"  while  we"  say,  "the  sun  is  drawing  water,"  both 
equally  absurd. 

The  Australians,  it  is  said,  regarded  the  sun  as  a  woman. 
"Every  night  she  descends  among  the  dead,  who  stand  in 
double  lines  to  greet  her  and  let  her  pass.  She  has  a  lover 
among  the  dead,  who  has  presented  her  with  a  red  kangaroo 
skin,  and  in  this  she  appears  at  her  rising."  To  us  how 
foolish,  yet  how  similar  to  our  own  ancestors,  who  regarded 
the  dawn  a  red  cow,  and  the  sun  her  calf.  (Zoological  Mytho 
logy,  Vol.  1,  p.  50.)  So  also  of  the  Vedas  whose  Ushas  (Dawn) 
"opens  the  darkness  as  a  cow  her  stall."  Hence  the  sacred- 
ness  of  the  cow  to  the  Hindoos  in  their  worship;  and  also,  it 
might  be  added,  the  red  heifer  among  the  Israelites.  (Num. 
19.) 

And  thus  it  appears  that  all  other  nations  of  mankind 
are,  and  have  been,  theorizers,  even  as  the  North  American 
Indians;  and  though  these  theories  were  crude  yet  they 
found  embodiment  in  stories  handed  down  to  posterity  as 
traditions  and  legends.  They  were  not  allegories,  but  man 
:in  his  primitive  state  endeavoring-  to  find  out  and  to  explain 
the  mysteries  of  nature  around  him;  and,  as  learning  -and 
intelligence  advanced,  these  absurdities  passed  alike  into 
forgeifulness.  So  it  is  evident,  we  have  little  ground  upon 
which  to  base  our  contempt  for  the  Indians  in  regard  to  their 
myths,  since  we  have  also  passed  through  the  same. 

The  Choctaws  had  several  classes  of  dignitaries  among 
-.them  who  were  held  in  the  hig'hest  reverence:  The  Medi 
cine  Man  or  Prophet,  the  Rain  Maker,  the  Doctor — a  verita 
ble  chip  of  Esculapius.  Well  indeed  did  each  fill  his  allotted 
position  in  life,  and  faithfully  discharge  the  mystic  duties 
appertaining  thereunto,  both  in  their  own  opinion  as  well  as 
that  of  their  people.  The  Choctaws'  Materia  Medica,  like 
all  their  race,  was  Nature,  herbs  and  roots  furnishing 
their  remedies  both  externally  and  internally;  and  the 
success  with  which  they  used  those  remedies  proved 
their  knowledge  of  the  healing  properties  of  the  various 
herbs  and  roots"  in,. which  their  extensive  forests  abounded. 
They  had  a  specific  for  the,  bite  of  the  sintullo  (rattle  snake). 
Their  doctors  relied  much  .  on  dry-cupping-,  using  their 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  259 

mouth  alone  in  all  such  cases.  Oft  have  I  witnessed  the 
Choctaw  physician,  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  administer 
ing  to  the  necessities  of  his  suffering-  patient  throug-h  the 
virtues  found  in  the  process  of  dry-cupping;.  Stretching  the 
sufferer  upon  a  blanket  spread  upon  the  ground,  he  kneeled 
beside  him  and  began  a  process  of  sucking  that  part  of  the 
body  of  which  the  patient  complained,  or  where,  in  his  own 
judgment,  the  disease  was  located,  making  a  guttural  noise 
during  the  operation  that  reminded  one  of  dog-  worrying-  an 
opossum;  at  different  intervals  raising  his  head  a  few  inches 
and  pretending'  to  deposit  into  his  hands,  alternately  in  the 
one  and  the  other,  an  invisible 'something  which  he  had 
drawn  from  his  patient,  by  a  magic  power-  known  alone  to 
himself. 

After  sucking  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to  nil  both 
hands,  judging  from  the  frequent  deposits  -  therein  made, 
-with  great  apparent  dignity  and  solemn  gravity,  this  worthy 
son  of  Esculapius  arose  and  stepping  to  the  nearest  tf  ee, 
post,  or  fence,  wiped  the  secret  contents  of  his  apparently 
full  hands  thereon;  then  with  an  air  of  marked  importance 
walked  away  to  the  enjoyments  of  his  own  reflections,  while 
the  sufferer,  in  real  or  fancied  relief,  acknowledged  the  efficacy 
of  the  physician's  healing  powers  by  ceasing  to  complain, 
turned  over  and  sought  forgetfulness  in  the  arms  of  refresh 
ing  sleep.  If  there  ensued  a  change  for  the  better  he  claimed 
the  honor  and  praise  as  due  the  noble  profession  of  which  he 
recognized  himself  a  worthy  and  important  member;  but  if 
the  disease  proved  stubborn  and  refused  to  yield  to  the  medi 
cinal  virtues  of  his  herbs,  roots  and\  dry-cupping,  he  turned 
to  his  last  resort — the  Anuka,  (Hot-house.)  This  edifice,  an 
important  adjunct  in  all  ChoctawT  villages,  was  made  of  logs 
rendered  nearly  air  tight  by  stopping  all  cracks  with  mortar. 
A  little  hole  was  left  on  one  side  for  an  entrance.  A  fire  was 
built  in  the  centre  of  this  narrow  enclosure,  and  soon  the 
temperature  within  was  raised  to  the  desired  degree,  then 
the  fire  wras  taken  out  and  the  patient  instructed  to  crawl  in; 
which  being  done,  the  little  opening  was  closed.  As  a  matter 
of  course,  the  patient  must  bake  or  sweat;  wrhich,  however, 
resulted  in  the  latter;  and  when,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Alikchi, 
(doctor)  he  had  undergone  a  thorough  sweating,  the  entrance 
was  opened,  and  the  patient  bidden  to  come  forth;  who,  upon 
his  exit,  at  once  runs  to  the  nearest  water  into  which  he 
plunged  head  first;  but  if  not  of  sufficient  amount  and  depth 
for  the  correct  performance  of  that  ceremony  to  its  fullest 
extent,  he  ducks  his  head  into  it  several  times,  thus  making 
practical  the  wholesome  theory  of  the  hygienist:  "Keep 
your  head  cool,  but  your  feet  warm."  In  case  of  common 


260  HISTORY^  OF    THE   INDIANS. 

intermittent  fever,  the  efficiency  of  this  mode  of  proceeding- 
(the  sweat  and  cold  bath)  was  truly  astonishing-,  seldom 
failing-  to  effect  a  cure. 

But  if  the  patient  died — ah,  then!  with  that  shrewdness 
pecular  to  all  quacks  the  world  over,  he  readily  found  a 
cause  upon  which  to  base  his  excuse  for  his  inefficacy  to 
effect  a  cure;  differing  somewhat,  however,  from  his  white 
brother  alikchi,  who  attributes  the  cause  of  his  failure  to 
innumerable  "where-as-es  and  ifs,"  while  he  openly  ackowl- 
edged  and  emphatically  declared  the  interposition  of  a  hat- 
tak  holth-kun-na  (witch),  which  counteracting  the  beneficial 
virtues  of  his  remedies,  had  caused  the  death  of  his  patient 
by  thus  placing  him  beyond  the  reach  of  mortal  skill,  noth 
ing  more  nor  less.  Sometimes,  for  the  sake  of  variety,  he 
attributed  the  death  of  his  patient,  if  occurring  very  sudden 
ly,  to  an  Ish  tulbih  (witch  ball)  shot  from  an  invisible  rifle  in 
the  hands  of  a  witch.  At  this  important  juncture  of  affairs, 
it  now  becomes  his  duty  to  find  the  witch  that  he,  she,  or  it, 
may  be  brought  to  pay  the  penalty  of  the  law  in  all  such 
cases — death.  As  a  matter  of  course,  the  doctor,  not  very 
scrupulous  in  the  matter  of  shifting- the  blame  from  his  own 
shoulders  to  that  of  another — so  natural  to  all  mankind— 
easily  found  a  witch  in  the  person  of  some  attenuated  bid 
woman,  whom  he  designated  as  the  guilty  party,  and  who 
consequently  was  immediately  slain  by  the  relatives  of  the 
deceased;  an  illustration  of  which  I  have  already  given  in  the 
case  of  the  unfortunate  Il-lich-ih. 

In  the  matter  of  rain,  the  Choctaw  Rainmaker  truly 
swayed  the  sceptre  of  authority  in  that  line  of  art,  uiidis- 

Euted,  and  was  regarded  with  reverential  awe  by  his  people, 
n  all  cases  of  protracted  drouth,  which  was  quite  frequent 
at  an  early  day  in  their  ancient  domains,  the  Hut-tak  Um-ba 
7  Ik-bi,  (man  rain  maker)  was  regarded  as  the  personage  in 
whom  alone  was  vested  the  power  to  create  rain;  therefore 
to  him  they  went  with  their  offerings  and  supplications,  the 
former,  however,  partaking  more  of  a  persuasive  nature  than 
the  latter,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Umba  Ikbi,  as  an  effectual 
means  to  bring  into  requisition  his  mysterious  power  in  the 
matter  of  rain.  He  without  hesitation  promised  to  heed 
their  solicitations,  but  gently  hinting  that,  in  his  judgment, 
the  offerings  were  not  in  as  exact  ratio  to  their  importuni 
ties  as  they  should  have  been.  However,  he  now  assumes 
an  air  of  mysterious  thoughtfulness  and,  "grand,  gloomy 
and  peculiar  wrapped  in  the  solitude  of  his  own  imagina 
tion,"  strolled  from  village  to  village,  gazing  at  the  sun  by 
day  and  the  stars  by  night,  seeming  to  hold  communion  with 
the  spirits  of  the  upper  worlds;  finally  he  ventured  his^repu- 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  261 

tation  by  specifying-  a  certain  day  upon  which  he  would 
make  it  rain.  The  day  arrived,  and  if  haply  came 
with  it  a  rain  the  faith  of  his  dupes wasconfirmed,  his  mystic 
power  unquestioned,  and  the  Umba  Ikbi  made  comfortable. 
But  if  otherwise,  he  did  not  as  the  Alikchi,  attribute  his  fail 
ure  to  the  counteracting  influence  of  a  witch  in  the  person 
of  an  old  woman,  but  to  that  of  a  brother  Umba  Ikbi  living- in 
some  remote  part  of  the  nation,  with  whom  he  was  just  then 
at  variance.  He  now  informs  his  unfortunate  b.ut  not  faith 
less  people  that  /an  Umba  Ikbi's  mind  must  be  free  of  all 
contending-  emotions  while  engaged  in  the  mystic  ceremo 
nies  of  rain  making;  that  he  was  now  angry,  too  much  mad 
to  make  it  rain.  Upon  which  announcement,  the  now  de 
spairing  people  earnestly  solicited  to  know  if  they,  in  any 
way  could  assuage  his  wrath.  Pie  replied  in'  the  negative; 
but  promised,  however,  to  consider  the  matter  as  soon  as  his 
anger  abated.  He  now  became  more  reserved;  sought  soli 
tude  where  undisturbed  he  might  scan  the  sky  and  per 
chance  discern  some  sign  of  rain.  Sooner  or  later,  he 
discovers  a  little-hazv  cloud  stretched  along  the  distant 
western  horizon;,  attentively  and  carefully  watches  it  as 
broader  and  higher  it  ascends,  until  he  feels  sure  he  can 
safely  risk  another  promise;  then  leaves  his  place  of  secret 
and  thoughtful  meditation,  and,  with  countenance  fair  as  a 
summer  morn,  presents  himself  before  his  despairing 
people  and  announces  his  anger  cooled  and  wrath  departed; 
that  now  he  would  bring  rain  without  delay,  yet  drqpping  I 
casual  hint  as  to  the  efficacy  of  a  coveted  pony,  cow,  blanket, 
etc.,  being  added,  as  a  surer  guarantee,  since  "the  Jaborer 
was  worthy  his  hire."  The  hint  was  comprehended  and 
fully  complied  with  in  hopeful  expectation.  Anon  the  low 
muttering  thunder  vibrates  along  the  western  horizon  in 
audible  tones,  and  the  lightning  flash  is  seen  athwart  the 
western  sky  heralding  the  gathering  and  approaching  storm; 
soon  the  sky  is  overcast  with  clouds  of  blackest  hue  while 
the  lightning's  flash  and  the  thunder's  roar  seem  to  proclaim 
to  the  people  their  wonderful  Umba  Ikbi's  secret  power  in 
the  affair  of  rain;  and,  as  the  vast  sheets  of  falling  water  wet 
the  parched  earth  they  sing  his  praise;  which  he,  with  as 
sumed  indifference,  acknowledged  with  an  approving  grunt; 
then,  with  measured  steps,  sought  his  home,  there  to  await 
another  necessity  that  would  call  him  forth  to  again  deceive 
his  credulous  admirers.  But  all  such  delusions  soon  van 
ished  before  the  teachings  of  the  missionaries. 

In  connection  with  this  peculiar  one  of  the   Choctaws,  I 
will  here  relate  an  incident  that  took'  place   during-  a  great 


262  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

drouth  that  prevailed  in  their   Nation   soon   after  the  estab 
lishment  of  the  mission  called  Hebron. 

The  Rain  Maker  had  long-  been  appealed  to  through  sup 
plications  and  fees,  but  all  in  vain;  and  it  seemed  that  the 
stubborn  drouth  had  united! -.vith  more  than  one  distant  broth 
er  Umba  Ikbi  in  rendering-  his  present  worship  prodigiously 
mad,  not  only  with  them  but  also  with  himself  and  the  world 
in  general,  as  his  ears  seemed  deaf  to  all  appeals  upon  the 
subject  of  water.  Since  wells  and  cisterns  were  luxuries 
then  unknown  to  the  Indians,  they  depended  upon  their 
rivers,  creeks,  lakes  and  ponds,  which  seldom  failed  to  sup 
ply.  Amid  the  prevailing  gloom  an  aged  Choctaw  widow 
named  Im-ai-yah  (to  go  by)  living  two  miles  south  of  Hebron, 
came  one  day,  as  she  oft  had  done  before,  to  talk  with  her 
pale-face  friend,  Mrs.  Cushman,  concerning  the  drouth.  She 
soon  stated  that  she  believed  there  would  be  plenty  of  rain  in 
a  few  days.  When  asked  upon  what  she  based  her  belief, 
she  replied:  "On  my  way  here  this  morning,  I  sat  down  at 
the  roots  of  a  large  tree;  while  sitting  there  these  thoughts 
came  to  me.  Our  Rain  Maker  cannot  make  it  rain,  or  he 
would.  If  he  can  make  it  rain,  why  should  not  I  be  able  to 
make  it  rain  too?  Why  should  not  anyone?  Then  I  asked 
myself;  who  made  this  big  tree?  Somebody  made  it,  and  he 
who  made  it  surely  can  make  it  rain  too.  I  know  he  can;  and 
I  will  ask  him  to  please  make  it  rain  very  soon.  I  then  kneel 
ed  down  at  the  roots  of  that  big  tree  and  earnestly  prayed  to 
him  who  made  the  big  tree  to  please  make  it  rain;  and  while 
I  was  praying  a  little  cloud  formed  directly  over  the  tree, 
and  a  little  shower  fell  and  many  of  the  drops  of  water,  pass 
ing  through  the  leaves  of  the  tree,  fell  on  me.  I  know  now 
who  can  make  it  rain."  "Who?"  earnestly  asked  the  deeply 
interested  pale-face  listener.  "He  who  made  that  tree.  Is 
he  your  God  of  whom  you  have  told  me?"  "He  is,"  replied 
the  poor  widow's  pale-face  friend  and  spiritual  teacher.  But 
I  will  leave  the  further  conversation  that  ensued  betwen  the 
two  red  and  white  friends  to  the  imagination  of  the  reader, 
with  this  only:  No  two  women  were  more  devoted  friends, 
the  one  to  the  other,  than  were  the  poor  Choctaw  widow  and 
the  "pale-face"  missionary.  But  what  of  that  prayer  at  the 
roots  of  that  "big  tree?"  It  was  heard  and  answered  by  the 
Maker  of  that  "big  tree;"  who  has  said,  "I  will  not  bruise  the 
broken  reed  nor  quench  the  smoking  flax."  Yes,  in  a  few 
days,  an  abundance  of  rain  fell;  yea,  more.  From  that  xime 
the  mystic  power  of  the  Umba  Ikbis  began  to  wane,  and  soon 
vanished  as  a  summer  dream  from  the  Choctaw  Nation. 
And  he  who  cannot  believe  that  Israel's  God  heard  the  hum 
ble  request  of  that  earnest  petitioner,  and  did  not  then  and 


HISTORY    OF   THE  /INDIANS.  263 

there  acknowledge  its  virtue  in  th.^  little  shower  of  rain,  and 
in  a  few  days  answer  -that  prayer  of  faith  by  an  abundant 
shower,  is  thrice  welcome  to  his  unbelief. 

Their  laws  (for  they  had  laws,)  though  exceptional  in 
some  respects  to  the  White  Race,  nevertheless,  were  good, 
and  quite  consistent  with  the  nations  of  a  primitive  age.  But 
like  all  others  of  their  race*,  their  severest  law  was  that  of 
blood  revenge.  ''Whosoever^sheddeth 'man's  blood,  by  man 
shall  his  blood  be  shed"  was  a  statute  rigidly  enforced  among 
all  North  American  Indians.  It  was  acknowledged  among  all, 
not  only  to  be  the  right,  but  also  the  imperative  duty  of  the 
nearest  relative  on  the  male  side  of  the  slain,  to  kill  the  slayer 
wherever  and  whenever  a  favorable  opportunity  was  presented. 
Under  many  existing  circumstances  the  law  might,  perhaps, 
have  bee'n  just  and  salutary;  but  unfortunately  it  went  too 
far,  as  any  male  member  of  the  murderer's  family,  though 
innocent  and  even  ignorant  of  the- crime,  might  become  the 
victim  of  the  avenger  of  blood,  if  the  guilty  had  fled;  but 
such  seldom  occurred,  as  the  murderer  rarely  ever  made  any 
effort  whatever  to  escape,  but  passively  submitted  to  his  fate. 
Still,  this  law,  revolting  as  it  .may  appear  to  many,  exercised 
a  good  influence  among  the  Choctaws,  as  it  had  a  salutary 
effect  in  restraining  them  in  the  heat  of  passion,  by  render 
ing  them  cautious  in  their  disputes  and  quarrels,  lest  blood 
should  be  shed;  knowing  the  absolute  certainty  of  murder 
being  avenged  sooner  or  later  upon  the  murderer  himself,  or 
some  one  of  his  nearest  male  relatives;  hence  110  man,  or 
family,  would  with  impunity  commit  or  permit,  if  they  could 
avoid  or  prevent  it,  an  act  that  would  be  sure  to  be  avenged, 
no  one  could  tell  when  or  where.  Days,  weeks,  and -even 
months  perhaps,|might  pass,  yet  the  avenger  sleepeth  not  nor 
has  he  forgotten;  and,  at  an  hour  least  expected  and  from  a 
source  least  apprehended,  the  blow  at  last  falls,  and  there 
the  matter  ends.  Nor  did  the  slayer  find  any  protection 
from  any  source  whatever,  not.  even  from  his  nearest  rela 
tives.  Yet  calmly  and  with  stoical  indifference  awaited  his 
certain  doom;  nor  was  the  avenger,  though  known,  inter 
rupted  in  any  .manner  whatever,  either  before  or  after  he  had 
accomplished  his  revenge.  The  avenger  of  blood  never  took 
the  life  of  a  female  of  the  slayer's  family,  but  satisfied  him 
self  in  the  death  of  the  slayer  himself  or  in  the  person  of  some-, 
one  of  his  nearest  male  relatives.  If  the  murderer  had  fled, 
and  the  life  of  one  of  his  male  relatives  had  been  sacrificed  in 
lieu  of  his  own,  he.  then  could  return  without  fear  of  molesta 
tion;  but  the  name  of  coward  was  given  to  him — an  appella 
tion  more  dreaded  and  less  endurable  than  a  hundred  deaths 
to  all  North  American  Indians.. 


264  HISTORY.  OF    THE   INDIANS. 

A  few  instances  have  -been  known  among"  the  Choctaws, 
where  a  relative  proposed  tp-die  for  the  slayer,  and  was  ac 
cepted  on  the  part  of  ttfe  relatives  of  the  slain;  but  such 
instances  were  very  rare.  I  remember  of  an  instance  re 
lated,  of  undoubted  authority,  whilch  deserves  to  be  held  in 
lasting-  remembrance  if  nothing-  more  than  to  forever  silence 
and  put  to  eternal  shame  the  foolish  croaking-s  of  those  who 
deny  to  the  Indian  the  possession  of  any  of  the  finer  feelings 
and  emotions  of  the. heart,  and  to  establish  the  fact  that  the 
height,  -depth,  and  breadth  of  an  Indian  mother's  love  can 
only  be  equalled  by.  that  of  her  wh^te  sister,  **botlr  immeasur 
able,  incomprehensible,  unfathomable.  The  case  which  I 
here  relate,  was  Toh-to  Pe-hah  (Red  Elm  Gathered  Up), -an 
aged  Choctaw  mother,  who  gave  her  life  for  that  of  her  old 
est  son; and  which  clearly  illustrates  the  depth  and  strength, 
the  sensibility  and  tenderness  of  maternal  affection  in  an 
Indian  woman,  whose  name,  had  she  lived  in  the  days  of 
classic  lore,  wduld  have  been  handed  down  to  all  future  ages 
in  the  songs  of  the  poet  minstrels,  and  upon  the  pages  of  the 
historians.  But  alas!  she  was  unfortunately  an  Indian  and 
virtue  in  an  Indian  is,  with  many  of  the  present  day,  not  a 
virtue;  while  vice,  in  their  defamers,  is.  This  poor  widowed 
Choctaw  mother,  ^pame  with  others  of  her  friends  to  the 
place  of  execution  on  the  day  her  son  was  to  be  shot  for  kill 
ing  an  aged  Choctaw  man  living  many  miles  distant  from 
that  of  his  own  home.  This  killing  was  done  before  the 
establishment  of.  the  law  that  the  slayer  should  be  tried  by 
law,  and  no  longer  left  in  the  hands  of  the  "avenger  of 
blood."  Of  her  four  children  he  was  the  oldest,  her  darling 
first-born,  on  whom  she  mainly  depended  for  assistance  in 
the  support  of  her  little  family,  and  whom  she  had  named 
Hoh-tak  Lah-ba  (Luke  Warm). 

When  the  mother  arrived  at  the  place  of  execution,  she 
found  many  had  already  assembled;  but  with  emotions,  felt 
and  known  only  by  and  to  a  mother,  she  pressed  through  the 
throng  to  where  her  doomed  boy  stood,  close  to  the  execu 
tioner  with  the  deadly  rifle  in  hand,  upon  which  Hohtak  Lah- 
Iba  looked  with  steady  eye  and  unshaken  nerves.  All  were 
silent.  Not  a  whisper  disturbed  the  profound  hush  that 
rested  like  a  gloomy  pall  upon  that  assembly.  The  mother 
glanced  a  look  of  love  at  the  erect  form  of  her  son,  who  stood 
as  a  statue  before  her  eyes;  then  turned  them  a  moment  upon 
the  executioner  with  an  appealing  look  for  compassion;  then 
beseechingly  upon  the  relatives  of  the  man  slain,  and  at  once 
broke  the  silence  with  an  irresistible  appeal  to  them  to  take 
her  life  instead. of  Hohtak  Lahba's.  uHe  is  young,  and  I  am 
old,"  she  cried.  "His  wife  and  child,  his  two  little  sisters  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  265 

"brother,  will  suffer  if  he  is  taken  from  them.  They  cannot 
live  without  him,  they  can  without  me.  I  am  old  and  can  do 
but  little  for  them,  nor  that  little  long.  Your  relative  he 
killed  was  an  old  man.  Why  take  a  young1  life  for  an  old  life? 
Take  mine  in  the  place  of  Hohtak  Lahba's.  Let  the  avenger 
of  the  death  of  your  kinsman  be  satisfied  with  my  death. 
Blood  for  blood  satisfies  our  violated  law.  It  seeks  no  more, 
it  demands  no  more.  What  more  should  vou  require?  Speak 
kinsman  of  the  dead!  Will  you  accept  my  life  as  sufficient 
propitiation,  a  just  compensation  for  the  life  of  your  slain? 
I  await  your  answer."  A  murmur  of  approval  was  heard  in 
the  crowd,  and  soon  one  of  the  nearest  in  kindred  to  the  slain 
arose  and  accepted  the  offer  in  a  firm  and  distinct  tone  of 
voice.  A  smile  of  joy  lit  up  the  countenance  of  Toh-to  Pe-hah 
as  she  responded,  '"Tis  well."  A  few  moments  were  given 
her  to  bid  an  adieu  to  her  loved  ones,  and  give  her  last 
admonitions  to  her  wayward  boy;  after  which  she  calmly 
presented  herself  before  the  executioner,  and,  nerved  with 
a  mother's  love  that  bids  defiance  to  fear,  bade  him  do  his 
duty.  Then  the  sjiarp  crack  of  the  rifle  broke  the  profound 
stillness  of  the'  moment,  and  the  spirit  of  that  loving  Choc- 
taw  mother  winged  its  flight  to  Him*  who  has  said:  "Where 
little  is  given,  little  is  required."  Such  was  the  custom  of 
this  peculiar  people  in  the  years  of  the  long  ago.^  v\'An  eye 
for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,"  was  ever  found 
written  in  all  Indians'  code  of  laws,  and  to  the  execution  of 
which  they  adhered  with  the  strictest  punctuality.  The 
spirit  of  the  murdered  Indian  could  never  take  its  flight  from 
earth,  or  find  rest  anywhere  in  the  eternal  unknown,  until 
blood  had  atoned  for  blood,  a  belief  as  firmly  fixed  upon  the 
Indian  heart  as  that  upon  the  Christian's,  that  the  blood  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  atoned  for  the  sins  of 
the  world. y 

It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  Hohtak  Lahba  would  have 
refused  the  offer  of  his  devoted  mother.  But  custom  denied 
him  the  privilege  of  any  action,  whatever  in  the  matter.  If 
the  offer  was  made  and  accepted  by  the  relatives  of  the  slain, 
he  no  longer  stood  condemned  before  the  violated  law,  or  in 
the  eyes  of  the  avenger,  and  he  or  she,  who  had  voluntarily 
assumed  the  position,  could  only  make  the  atonement.  The 
mother,  in  this  case,  had  offered  her  life,  a  voluntary  sacri- 
.  fice  for  that  of  her  son's;  it  had  been  accepted  as  a  sufficiency 
by  the  avenger,  and,  even  as  the  law  of  the  Medes  and  Per 
sians  that  "changeth  not,"  so  Tohto  Pehah  could  not  re 
verse  her  accepted  proposal,  even  if  she  had  relented,  nor 
the  son  refuse,  she  must  die,  and  Hoh  tak  Lahba  must  live; 
and  the  Amen  was  the  response  of  the  law.  Yne  unfortu- 


266  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

nate  Hoh  tak  Lahba,  though  the  avenger  of  the  blood  of  his 
slain  victim  had  beenappeasedat  a  fearfulcost  to  him,  was  af 
terwards  often  taunted  by  the  relatives  and  friends  of  the 
old  man  he  had  slain,  with  the  accusation  of  cowardice,  which 
to  all'  Indians  is  more  to  be  dreaded  than  death. 

For  several  years  he   bore  up   under  their   taunts   until 
he  eventually  began  to  believe  that  all  regarded  him  as  a  cow 
ard,  and  life   to  him   had   became  a   burden  too   great   to   be 
longer  borne.     But  what   could  he  do?     To  take   his  own  life 
would   not  do,   since  that  act  would   stamp  the  seal  of   woe 
upon  his  eternal  destiny.     How  then   was  he  to   secure   for 
himself  an  honorable  death  and  wipe  off  the  stain  of  coward 
ice  that  had    been   attached   to  his   name,  and  depart  to   the 
eternal  and   happy  home  that   awaited   all   brave  warriors? 
His  cogitative  mind  at  last  suggested  a  plan;  it  was,  only  by 
killinganother  man.     This  he  adopted  and  put  into  immediate 
execution;  and  to  make  his  death  the  more  certain,  he  sought, 
found,  and  slew  a  son  of  the  very  man   for  whose   death  his 
doting   mother   had    so   heroically    atoned;  and    though   his 
victim  lived  many  miles  distant,  he  well  knew  the  deed  would 
speedily  bring  the  avenger    to  his    side.     But  that  he   might 
effectually  wripe  forever  from  his  name  the  stain  of   coward 
ice,  to  his  own  honor  and  that  of   his  kindred,  he  at  once  re 
solved  to  take  his  own  life,    since  now  it   would  be  blood    for 
blood,    and    self  sacrifice   would  no  longer  fix   upon  him   the 
penalty  of    eternal  woe.     Quietly   but   resolutely  he  dug   his 
own  grave  before  putting  his  dreadful  resolution   into  effect; 
and  when  completed,  calmlyxstretched  himself  therein  to  as 
certain  if  it  was  complete  in  every  particular.     As  soon  as  he 
had  slain  his  victim  he  hastened  home  with  his  utmost  speed, 
and  at  once  told  his  relatives  and  friends  what   he  had  done, 
and  then  said:     "You  know   that  I  have  long  been  accused  of 
cowardice,     but   now   I   will    prove   to  you   that  I    can   also 
meet  death  like. a  brave  warrior."     Well" they   knew  his  fear 
ful  determination   and    the    impossibility   of  dissuading   him 
therefrom,  as   they  sat   in  gloomy   silence   awaiting   the   ap 
proaching  fearful  scene  that  was" soon   to  be  enacted.     Slow-  4 
ly  he  went  through  with  his   preliminary    death  ceremonies 
with  that  stoicism  so  peculiar  to  his  race;  the  careful  exami 
nation  of  his  rifle,   to  see    if  it   would   still   be  as  true  to   its 
trust  as  it  so  long  had  proved  in   his  many  conflicts   with  the 
wild  beasts  of  his   native   forests;  the   singing   of   his    death 
song,  (the  Indians  adieu   to  earth)  and  the   farewell   shaking 
of  the  hands  of  his  relatives  and  friends  present,  consisting  of 
his  wife,  two   sisters  and    brother,    who   sat   in   a    mournful 
group  a  little  to  one  side,  with    eyes  vacant  and   fixed  as    if 
upon  some  distant  object,  but  presenting  a  picture   of   silent 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  267 

woe  that  baffles  description;  while  the  old  men  of  the  neigh 
borhood  sat  in  little  groups  around,  smoking-  their  pipes  in 
doleful  silence.  No  wailing-,  not  even  a  half  smothered  sigh, 
broke  the  silence  of  the  solemn  scene.  Nothing-  was  heard 
but  the  voice  of  Hoh  tah  Lahba,  as  he  now  and  then  chanted 
his  death-song-.  When  he  had  bidden  all  his  last  adieu,  he 
seized  his  bottle  of  whiskey,  that  "bright  insignia"  of  the 
white  man's  "Personal -Liberty,"  drank  a  long-  draught  then 
hurled  the  bottle  with  its  contents  to  the  ground  with  all  his 
strength,  as  if  invoking  a  curse  upon  its  maker  and  vendor, 
then  snatched  his  rifle  from  its  leaning  position  against  a 
tree,  rushed  to  his  waiting  .grave,  and  the  sharp  crack  of  the 
rifle  that  immediately  followed  told  but  too  plainly  that  Hoh- 
tah  Lahba  was  dead.  Then  burst  forth  a  long  restrained 
wrail  of  grief  from  his  bereaved  wife,  sisters,  and  other  fe 
male  friends  alone,  (as  an  Indian  man  never  expresses  his 
grief  by  any  external  emotions)  heretofore  smothered  in  re 
spect  to  Hoh  tah  Lahba's  request,  "that  all  emotions  of 
grief  be  restrained  in  his  presence,"  that  echoed  far  back 
from  the  surrounding  forests. 

What  Christian  heart  could  witness  such  a  scene  without 
emotions  of  sorrow,  since  it  exhibits  the  human  mind 
shrouded  in  the  greatest  error,  wrhile  at  the  same  time  it 
exhibits  the  elements  of  a  noble  nature.  Contemplate  the 
love  of  that  unlettered  mother!  Listen  again  to  her  arguments 
before  that  stern  court  of  inflexible  justice,  pleading  her  own' 
destitution  of  all  further  usefulness  to  her  people,  as  a  just 
reason  for  the  preservation  of  her  son's  manhood  and  useful 
ness!  View  the  son  too,  though  sacrificing  the  life  of  his 
loving  mother  by  his  wayward  life,  yet  manifesting  as  great 
a  sense  of  shame  and  fear  of  public  censure,  as  his  civilized 
white  brother,  (yet  far  more  honorable)  who  sacrificed  two 
lives  also  under  his  so-called  exalted  views  of  honor  in  fighting 
a  duel !  Now  turn  aside  from  a  long,  lingering  gaze  upon  the 
desolate  hearts  of  that  wife,  now  widowed,  and  those  weeping 
sisters  ;  hear  again  that  fearful,  undissembled  shriek  as  the 
crack  of  the  rifle  announced  that  its  messenger  of  death  had 
accomplished  its  work;  listen  to  those  lamentations  loud,*as 
they  rush  to  the  fatal  spot  and  throw  themselves  upon  the 
quivering  body,  and  then  will  you,  can  you,  longer  deny  to 
the  Indian  mother,  wife,  sister,  daughter,"  any  of  those  divine 
and  holy  sensibilities  so  justly  awarded  to  the  white  females? 

Truly  may  it  be  said  of  the  North  American  Indian 
woman  as  a  general  thing,  that  they  rank  higher  in  those 
feminine  virtues  that  so  peculiarly  belong  to  women  than  any 
unlettered  race  known  in'nistory  or  otherwise.  And  for  that 
highest  of  all  female  virtues,  chastity,  -the  full-blood  North 


268  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  ;* 

American  Indian  woman  can  fearlessly  challenge  her  white 
sisters  of  the  entire  United  States,  without  the  fear  of  the 
possibility  of  defeat.  During-  my  sojourn  among-  the  Choctaw 
and  Chickasaw  people  in  the  years  1884  to  1890,  I  made  fre 
quent  inquiries  relative  to  this  subject,  both  of  native  citizens 
and  white  citizens  married  among  them,  and  whites  living 
among  them  as  renters  of  their  farms,  and  they  have  spoken 
in  the  highest  terms  of  praise  of  the  chastity  of  the  Choctaw 
and  Chickasaw  women,  and  to  which  I  add  my  own,  based 
upon  a  knowledge  of  over  seventy  years  personal  acquaint 
ance  with  these  two  branches*  of  the  Indian  race,  and  also 
that  of  the  missionaries  who  labored  among  them  when 
living  east  of  the  Mississippi  River.  In  conversation  with  a 
.  Chickasaw  (half  blood)  in  February,  1886,  an  ex-auditor  of 
the  Chickasaw  Nation  and  a  man  of  undoubted  veracity,  who 
lived  near  the  line  of  division  between  his  own  people  and  the 
war-like  Commanches,  and  with  whom  he  had  formed  an 
extensive  acquaintance  by  trading  among  them,  he  thus 
replied  to  my  inquiries  concerning  the  chustitv  of  the  Com- 
manche  women:  "It  is  an  absolute  impossibility  to  rob  a 
Commanche  woman  of  her  virtue,  only  by  superior  physical 
force.  No  professions  of  love,  no  promises  of  marriage,  no 
temptation  of  bribery,  can  avail  anything  in  inducing  her  to 
step  from  the  path  of  rectitude,  virtue  and  honor."  I  was 
informed  by  a  gentleman  who  lived  in  the  southern  part  of 
Arizona,  that  he  was  well  acquainted  with  a  tribe  of  Indians 
whose  women  it  was  impossible  to  influence  from  the  path  of 
virtue.  Many  of  the  early1  writers  speak  in  the  highest  com 
mendation  of  the  native  Indian  women.  All  praise  to  the 
North  American  Indian  women!  uneducated,  uncivilized, 
with  no  advantages  of  moral  culture,  yet  true  to  the  natural 
instincts  of  morality,  "adorning"  no  cities,  towns  and  villages 
with  houses  erected  for  the  prostitution  of  their  bodies  and 
the  eternal  damnation  of  their  souls. 

The  Choctaw  women  were  of  medium  height,  beautiful 
in  form,  strong  and  a^ile  in  body;  strictly  honest,  truthful, 
light-hearted  and  gay,  and  devoted  in  their  affection  to  fam 
ily  and  friends,  while  common  custom  protected  them  against 
all  offense,  even  as  it  does  at  the  present  day; — how  com 
mendable  to  the  Choctaw  men. 

There  always  have  existed  among  the  North  American 
Indians,  and  still  exist,  many  examples  of  intellectual  ability, 
of  genius,  of  high  moral  feeling  and  as  noble  and  pure  patri 
otism  as  was  ever  found  in  any  nation  of  people  and  as  proof 
of  this  fact  I  relate  the  following:  Some  twenty-five  years  ago 
a  photographer  of  Chicago,  being  in  Arizona  on  a  vacation 
trip,  found  and  rescued  from  an  Apache  camp  an  abandoned 


HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS.  269 

Indian  male  infant  of  full  blood.  The  photographer  became 
possessed  with  a  desire  to  take  the  boy  home  with  him  and 
adopt  him.  In  spite  of  warnings  that  the  child  would  prove 
a  viper  in  his  bosom,  he  carried  out  his  intentions,  and  rear 
ed  the  boy,  to  whom  the  name  of  Charles  Moiitezuma  was 
given,  as  a  member  of  his  family.  The  young  Apache  grew 
up  to  bein.face  and  physique  the  very  type  of  his  tribe;  but 
he  was  at  the  same  time  an  excellent  scholar  and  a  perfect 
gentleman.  He  graduated  at  the  Chicago  High  School  with 
credit,  and  was  very  popular  in  his  class,  being  gentle,  polite, 
industrious.  A  recent  inquiry  as  to  Montezuma's  career 
since  the  completion  of  his  high  school  education  developed 
the  facts  that  he  has  selected  surgery  for  a  profession,  and 
will  graduate  from  the  Chicago  Medical  College  far  above 
the  average  of  his  class;  that  he  is  liked  by  his  classmates 
and  has  never  manifested  any  desire  to  resume  the  barbar 
ous  habits  of  his  relatives,  or  shown  any  savage  traits  what 
ever;  that  he  supports  himself,  during  his  studies  at  the 
medical  college,  by  filling  prescriptions  at  a  Chicago  drug 
store  where  he  is  looked  upon  as  an  expert  pharmacist,  and 
that  every  circumstance  indicates  that  he  will  make  a  suc 
cessful  professional  man. 

But  long  since  has  it  been  proven  and  established  beyond 
contradiction  that  they  possessed  capacities  as  susceptible 
of  the  highest  refinement  as  that  of  the  White  Race,  which, 
wrrapt  in  the  garb  of  self-importance  impervious  to  truth 
and  reason,  regarded  the  Indians  as  inferior  beings,  unworthy 
its  consideration,  except  as  objects  to  be  plundered  and 
destroyed;  and  in  justification  of  which,  called  them  savages, 
but  with  as  little  justice  and  reason  as  the  Indians  had  to 
call  them  Christians.  What  unlettered  nations,  utterly 
without  books,  colleges  and  schools,  have  ever  produced  such 
men,  worthily  renowned  as  orator^and  statesmen  in  council, 
and  brave  in  the  field  of  battle  as  palriots,  as  the  true  Native 
Americans  of  the  North  Western  Continent,  in  their  Mas- 
sasoits,  Phillips,  Pontiacs,  Red  Jackets,  Black  Hawks,  Te- 
cumsehs,  Humming  Birds,  Red  Shoes,  Apushamatahahs, 
*  Weatherfords,  Osceolas,  Ridges,  Rosses,  Colberts,  and 
hundreds  of  others  of  equal  renown?  They  are  not  to  be  found 
in  tradition  on  in  ancient  or  modern  history. 

Who  that  has  read  Cooper's  "Last  of  the  Mohicans," 
but  remembers  Uncas,  the  yonng  Mohawk  warrior,  and 
jointly  with  that  of  his  white  friend  Leather  Stocking,  the 
hero  of  the  story?  It  is  said  his  Indian  name  wTas  Tschoop; 
but  if  it  is  corrupted  as  badly  as  all  other  Indians'  names 
when  put  in  print  by  the  whites,  it  is  as  foreign  from  his 
true  name  as  that  by  which  he  figured  in  the  uLast  of  the 


270  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

Mohicans."  However,  he  has  been  handed  down  as  a  noted 
warrior  among  his  people — the  once  powerful  and  warlike 
Mohawks  who  inhabited  the  now  State  of  New  York  in  the 
years  of  long-  past — famous  for  his  daring-  exploits  in  war, 
and  his  fiery  eloquence  in  the  councils  of  his  Nation.  In 
1741,  he  was  often  visited  at  his  home  by  a  Moravian  mis 
sionary,  named  Christian  Rauch,  who  often  spoke  to  him 
upon  the  subject  of  relig-ion  during  their  frequent  socal  con 
versations;  and  finally  asked  him  if  he  had  any  desire  to  save 
his  soul.  "We  all  desire  that,"  responded  Uncas.  The 
good  missionary,  in  his  zeal,  became  persistent  in  urgiug 
upon  him  the  importance  and  great  necessity  of  his  becom 
ing  a  Christian,  praying  and  pleading  with  him — often  with 
tears;  and  after  many  months  of  prayer  and  entreaty,  the 
pious  Rauch  was  delighted  to  see  his  forest  pupil  a  changed 
man — a  truly  pious  Christian,  whom  he  baptised  under  the 
name  of  John.  In  a  letter  Uncas  afterwards  sent  to  the 
Delaware  Indians,  he  said:  UI  have  been  a  bad,  very  bad, 
man.  But  a  white  preacher  told  me  there  is  a  God..  I  said: 
Do  I  riot  know  that?  Return  whence  you  came. 

Then  another  came  and  told  me  that  God  was  offended 
at  me  when  I  did  any  bad  acts.  Again  I  said:  Do  I  not  know 
that  too?  Do  you  think  that  I  am  a  fc/ol?  Then  Christian 
Rauch  came  into  my  cabin  and  sat  down  by  me  and  told  me 
of  my  crimes,  of  Jesus  who  died  to  save  me  from  them;  and 
this  he  did  day  after  day,  until  I  became  tired  of  his  talk  and 
treatened  to  kill  him  if  he  came  to  my  cabin  again.  But  one 
day  I  came  home  and  found  him  in  my  cabin  sound  asleep. 
I  stood  and  looked  at  him,  and  said  to  myself — "What  sort 
of  a  man  is  this?  How  easily  I  might  kill  him;  yet  he  is  with 
out  fear,  for  he  says  his  Jesus  will  protect  him  from  all 
harm.  Who  is  that  that  Jesus?  I  too  must  and  will  find 
him."  And,  reader,  he  did  find  him;  and  soon  after  he  be 
came  not  only  an  humble  and  devout  follower  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  but  also  became  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel  with 
the  same  fiery  eloquence  which  had  given  him  a  power  among 
his  race,  and  spent  many  years  in  traveling  among  the  neigh 
boring  tribes  of  his  day — who  long  since  have  all  been  num 
bered  with  the  events  that  were  fading  before  the  tide  of  the 
white  man's  Christian  oppression  like  a  shadow  that  leaves 
no  trace  behind,  except  in  the  persons  of  a  few  who  have 
survived  the  wreck  of  years,  only,  it  seems,  because  they 
have  the  right  to  live. 

Curiosity    was   one    of    the    chief   characteristics   of  the* 
Choctaws,  and  held  a    prominent   position   in  their    breasts. 
They  were  desirous  to  know   everything  peculiar  or  strange 
that  was  transpiring  about  them;  not  more  so,  however,  than 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  271 

any  others  of  the  human  race.  Yet  the  Choctaw  differed 
from  his  white  brother  in  this  particular;  the  white  man  ex 
pressed  openly  his  curiosity  at  anything-  unusual  or  strange, 
and  asked  innumerable  questions  concerning-  it,  and 
manifested  the  greatest  excitement  until  his  curiosity 
was  gratified  ;  but  the  Choctaw  asked  no  questions, 
nor  manifested  any  "surprise  whatever,  no  matter  how 
strange  or  incomprehensible  to  him,  but  walked  around  with 
an  air  of  seemingly  perfect  indifference;  yet  was  attentive  to 
any  and  all  explanations  that  were  being-  made  by  others. 
The  ing-enuity  of  the  white  man  as  displayed  in  his  vari 
ous  inventions  was,  to  him,  as  to  all  his  race,  the  deepest 
mystery,  an  incomprehensible  enigma  that  placed  the  pale 
face,  in  his  opinion,  in  close  relationship  to  super-human 
beings;  and  influenced  an  ag-ed  Indian  chief  to  exclaim,  when 
viewing*  the  mysterious  working's  of  a  steam  engine  when 
once  at  Washington  City,  "I  hate  the  avarice  of  the  white 
man's  heart,  but  worship  the  ing-enuity  of  his  mind."  The 
astonishment  sometimes  depicted  upon,  the  countenances  of 
the  Indians  when  beholding-  the  wonderful  performances  of 
the  white  man,  audibly  expressed  by  the  ancient  Choctaws 
'  in  the  sudden  ejaculation,  uWah  ?  "  was  often  very  divert 
ing. 

On  one  occasion  a  venerable  old  Indian  man,  who,  in 
order  to  light  his  pipe,  was  trying  to  catch  a  spark  upon  a 
piece  of  punk  struck  from  his  flint  and  steel;  after  many 
fruitless  attempts,  a  white  man  standing  near  had  observed 
the  old  man's  unsuccessful  efforts  to  obtain  the  desired 
spark,  and  anticipating  a  little  laugh  might  be  had  at  the  ex 
pense  of  the  old  veteran,  stepped  up  and  proposed  to  bring 
clown  fire  from  the  sun  with  which  to  light  his  pipe.  At 
this  astounding-  proposal,  the  old  man  looked  up  and  shook 
his  head  with  an  incredulous  grunt,  which  being  interpreted 
evidently  signified:  "You  are  a  fool."  The  white  man  then 
slowly  taking  a  sun-glass  from  his  pocket,  held  it  concealed 
in  his  hand  directly  over  the  well  filled  pipe  of  tobacco.  The 
fecal  rays  of  the  sun  soon  did  their  work.  "Now  smoke," 
said  the  white  man.  The  old  man'obeyed,  and  at  once  his 
mouth  was  'filled  writh  smoke.  That  was  enough.  He  at 
once  puffed  the  smoke  from  his  mouth;  then  stopped  and 
looked  at  the  \vhite  man,  then  up  at  the  sun;  then  down  at 
his  well  lighted  pipe;  then  again  at  the  white  -  man  and  the 
sun,  with'  that  expression  of  amazement  and  awe  which 
plainly  expressed  his  now  changed  opinion,  that,  instead  of 
a  fool,  that  white  man  was  nothing  more  nor  less  a  person 
age  than  the  devil  himself;  and,  with  eyes  askant  resting 
upon  him,  he  slowly  arose  and  walked  away  with  his  last 


272  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

formed  opinion  which  no  argument  could  have  induced  him 
to  again  change;  yet  not  with  as  devotional  a  spirit, ^it  is  pre 
sumed,  of  he  of  the  steam  engine. 

As  an  evidence  of  the  tenacity   with   which   the   ancient 
Choctaws  adhered  to  the  veracity  of  their  traditions   handed 
down  through  a  long  line  of  ancestry,  I  will  here  relate  a  little 
incident  in  which  my  twin   brother   and   myself  (then   seven 
years  of  age)  were  the  chief  actors,  and  shared   all  the  glory. 
At  that  time,  there  was  a  remembered  tradition  of   their   an 
cestors  which  they  truly  believed,  that  upale-face"   twins   (if 
boys)  possessed  the  magic  power   of   dispelling  all   depreda 
ting  worms  and  insects  from  cornfields,  gardens,  etc.,  which, 
in  some  years,  at  that  early    day,   proved  quite   destructive, 
especially  to  their  corn  during   the   milk   stage.     Now   it   so 
happened  during   one   summer,   that  the   corn-worms   were 
unusually  numerous  and  were  committing  great  depredations 
upon  their  fields  of  green  corn.  This  corn-worm,  with  which 
all  southern  farmers  are  well  acquainted  but  entertained   no 
dread,  is,  when  fully  grown,  about  an  inch  and   a  half  or   two 
inches  long,  and  aboik  the  size  of  a  wheat  straw,  and  commits 
its  depredations  (if  depredations  it  may  now  be   called)    only 
when  the  corn  is  in  the  milk  stage,    entering   the   ear   at  the 
top  and  gradually  working  downward,  but   leaving  it  as   soon 
as  the  grain  becomes  hard.     Now  it  also  happened,  they  had 
learned  that  Mr.  Cushman,  the  "good    pale-face,"  as   he  was 
termed,  had  a  pair  of  twin  boys;  a  propitious  opportunity  (long 
desired)  was  now  offered   to   secure   for   themselves,    by   an 
occular  demonstration,  the  traditional  efficacy  of  the  pale-face 
twins'  super-natural  power,   which   they   joyfully   embraced. 
Unexpectedly,  one  beautiful  June   morning,   a  company 
;  of  fine-looking  Choctaw  warriors  were  seen   approaching  on 
i  horseback  at  full   speed.     They   halted   at  the   gate   of  Mr. 
Cushman's  yard  and  called  for  him.     He  at  once  responded 
by  walking  out  to  them.   After  the  usual  friendly  salutations 
had  been  passed,  they  inquired  if  he  had  a  pair  of  twin  sons, 
to  which  he  replied  in  the  affirmative.     They   then  informed 
him  of  the  depreciations  being  committed  upon  their  fields  of 
green  corn,  and  also  of  the  traditions  of  their   ancestors,    re 
questing  at  the  same    time  the   loan   of   his   twins  that  they 
might,  by  that    mysterious  power   possessed   alone  by  pale 
face  twins,  rid  them  of  the  voracious  pests  that  were  then  de 
stroying  their   fields   of  corn.     Mr.    Cushman,    ignorant   of 
such  a  power  having  been  bestowed  upon   his   twin   boys,  at 
first   demurred;    but   they    becoming   more   importunate   in 
their  request,  he  finally  told  them  he  would  give  them  an  an 
swer  in  a  few  minutes.     He  then  stepped  into  the  house  and 
presented  the  case  to  Mrs.  Cushman  for   consideration,  who 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  273 

at  once,  from  a  mother's  natural  apprehensions  that  would 
arise  in  such' a  novel  case,  most  positively  refused  her  con 
sent;  but  after  a  few  minutes'  deliberation  reluctantly  yield 
ed,  to  the  great  joy  and  satisfaction  of  the  twins,  who  had 
been  attentive  spectators  and  listeners  to  the  whole  proceed 
ing's,  and  had  become  eager  to  test  their  attributed  power, 
(unknown  before)  and  to  enjoy  the  anticipated  novel  sport  so 
closely  connected  with  the  horseback  ride  that  was  present 
ed.  Mr.  Cushman  at  once  led  his  little  twins  to  the  gate  and 
introduced  them  to  the  now  jubilant  warriors,  by  telling 
them  the  respective  names  of  the  ''wonderfully  gifted" 
twins;  and  then  granted  their  request  upon  the  promise  that 
they  would  return  his  boys  in^  the  evening  of  the  day,  before 
the  sun  had  set.  The  promise  was  given  and  accepted  by 
Mr.  Cushman  without  the  least  apprehension  of  its  violation, 
while  Mrs.  Cushman  stood  in  the  door  and  viewed  the  pro 
ceedings  with  that  doubtful  anxiety  known  and  felt  only  by 
mothers. 

Mr.  Cushman  then  set  each  of  his  boys  upon  a  horse  be 
fore  a  warrior,  accompanying  the  act  with  the  parting  re 
quest:  "Take  good  care  of  my  little  boys!"  Unnecessary 
.appeal,  as  not  a  Choctaw  in  that  little  band  but  would  have 
shielded  the  entrusted  twins  from  injury  even  at  the  ex 
pense  of  his  life.  At  once  we  galloped  of?  in  the  direction  of 
their  village  three  miles  distant  called  Okachiloho  fah. 
(Water  falling,  or  Falling  water.)  When  we  arrived  in  sight, 
their  success  was  announced  by  a  shrill  whoop  to  which  the 
villagers  responded  their  joy  by  another.  As  soon  as  we  rode 
into  the  village,  we  were  immediately  surrounded  by  an  ad 
miring  throng,  and  being  tenderly  lifted  from  our  positions 
on  the  horses,  we  were  handed  over  to  the  care  of  several  old 
men,  who  took  us  in  their  arms  and  with  much  gravity 
carried  us  into  a  little  cabin,  which  had  previously  been  set 
in  order  for  our  reception,  where  we  found  prepared  a  va 
riety  of  eatables,  to  us  seemingly  good  enough  to  excite  the 
appetites  of  the  most  fastidious  twin  epicures;  after 
which  the  venerable  old  seers  of  the  village  instructed 
us  in  the  mystic  rites  and  ceremonies  of  their  tribe, 
preparatory  to  calling  into  requisition  the  magic  power 
of  our  twinship  in  all  its  bearings*  upon  the  duties 
of  the  day.  Then  showing  us  our  weapons,  which 
consisted  of  iron,  wood  and  fire/the  two  former  in  the  shape 
of  a  frying-pan,  in  which  we  were  to  burn  the  worms  after 
picking  them  from  the  corn,  and  a  blazing  chunk  of  fire,  two 
stout  and  straight  sticks  about  six  feet  in  length,  with  the 
proper  instructions  in  regard  to  the  manner  of  using  them 
effectually.  Having  been  thoroughly  drilied  in  these  pre- 


274  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

liminaries,  the  line  of  march  was  taken  up  toward  the  field 
where  the  enemy  were  said  to  be  strongly  intrenched;  in 
profound  silence  and  with  unfeigned  gravity,  the  Palokta 
Tohbi,  (Twins  White,  or  White  Twins)  led  the  van,  borne 
upon  the  shoulders  of  two  powerful  warriors  closely  followed 
by  three  others  bearing  the  arms,  while  the  villagers,  headed 
by  the  veteran  seers,  brought  up  the  rear  presenting  an  im 
posing  appearance  with  a  considerable  smack  of  the  ridicu 
lous,  even  as  Don  Quixote  astride  of  his  famous  Rosinante 
followed  by  his  valuable  squire  in  like  position  on  his  mule. 

When  the  field  was  reached  a  halt  was  made,  and  two 
venerable  looking  old  men,  whose- hoary  locks  and  wrinkled 
faces  bespoke  their  earthly  pilgrimage  had  extended  many 
years  beyond  their  allotted  three  score  years  and  ten,  came 
to  the  front  and,  with  solemn  mien,  lifted  us  from  our  perches 
and  gently  placed  us  over  the  fence  into  the  field;  then  hand 
ing  the  frying  pan,  chunk  of  fire,  and  sticks,  our  weapons,  to 
us,  with  a  word  of  encouragement  whispered  in  our  ears  to 
prove  ourselves  valiant  and  worthy  our  traditional  fame,  they 
bade  us  charge  the  foe.  The  plan  of  the  campaign  was  to 
attack  the  enemy  first  in  the  center;  there  build  a  hot  fire 
with  the  dry  wood,  previously  prepared  by  the  thoughtful 
Choctaws,  upon  \vhich  place  the  frying  pan  and  into  which 
throw  all  prisoners  without  discrimination,  as  our  flag  bore 
the  motto — "Neither  giving  nor  asking  quarter;"  and  like 
wise  also  at  the  the  four  corners  of  the  field.  The  centre 
was  gained,  the  fire  made,  and  upon  it  placed  the  pan;  then 
we  made  a  vigorous  attack  upon  the  strong-holds  of  the 
enemy  dislodging  them  and  at  the  same  time  taking  them 
prisoners  of  war;  then  hurrying  them  to  the  centre  hurled 
them  hors  de  combat  into  the  frying  pan  heated  to  a  red  heat, 
and  with  our  ready  sticks  stirred  them  vigorously,  while  the 
wreathes  of  smoke  that  ascended  from  the'  scene  of  carnage 
and  floated  away  before  the  summer  breeze,  together  with 
the  odor,  not  as  fragaant  to  the  sensitive  nose,  however,  as 
the  lily  or  the  rose,  gave  undisputed  evidence  of  our  victories; 
while  our  waiting  Choctaw  friends,  acknowledged  their 
approval  from  the  outside  of  the  field,  (since  the  tradition,  for 
bade^  them  sharing  in  the  dangers  of  the  conflict — the  Palok- 
tas  must  fight  alone)  filling  our  youthful  hearts  with  heroic 
emotions  unfelt  before  or  afterwards. 

After  we  had  immolated  two  or  three  panfulls  of  the 
enemy  at  the  center  and  at  each  corner  of  the  field,  nor  lost  a 
man,  we  returned  in  triumph  to  our  waiting  friends,  by 
whom  we  were  received  with  unfeigned  manifestations  of 
affection  and  pride.  Thence  we  were  borne  as  before  to 
other  fields,  where  were  enacted  the  same  prodigies  of  valor, 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  275 

with  similar  results  until  the  declining  sun  gave  warning-  of 
their  promise  not  being-  fulfilled  if  the  Paloktas  were  not  re 
turned  ere  the  sun  went  down.  Therefore  we  were  carried 
from  our  last  field  of  slaughter  back  to  the  village  in  "glori 
ous  triumph,"  where  never  were  offered  to  frail  mortality 
more  sincere  homage  and  unfeigned  devotion  than  were  be 
stowed  upon  the  Paloktas  by  those  grateful  Choctaws.  They 
seemed  only  to  regret  not  being  able  to  manifest  a  still 
greater  degree  of  gratitude,  and  to  do  more  for  us  as  a  man 
ifestation  of  their  appreciation  of  the  great  favor 
we  had  conferred  upon  them.  With  zealous  care  they 
watched  over  us  while  under  their  care,  that  no 
harm  might  befall  us.  As  we  came  so  we  returned,  and 
safely  reached  home  ere  the  sun  sank  behind  the  western 
horizon.  We  were  afterwards'  frequently  called  upon, 
much  to  our  gratification  and  delight,  it  was  fun  for  us,  to 
bring  into  requisition  our  mysteriously  delegated  power  in 
behalf  of  their  cornfields;  and  we  became  the  special  favor 
ites  of  that  kind-hearted  and  appreciative  people;  and  woe  to 
him  or  them  who  should  impose  upon  or  attempt  to  injure 
their  little  pets,  the  pale-face  Paloktas.  But  the  boyish 
pride  that  filled  my  heart  on  those  occasions,  though  seventy 
years  have  fled,  is  remembered  to  this-day.  haunting  the 
imagination  with  a  mystic  power,  as  thought  goes  back  to 
many  a  vanished  scene  recalling  associates  incident  to  the 
days  of  the  long  past. 

But  curiosity  might  now  be  inquisitive  enough  to  ask: 
"Did  the  \vorms  cease  their  depredations  on  the  green 
corn?"  To  wljich  I  reply:  Many  of  them  certainly  did;  and, 
as  no  further  complaint  was  made  by  the  Choctaws  during 
that  season,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  those  that  were  left, 
after  the  immolation  of  so  many  of  their  relatives,  took  a 
timely  hint  and  sought  other  quarters  where  pale-face  Palok 
tas  were  unknown;  but  whether  actuated  through  fear  of  a 
similar  fate  as  had  befallen  a  goodly  number  of  their  com 
panions,  or  because  the  corn  had  become  too  hard  by  age  for 
easy  mastication  and  healthy  digestion,  I  will'leave  for  future 
consideration  and  determination  of  those  who  ,  feel  more 
interested  in  its  solution  than  I  do  just  now.  However,  this" 
much  I  can  and  will  unfold;  as  the  little  pale-face  Paloktas 
honorably  sustained  the  reputation  of  their  mystic  art,  at 
least  in  the  opinion  of  their  Choctaw  friends,  who  were  ren 
dered  supremely  happy  in  the  indulgement  of  their  faith  in 
the  truth  of  the  ancient  declaration  of  their  honored  an 
cestors;  appreciative  and  gratefuljto  the  "Good  Pale-face"  for 
the  loan  of  his  favored  twins;  and  the  twins  enjoyed  the  new 
and  novel  sport,  and  nobody  hurt,  (unless  the  worms,  who 


276  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

are  at  liberty  to  render  their  own  complaint,)  we  will  let  it 
pass  without  further  ado  as  being-  only  a  little  superstitious 
yet  novel  affair,  not  less  unreasonable'however,  in  all  its  con 
comitants  than  other  superstitions  so  oft  indulged  by  the 
human  race  of  all  nationalities,  even  of  to-day  as  well  as  in 
the  years  of  yore. 

There  were  many  traditions  among'  all  North  American 
Indians,  many  of  which  bordered  on  the  poetical  and  from 
which  I  will  select  one  or  two  more,  which  shall  suffice  as 
examples  of  a  few  of  the  peculiarities  of  this  peculiar  yet 
interesting-  people. 

Thus  says  the  tradition  of  "Ohoyo  Osh  Chisba,"  (The 
Unknown  Woman.)  In  the  days  of  many  moons  ago,  two 
Choctaw  hunters  were  encamped  for  the  nig-ht  in  the' swamps 
of  the  bend  of  the  Alabama  river.  But  the  scene  was  not 
without  its  romance.  Dark,  wild,  and  unlovely  as  a  swamp 
is  generally  imagined  to  be,  yet  to  the  musing  heart  and 
contemplative  spirit,  it  had  its  aspects  of  beauty,  if  not  of 
brightness,  which  rose  up  before  the  mind  as  objects  of  se 
rene  delight,  i  speak  from  long-  personal  experience.  Its 
mysterious  appearance;  its  little  lakes  and  islands  of  repose: 
its  silent  and  solemn  solitudes;  its  green  cane-breaks  and 
lofty  trees,  all  combined  to  present  a  picture  of  strange  but 
harmonious  combination  to  which  a  lover  of  nature  in  all  its 
diversified  phases  could  not  be  wholly  insensible.  The  two 
hunters  having  been  unsuccessful  in  the  chase  on  that  and 
the  preceding-  day,  found  themselves  without  anything-  on 
that  night  with  which  to  satisfy  the  craving's  of  hunger  ex 
cept  a  black  hawk  which  they  had  shot  with  an  arrow.  Sad 
reflections  filled  their  hearts  as  they  thought  of  their  sad  dis 
appointments  and  of  their  suffering-  families  at  home,  while 
the  gloomy  future  spread  over  them  its  dark  pall  of  despon 
dency,  all  serving  to  render  them  unhappj'  indeed.  They 
cooked  the  hawk  and  sat  down  to  partake  of  their  poor  and 
scanty  supper,  when  their  attention  was  drawn  from  their 
gloomy  forebodings  by  the  low  but  distinct  tones,  strange 
yet  soft  and  plaintive  as  the  melancholy  notes  of  the  dove, 
but  produced  by  what  they  were  wholly  unable  to  even  con 
jecture.  At  different  intervals  it  broke  the  deep  silence  of 
the  early  night  with  its  seemingly  muffled  notes  of  woe;  and 
as  the  nearly  full  orbed  moon  slowly  ascended  the  eastern 
sky  the  strange  sounds  became  more  frequent  and  distinct. 
With  eyes  dilated  and  fluttering  heart  they  looked  up  and 
down  the  river  to  learn  whence  the  sounds  proceeded,  but 
no  object  except  the  sandy  shores  glittering  in  the  moon 
light  greeted  their  eyes,  while  the  dark  waters  of  the  river 
seemed  alone  to  give  response  in  murmuring-  tones  to  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  277 

strange  notes  that  continued  to  float  upon  the  night  air  from 
a  direction  they  could  not  definitely  locate;  but  happening-  to 
look  behind  them  in  the  direction  opposite  the  moon  they 
saw  a  woman  of  wonderful  beauty  standing  upon  a  mound  a 
few  rods  distant.  Like  an  illuminated  shadow,  she  had  sud 
denly  appeared  out  of  the  moon-lighted  forest.  She  was 
loosely  clad  in  snow-white  raiment,  and  bore  in  the  folds  of 
her  drapery  a  wreath  of  fragrant  flowers.  She  beckoned 
them  to  approach,  while  she  seemed  surrounded  by  a  halo  of 
light  that  gave  t'o  her  a  supernatural  appearance.  Their  im 
agination  now  influenced  them  to  believe  her  to  be  the  Great 
Spirit  of  their  nation,  and  that  the  flowers  she  bore  were  re 
presentatives  of  loved  ones  who  had-  passed  from  earth  ,to 
bloom  in  the  Spirit-Land;  truly,  a  beautiful  sentiment  that 
touches  every  heart,  for  who  has  not  some  treasure  in  that 
immortal  home?  Reason  as  we  may,  there  is  something,  in 
describable  though  it  may  be,  that  draws  us  to  the  unseen 
•world;  and  we  pine  for  a  word  or  token  from  the  dear  ones 
who  have  thither  gone.  Call  it  heathenish  if  you  will,  a  relic 
of  superstition,  of  the  days  when  every  rock,  tree  and  plant 
were  deemed  the  abode  of  a  deity,  but  we  never  gather  a 
flower  that  we  do  not  feel  for  the  life  thus  ended.  It  may  be 
an  error  clothed  with  beauty  and  tenderness,  and  far  more 
harmless  than  the  theory  that  thrusts  us  helpless  into  life 
and  leaves  us  to  grope  our  way  through  it  uncared  for, -.then 
to  die  unnoticed  and  forgotten. 

The  mystery  was  solved.  At  once  they  approached  to 
where  she  stood,  and  offered  their  assistance  in  any  way  they 
could  be  of  service  to  her.  She  replied  she  was  ver^y  hungry, 
whereupon  one  of  them  ran  and  brought  the  roasted  hawk 
and  handed  it  to  her.  She  accepted  it  with  grateful  thanks; 
but,  after  eating  a  small  portion  of  it,  she  handed  the  remain 
der  back  to  them  replying  that  she  would  remember  their 
kindness  when  she  returned  to  her  home  in  the  happy  hunt 
ing  grounds  of  her  father,  who  was  Shilup  Chitoh  Osh — The 
Great  Spirit  of  the  Choctaws.  She  then  told  them  that  when 
the  next  mid-summer  moon  should  come  they  must  meet  her 
at  the  mound  upon  which  she  was  then  standing.  She -then 
bade  them  an  affectionate  adieu,  and  was  at  once  borne  away 
upon  a  gentle  breeze  and,  mysteriously  as  she  came  so  she 
disappeared.  The  two  hunters  returned  to  their  camp  for  the 
night  and  early  next  morning  sought  they-  homes,  but  kept 
the  strange  incident  a  profound  secret  to  themselves.  When 
the  designated  time  rolled  around  the  mid-summer  full  moon 
found  the  two  hunters  at  the  foot  of  the  mound  but  Ohoyo 
•Chishba  Osh  was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  Then  remembering 
she  told  them  they  must  come  to  the  very  spot  where  she 


278  .HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

was  then  standing,  they  at  once  ascended  the  mound  and 
found  it  covered  with  a  strange  plant,  which  yielded  an  ex 
cellent  food,  which  was  ever  afterwards  cultivated  by  the 
Choctaws,  and  named  by  them  Tunchi;  (Corn). 

Somewhat  similar  to  the  tradition  of  the  Ohoy,o  Chishba 
Osh  is  that  of  the  Hattak  Owa  Hushi  Osh,  (The  Man  Hunt 
ing  For  The  Sun.) 

The  Choctaws  once,  a  great  amount  of  corn  having  been 
made  and  as  a  manifestation  of  their  appreciation  and,gratifi- 
cation  and  gratitude  to  the  Great  Spirit,  their  benefactor, 
held  a  Great  National  Council  at  which  their  leading  prophet 
spoke  at  great  length  upon  the  beauties  of  x Nature  which 
contributed  so  much  to  their  pleasure,  and  the  various  pro 
ductions  of  the  earth  and  the  enjoyment  derived  therefrom, 
attributing  much  of  all  to  the  effects  of  the  sun.  That  great 
lighter  and  heater  of  the  earth  came  from  the  east,  but 
whence  it  went  after  it  had  passed  behind  the  western  hills, 
had  long  been  a  subject  of  debate,  never  satisfactorily  de 
termined.  Again  the  mooted  question  was  brought  up  by 
the  prophet  in  his  speech  at  the  aforesaid  council,  who,  in 
a  strain  of  wild  eloquence,  cried  out,  ''Is  there  not  a  warrior 
among  all  my  people  who  will  go  and  find  out  what  becomes 
of  the  sun  when  it  departs  in  the  west?  "  At  once  a  young 
warrior,  named  Oklanowah,  (Walking  People)  arose  in  the 
assembly  and  said:  k'I  will  go  and  try  to  find  where  the  sun 
sleeps,  though  I  may  never  return."  He  soon  took  his  de 
parture  on  his  dubious  errand  leaving  behind  him  one  sad 
heart  at  least,  to  whom  he  gave  a  belt  of  wampum  as  a  token 
of  remembrance. 

But  after  an  absence  of  many  years  he  returned  to  the 
home  of  his  nativity,  only  to  find  himself  an  entire  stranger 
among  his  people.  After  many  days  search,  however,  he 
found  one  in  the  person  of  an  aged  and  decrepit  woman,  who 
remembered  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  young 
hunter  who  had  gone  many  years  before  on  his  adventurous 
exploit  to  find  the  sleeping  place  of  the  sun;  and  though  he 
was  satisfied  that  she  was  his  identical  betrothed — the  loved 
one  of  his  youth — oft  spoke  with  the  deepest  affection- of  her 
long  lost  Oklanowah,  yet  no  arguments  could  induce  her  to 
acknowledge  the  old  man  before  her  as  her  lover  of  the  past. 
The  unfortunate  and  forlorn  Hattak  Owa  Hushi  Osh  spent 
his  few  remaining  days  in  narrating  his  adventures  to  his  peo 
ple,  the  vast  prairies  and  high  mountains  he  had  crossed;  the 
strange  men  and  animals  he  had  seen;  and,  'above  all,  that 
the  sleeping  place  of  the  sun  was  in  a  big,  blue  water.  Still 
after  hearing  all  this,  the  old  woman,  more  incredulous  than 
"doubting  Thomas"  of  Biblical  fame,  refused  to  believe,  but 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  279 

secluded  herself  in  her  lonely  cabin,  and  alone  occupied  the 
sad  hours  of  the  days  and  years  that  came  and  went  in 
counting  the  wampum  in  her  belt,  the  sacred  memento  of  her 
Oklanowah — loved,  but  lost;  lost,  yet  loved.  -Spring-  return 
ed,  but  ere  the  leaves  were  grown  Hattak  Owa  Hushi  Osh 
died,  and  was  buried  near  the  ancient  mound  Nunih  Waiyah, 
and  ere  the  moon  of  the  corn  planting  had  come,  the  old 
woman  also  died,  and  she.  to  was  buried  at  the  sacred  Nunih 
Waiyah  by  the  side  of  her  unrecognized  yet  faithful  Okla 
nowah. 

Another  specimen  of  their  love  legends  is  exhibited  in 
that  of  Chahtah  Osh  Hochifoh  Keyu— the  Nameless  Chah 
tah.  In  the  days  of  the  long  past  there  lived  in  the  Choctaw 
village  Aiasha,  (Habitation),  the  only  son  of  a  great  war- 
chief.  This  son  was  noted  for  his  wonderful  beauty  of  form 
and  features  and  manly  bearing.  The  aged  men  of  the 
Nation  predicted,  on  account  of  his  known  and  acknowledged 
bravery,  he  would  become  a  renowned  warrior.  But  as  he 
had  not  distinguished  himself  in.  war  either  by  slaying  an 
enemy,  taking  a  prisoner,  or  striking  the  dead  (a  feat  ac 
companied  with  the  greatest  danger,  as  every  effort  is  made 
by  the  friends  of  the  fallen  warrior  to  prevent  such  an  insult 
to  the  dead),  he  was  not  permitted  to  occupy  a  seat  in  the 
councils  of,  the  tribe,  though  respected  and  honored,  and  his 
bravery  undoubted  by  all. 

According  to  the  custom  of  the  ancient  Choctaws,  a  boy 
was  not  given  a  specific  name  in  childhood  unless  he  merited 
it  by  some  daring  act,  and  the.  young  warrior,  by  some  un 
avoidable  chain  of  circumstances,  passed  through  his  chrys 
alis  stage  of  life  without  having  won  a  reputation  according 
to  his  youthful  abilitv;  therefore  went  by  the  general  name 
Chahtah  Osh  Hochifoh  Keyu.  The  Nameless  Chahtah.  In 
the  same  village  of  Aiashah,  there  also  lived,  according  to  the 
legend,  the  most  famous  beauty  of  the  tribe,  the  daughter  of 
a  noted  warrior  and  skillful  hunter,  and  the  betrothed  of 
Chahtah  Osh  Hochifo  Iksho.  Though  they  often  met  at  the 
great  dances  and  festivals  of  the  tribe,  yet  she  (whose  name 
the  legend  does  not  state)  treated  him  with  distant  reserve 
(then  the  universal  custom  of  the  Choctaw  girls)  though  the 
ardent  lover  of  the  nameless  hero.  Still  one  cloud  cast  its 
gloomy  shadow  over  their  happiness;  it  was  the  knowledge 
of  the  stubborn  truth,  that  the  laws  of  their  Nation,  as  those 
of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  were  unalterable;  and  that  they 
could  never  become  husband  and  wife  until  he  had  acquired 
a  name  by  some  daring  deed  in  battle  with  the  enemies  of 
his  country.  But  time  slowly  rolled  away  and  summer  again 
came  with  a  balmy  day  followed  by  its  evening  twilight^ 


280  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

which  witnessed  the  lovers  seated  together  upon  the  summit 
of  a  hill  shaded  by  the  foliage  of  innumerable  and  immense 
forest  trees.  Far  below  from  a  distant  plain  ascended  the 
light  and  smoke  from  the  fire  of  a  war-dance,  around  which 
danced  in  wild  excitement  four  hundred  Choctaw  warriors, 
preparatory  to  a  war-expedition  against  the  Osages,  far  dis 
tant  to  the  west,  and  that  night ,  was  the  last  night  of  their 
Sreparatory  ceremonies.  Previous  to  that  night  Chahtah 
sh  Hochifoh  Keyu  had  acted  as  one  of  the  most  conspicu 
ous  in  the  dances  engaged  in  the  four  previous  nights  before, 
but  on  the  last  night,  had  retired  from  the  dance  to  enjoy  a 
parting  interview  with  his  betrothed.  .  There  they  parted, 
and  ere  the  morning's  sun  again  lighted  up  the  eastern  hori 
zon,  the  "sound  of  revelry  by  night"  had  ceased,  while 
silence  again  resumed  her  sway  o'er  Nature's  vast  expanse, 
and  bespoke  the  four  hundred  warriors  with  Chahtah  Osh 
Hochifoh  Keyu  were  many  miles  upon  the  war-path  that  led 
to  the  country  of  the  Osages  among  the  headwaters  of  the 
Arkansas  river. 

The  hostile  land  was  reached,  and  soon  they  discovered 
a  large  cave  into  which  they  entered,  that  concealed  they 
might  the  better  arrange  their  plans  for  future  operations, 
being  then  in  the  enemies'  country.  Two  scouts,  however, 
were  sent  out  to  reconnoitre,  one  to  examine  the  surround 
ings  east,  the  other  west.  The  latter  was  Chahtah  Osh 
Hochifoh  Keyu.  But  alas  for  human  hopes!  The  evening 
passed  away  and  night  came  on  bringing  one  Osage  hunter 
who  had  oft  before  sought  the  cave  and  found  a  safe  resting 
place  for  the  night.  But  as  he  drew  near  the  cave,  his  ob 
servant  eyes,  ever  on  the  alert,  discovered  signs  which  told 
him  of  the  presence  of  others;  further  examination  revealed 
that  they  were  his  nation's  most  bitter  and  unrelenting  ene 
mies,  the  hated  Choctaws.  Silently  he  stole  away  undis 
covered  by  the  Choctaws,  until  safely  distant,  then  sped 
away  through  the  darkness  on  nimble  feet  to  his  village  and 
told  of  his  discovery;  at  once  a  large  band  of  Osag'e  warriors 
rushed  for  the  cave,  and  as  they  drewnear  gathered  up  small 
logs,  chunks,  limbs  and  brush  with  which  they  silently  and 
effectually  closed  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  and  to  which  they 
applied  the  torch,  and  the  sleeping  Choctaws  awoke  but  to 
read  their  inevitable  doom — all  perished.  The  Choctaw 
scout  who  had  gone  east  returned  during  the  night,  but  ere 
he  reached  the  cave  the  flames  revealed  to  him  the  tale  of 
woe;  he  approached  near  enough,  however,  to  comprehend  the 
whole;  stooda  moment  and  gazed  in  mazv  bewilderment,  then 
turned  and  fled  for  home  where  he  safely  arrived  and  re 
vealed  the  sad  intelligence  of  the  wretched  fate  of  his  com- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  281 

rades  to  their  relatives  and  friends.  It  was  also  believed  by 
all  that  Chahta  Osh  Hochifoh  Keyu  had  been  discovered  and 
had  also  been  slain.  The  sad  tidings  fell  heavily  upon  all 
and  the  wail  of  woe  was  heard  in  many  a  village  and  cabin; 
but  upon  one  it  fell  with  terrible  weight;  and  the  promised 
wife  of  "The  Nameless  Choctaw"  at  once  began  to  droop 
and  soon  withered  away  as  a  rose  severed  from  the  parent 
stem;  and  ere  another  moon  had  passed  away  she  was  laid 
away  in  a  grave  upon  the  very  spot  (by  her  request)  where 
she  had  last  shared  the  parting  embrace  with  her  adored 
Chahtah  Osh  Hochifoh  Keyu,  upon  whose  tomb-stone,  had 
one  been  erected  to  her  memory,  could  justly  have  borne  the 
epitaph — "A  broken  heart." 

But  the  supposition  that  he  too  had  been  slain  proved 
untrue.  Though  he  had  been  discovered  by  the  Osages  and 
vigorously  pursued  for  several  days  arid  nights,  he  finally 
was  fortunate  enough  to  escape.  During  the  chase  his  flight 
had-  been  devious,  and  when  he  had  gotten  beyond  the  danger 
of  further  pursuit  by  his  fearful  foes,  he  found  himself  to  be 
a  bewildered  man,  wretched  and  forlorn.  Everything  ap 
peared  wrong,  and  even  the  sun  appeared  to  him  to  rise  in 
the  wrong  direction,  all  nature  was  out  of  order.  After 
several  days  of  dubious  wanderings,  hither  and  thither,  he 
knew  not  where,  he  came  to  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  whose 
sides  were  covered  with  a  kind  of  grass  entirely  different 
from  anything  he  had  ever  seen  before.  Then,  in  the  course 
of  his  wanderings,  he  'strayed,  at  the  close  of  another  day, 
into  a  lovely  wooded  valley,  where  he  camped  for  the  night, 
kindled  a  fire  and  cooked  a  rabbit  he  had  killed,  of  which  he 
made  his  supper,  and  then  sought  temporary  forgetfulness 
of  his  woes  in  sleep,  Morning  again  dawned,  but  to  awake 
•him  to  a  stronger  sensibility  of  his  loneliness  and  wander 
ings  he/knewr  not  where.  Many  moons  came  and  passed 
away  and  left  him  a  lost  wanderer.  Summer  came,  and  he 
called  upon  the  Great  Spirit  to  make  his  paths  straight,  that 
they  might  lead  him  out  of  bewilderment.  He  then  hunted 
for  a  spotted  deer,  found  and  killed  one,  and  offered  it  a  sac 
rifice  to  the  Great  Spirit,  after  reserving  a  small  portion  to 
satisfy  his  own  immediate  wants.  Night  again  came  on.  and 
as  he  sat  by  his  little  campfire  in  lonely  solitude,  he  heard 
the  near  approach  of  footsteps  in  an  adjoining  thicket,  but 
before  he  could  take  a  second  thought,  a  snow-white  wolf  of 
immense  size  was  crouching  at  his  feet,  and  licking  his 
moccasins  with  the  utmost  manifestations  of  affection.  Then 
looking  him  in  the  face  said:  "Whence  came  you,  and  why 
are  you  alone  in  this  wilderness?"  To  which  Chohtah  Osh 
Hochifoh  Keyu  gave  a  full  account  of  his  misfortunes.  The 


282  HISTORY    OF    THE>  INDIANS. 

wolf  then  promised  to  lead  him  safely  out  of  the  wilderness 
in  which  he  had  been,  so  long-  wandering-  and  return  him 
to  his  country,  and  they  started  early  on  the  following 
morning. 

Long-  was  the  journey,  and  dangerous  the  route;  but  by 
the  time  that  the  corn-hoeing  moon  came  the  forlorn  wan 
derer  entered  once  more  his  native  village,  the  anniversary 
of  the  day  he. had  bidden  his  betrothed  adieu;  but  alas,  only 
to  find  his  village  in  mourning  for  her  premature  death.  Alas 
too,  so  changed  was  he  that  none  recognized  in  the  wayworn 
stranger  the  lost  Chatah  Osh  Hochifoh  Keyu;  nor  did  he 
make  himself  known.  Often,  however,  did  he  solicit  them  to 
rehearse  to  him  the  account  of  her  death;  and  oft  he  chanted 
his  wild  songs,  to  the  astonishment  of  all,  to  the  memory  of 
his  loved  one,  dead  yet  loved,  loved  yet  dead.  During  his 
frequent  nightly  visits  to  her  lonely  grave  upon  the  hill  which 
had  witnessed  their  last  parting,  he  once  came  on  a  calm, 
cloudless  night — 'twas  his  last — and  stood  by  the  grave  that  held 
his  dead  at  a  moment  when  the  Great  Spirit  cast  a  shadow 
upfln  the  moon,  then  fell  upon  it  and  died.  They  found  him 
there,  and  then  was  he  recognized  as  the  long  lost  Chatah 
Osh  Hochifoh  Keyu,  and  there  buried  by  the  side  of  his 
earthly  idol.  For  three  consecutive  nights  the  silence  of  the 
forests  contiguous  to  the  lovers'  graves  was  broken  by  the 
continual  wailing  howl  of  a  solitary  wolf,  then  it  ceased  and 
was  heard  no  more;  but  the  same  wail  was  taken  up  by  the 
'pine  forest  upon  the  hill  where  the  lovers  parted  in  hope,  but 
there  to  be  buried  in  despair,  and  that  mournful,  wailing 
sound  they  have  continued  from  that  day  dawn  to  the  present 
time. 

The  traditions  of  the  Choctaws  concerning  the  Oka  Fal- 
ama  (Returned  waters — the  Flood)  is  as  follows  :  In  ancient 
time,  after  many  generations  of  mankind  hadlivecl  and  passed 
from  the  stage  of  being,'  the  race  became  so  corrupt  and 
wicked — brother  fighting  against  brother  and  wars  deluging 
the  earth  with  human  blood  and  carnage — the  Great  Spirit 
became  greatly  displeased  and  finally  determined  to  destroy 
the  human  race  ;  therefore  sent  a  great  prophet  to  them 
who  proclaimed  from  tribe  to  tribe,  and  from  village  to  vil 
lage,  the  fearful  tidings  that  the  human  race  was  soon  to 
be  destroyed.  None  believed  his  words,  and  lived  on  in 
their  wickedness-  as  if  they  did  not  care,  and  the  seasons 
came  again  and  went.  Then  came  the  autumn  of  the  year, 
followed  by  many  succeeding  cloudy  days  and  nights,  dur 
ing  which  the  sun  by  day  and  the  moon  and  stars  by  night 
were  concealed  from  the  9arth  ;  then  succeeded  a  total  dark 
ness,  and  the  sun  seemed  to  have  been  blotted  out ;  while 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  283*, 

darkness  and  silence  with  a  cold  atmosphere  took  posses 
sion  of  earth.  Mankind  wearied  and  perplexed,  but  not  re 
penting-  or  reforming-,  slept  in  darkness  but  to  awake  in 
darkness  ;  then  the  mutterings  of  distant  thunder  began  to 
be  heard,  gradually  becoming  incessant,  until  it  reverbera 
ted  in  all  parts  of  .the  skv  and  seemed  to  echo  back  even  from 
the  deep  center  of  the  earth.  Then  fear  and  consternation 
seized  upon  every  heart  and  all  believed  the  sun  would  never 
return.  The  Magi  of  the  Choctaws  spoke  despondently  in 
reply  to  the  many  interrogations  of  the  alarmed  people,  and 
sang  their  death-songs  which  were  but  faintly  heard  in  the 
mingled  confusion  that  arose  amid  the  gloom  'of  the  night 
that  seemed  would  have  no  returning  morn.  Mankind  went 
from  place  to  place  only  by  torch-light ;  their  food  stored 
away  became  mouldy  and  unfit  for  use  ;  the  wild  animals  of 
the  forests  gathered  around  their  fires  bewildered  and  even 
entered  their  towns  and  villages,  seeming  to  have  lost  all 
fear  of  man.  Suddenly  a  fearful  crash  of  thunder,  louder 
than  ever  before  heard,  seemed  to  shake  the  earth,  and  im 
mediately  after  a  light  was  seen  glimmering  seemingly  far 
away  to  the  North.  It  was  soon  discovered  not  to  be  the 
light  of  the  returning-  sun,  but  the  gleam  of  great  waters  ad 
vancing-  in  mighty  billows,  wave  succeeding  wave  as  they  on 
ward  rolled  over  the  earth  destroying  everything-  in  their 
path . ' 

Then  the  wailing  cry  was  heard  coining  from  all  direc 
tions,  Oka  Falamah,  Oka  Falamah;  (The  returned  waters). 
Stretching"  from  horizon  to  horizon,  it  came  pouring-  its  mass 
ive  waters  onward.  "The  foundations  of  the  Great  Deep 
were  broken  up."  Soon  the  earth  was  entirely  overwhelmed 
by  the  mig-hty  and  irresistible  rush  of  the  waters  which  swept 
away  the  human  race  and  all  animals  leaving  the  earth  a  des 
olate  waste.  Of  all  mankind  only  one  was  saved,  and  that 
one  was  the  mysterious  prophet  who  had  been  sent  by  the 
Great  Spirit  to  warn  the  human  race  of  their  near  approach 
ing  doom.  This  prophet  saved  himself  by  making-  a  raft  of  " 
of  sassafras  log's  by  the  direction  of  the  Great  Spirit,  upon 
which  he  floated  upon  the  great  waters  that  covered  the 
earth,  as  various  kinds  of  fish  swam  around  him,  and  twined 
among-  the  branches  of  the  submerged  trees,  while  upon  the 
face  of  the  waters  he  looked  upon  the  dead  bodies  of  men 
and  beasts,  as  they  arose  and  fell  upon  the  heaving-  billows. 

After  many  weeks  floating  he  knew  not  where,  a  large 
black  bird  came  to  the  raft  flying  in  circles  above  his  head. 
He  called  to  it  for  assistance,  but  it  only  replied  in  loud, 
croaking  tones,  then  flew  away  and  was  seen  no  more.  A 
few  days  after  a  bird  of  bluish  color,  with  red  eyes  and  beak 


284  '     HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

came  and  hovered  over  the  raft,  to  which  the. prophet  spoke 
and  asked  if  there  was  a  spot  of  dry  land  anywhere  to  be 
seen  in  the  wide  waste  of  waters.  Then  it  flew  around  his 
head  a  few  moments  fluttering  its  wing's  and  uttering"  a 
mournful  cry,  then  flew  away  in  the  direction  of  that  part  of 
the  sky  where  the  new  sun  seemed  to  be  sinking-  into  the 
rolling1  waves  of  the  great  ocean  of  waters.  Immediately  a 
strong-  wind  sprang  up  and  bore  the  raft  rapidly  in  that 
direction.  Soon  night  came  on,  and  the  moon  and  stars 
again  made  their  appearance,  and  the  next  morning'  the  sun 
arose  in  its  former  splendor;  and  the  prophet  looking  around 
saw  an  island  in  the  distance  toward  which  the  raft  was 
slowly  drifting,  and  before  the  sun  had  gone  down  seemingly 
again  into  the  world  of  waters,  the  raft  had  touched  the 
island  upon  which  he  landed  and  encamped,  and  being  wear 
ied  and  lonely  he  soon  forgot  his  anxieties  in  sleep;  and  when 
morning  came,  in  looking  around  over  the  island,  he  found  it 
covered  with  all  varieties  of  animals — excepting*  the  mam 
moth  which  had  been  destroyed.  He  also  found  birds  and 
fowls  of  every  kind  in  vast  numbers  upon  the  island;  and 
among  which  he  discovered  the  identical  black  bird  which 
had  visited  him  upon  the  waters,  and  then  left  him  to  his 
fate;  and,  as  he  regarded  it  a  cruel  bird, he  named  it  Fulushto 
(Raven) — a  bird  of  ill  omen  to  the  ancient  Choctaws. 

With  great  joy  he  also  discovered  the  bluish  bird  which 
had  caused  the  wind  to  blow  his  raft  upon  the  island,  and  be 
cause  of  this  act  of  kindness  and  its  great  beauty  he  called  it 
Puchi  Yushubah  (Lost  Pigeon). 

After  many  days  the  waters,  passed  away;  and  in  the 
course  of  time  Puchi  Yushubah  became  a  beautiful  woman, 
whom  the  prophet  soon  after  married,  and  by  them  the  world 
was  again  peopled. 

Whence  this  tradition  with  such  strong  resemblance  to 
the  account  of  the  deluge  as  given  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures? 
It  is  not  fiction  or  fable,  but  the  actual  tradition  of  the  ancient 
Choctaws  as  related  by  them  to  the/  missionaries  in  1818. 
Whence  this  knowledge  of  the  flood  of  the  Bible?  Does  one 
reply,  they  obtained  it  from  the  early  European  explorers 
of  the  continent?  Not  so;  for  the  earliest  explorers  speak  of 
.  the  North  American  Indians'  various  traditions  of  the  Flood. 
May  it  be  possible  that  their  ancestors,  far  back  in  the  early 
dawn  of  the  morn  of  Christian ty,  received  it  from  some  one 
or  more  of  the  apostles,  as  ours  did — the  ancient  Britons? 
Who  knows?  It  is  not  a  thing  impossible,  if  we  admit  they 
drifted  ages  ago  from  Asia's  shores  to  the  western  conti 
nent.  If  not,  whence  and  how  have  'they  this  knowledge  of 
the  flood? 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  285 

St.  Paul  himself  declares,  in  his  epistie  to  the  Galatians, 
that  soon  after  he  had  been  called  to  preach  Christianity 
among- the  heathen,  he  "went  into  Arabia."  The  dissen 
sions  which  arose  in  the  Eastern  church,  in  the  early  part  of 
the  third  century,  breaking-  it  up  into  sects,  drove  many  into 
exile  into  remote  parts  of  the  East,  and  planted  the  Chris 
tian  faith  among-  the  principal  tribes  of  that  region. 

Another  Choctaw  version  of  their  traditional  flood  (Oka- 
falama)  is  as  follows:  In  the  far  distant  ages  of  the  past, 
the  people,  whom  the  Great  Spirit  had  created,  became  so 
wicked  that  he  resolved  to  sweep  them  all  from  the  earth,  ex 
cept  Oklatabashih  (People's  .mourner)  and  his  family,  who 
alone  did  that  which  was  good.  He  told  Oklatabashih  to 
build  a  larg-e  boat  into  which  he  should  go  with  his  family 
and  also  to  take  into  the  boat  a  male  and  female  of  all  the  an 
imals  living-  upon  the  earth.  He  did  as  he  was  commanded 
by  the  Great  Spirit.  But  as  he  went  out  in  the  forests  to 
bring- in  the  birds  he  wras  unable  to  catch  a  pair  of  biskinik 
(sapsucker),  fitukhak  (yellow  hammer),  bak  bak.  (a  large 
red-headed  woodpecker);  as  these  birds  were  so  quick  in. 
hopping-  around  from  one  side  to  the  other  of  the  trees  upon 
which  they  clung-  with  their  sharp  and  strong  claws,  that 
Oklatabashih  found  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  catch  them, 
therefore  he  g-ave  up  the  chase,  and  returned  to  the  boat, 
and  the  door  closed,  the  rain  beg-an  to  fall  increasing-  in  vol 
ume  for  many  days  and  nights,  until  thousands  of  people  and 
animals  perished.  Then  it  suddenly  ceased  and  utter  dark 
ness  covered  the  face  of  the  earth  for  a  long"  time,  while,  the 
people  and  animals  that  still  survived  groped  here  and  there 
in  the  fearful  gloom.  Suddenly  far  in  the  distant  north  was 
seen  a  long-  streak  of  light.  They  believed  that,  amid  the 
raging  elements  and  the  impenetrable  darkness  that  covered 
the  earth,  the  sun  had  lost  its  way  and  was  rising  in  the 
north.  All  the  surviving  people  rushed  towards  the  seem 
ingly  rising  sun,  though  utterly  bewildered,  not  knowing 
or  caring  what  they  did.  But  well  did  Oklatabashih  in 
terpret  the  prophetic  sign  of  their  fast  approaching  doom. 
Instead  of  the  bright  dawn  of  another  long  wished-for  day, 
they  saw,  in  utter  despair,  that  it  was  but  the  mocking  light 
that  foretold  how  near  the  Okafalama  was  at  hand,  rolling 
like  mountains  on  mountains  piled  and  engulfing  everything 
in  its  resistless  course.  All  earth  was  at  once  overwhelmed 
in  the  mighty  return  of  waters,  except  the  great  boat  which, 
by  the  guidance  of  the  Great  Spirit,  rode  safely  upon  the 
rolling  and  dashing  waves  that  covered  the  earth.  During 
many  moons  the  boatfloated  safely  o'er  the  vast  sea  of  waters. 
Finally  Oklatabashih  sent  a  dove  to  see  if  any  dry  land  could 


286  HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS. 

be  found.  She  soon  returned  with  her  beak  full  of  grass, 
which  she  had  gathered  from  a  desert  island.  Oklatabashih 
to  reward  her  for  her  discovery  mingled  a  little  salt  in  her 
food.  Soon  after  this  the  waters  subsided  and  the  dry  land 
a-opeared;  then  the  inmates  of  the  great  boat  went  forth  to 
repeople  another  earth.  But  the  dove,  having  acquired  a 
taste  for  salt  during  her  stay  in  the  boat  continued  its  use 
by  finding  it  at  the  salt-licks  that  then  abounded  in  many 
places,  to  which  the  cattle  and  deer  also  frequently  resorted. 
Every  day  after  eating,  she  visited  a  salt-lick  to  eat  a  little 
salt  to  aid  her  digestion,  which  in  the  course  of  time  became 
habitual  and  thus  was  transmitted  to  her  offspring.  In  the, 
course  of  years,  she  became  a  grand-mother,  and  took  great 
delight  in 'feeding  and  caring  for  her  grand-children.  One 
day,  however,  after  having  eaten  some  grass  seed,  she  un 
fortunately  forgot  to  eat  a  little  salt  as  usual.  For  this 
neglect,  ,the  Great  Spirit  punished  her  and  her  descendants 
by  forbidding  them  forever  the  use  of  salt.  When  she  re 
turned  home  that  evening,  her  grand-children,  as  usual  be 
gan  to  coo  for  their  supply  of  salt,  but  their  grand-mother 
having  been  forbidden  to  give  them  any  more,  they  cooed  in 
vain.  From  that  day  to  this,  in  memory  of  this  lost  privil 
ege,  the  doves  everywhere,  on  the  return  of  spring,  still  con 
tinue  their  cooing  for  salt,  which  they  will  never  again  be 
permitted  to  eat.  Such  is  the  ancient  tradition  of  the  Choc- 
taws  of  the  origin  of  the  cooing  of  doves. 

But  as  to  the  fate  of  the  three  birds  who  eluded  capture 
by  Okjatabashih,  their  tradition-states  :  They  flew  high  in 
air  at  the  approach  of  Okafalama,  and,  as  the  waters  rose 
higher  and  higher,  they  also  flew  higher  and  higher  above 
the  surging  waves.  Finally,  the -waters  rose  in  near  prox 
imity  to  the. sky,  upon  which  they  lit  as  their  last  hope. 
Soon,  to  their  great  joy  and  comfort,  the  waters  ceased  to 
rise,  and  commenced  to  recede.  But  while  sitting  011  the 
sky  their  tails,  projecting  downward,  were  continually  being 
drenched  by  the  -dashing  spray  of  the  surging  waters  below, 
and  thus  the  end  of  their  tail  feathers  became  forked  and 
notched,  and  this  peculiar  shapfe  of  the  tails  of  the  biskinik, 
fitukhak  and  bakbak  has  been  transmitted  to  their  latest 
posterity.  But  the  sagacity  and  skill  manifested  by  these 
birds  in  eluding  the  grasp  of  Oklatabashih,.  so  greatly  de 
lighted  the  Great  Spirit  that  he  appointed  them  to  forever  be 
the  guardian  birds  of  the  red  men.  Therefore  these  birds, 
and  especially  the  biskinik,  often  made  their  appearance  in 
their  villages  on  the  eve  of  a  ball  play  ;  and,  whichever  one  of 
the  three  came,  it  twittered  in  happy  tones  its  feelings  of 
joy  in  anticipation  of  the  near  approach  of  the  Choctaws1 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  287 

favorite  game.  But  in  time  of  war  one  of  these  birds  al 
ways  appeared  in  the  camp  of  .a  war  party,  to  give  them 
warning-  of  approaching  danger,  by  its  constant  chirping 
and  hurried  flitting  from  place  to  place  around  their  camp. 
In  many  ways  did  these  birds  prove  their  love  for  and 
friendship  to  the  red  man,  and  he  ever  cherished  them  as 
the  loved  birds  of  his  race,  the  remembered  gift  of  the 
Great  Spirit  in  the  fearful  days  of  the  mighty  Okafalama. 

The  French  in  making  their  voyages  of  discovery   along 
the  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  in  1712,   under   the    command 
of  Iberville,  anchored  one  evening  near  an  island  ('now  known 
as  Ship  Island)  which  they  discovered  to  be  intersected  with 
lagoons   and   inhabited   by   a   strange     and    peculiar   animal 
seemingly  to  hold  the  medium  between  the   fox  and  cat,   and 
they  give  it  the  name  Cat  Island,  by  which  it  is    still   known; 
thence  they  passed  over  the  main  land,  where  they  discovered 
a  tribe  of  Indians  called  Biloxi,  among  whom  they  afterwards 
located  a  town  and  gave  it  the  name   Biloxi — now   the   oldest 
town   in   the   State   of   Mississippi.     This    tribe   of   Indians 
proved  to  be  a  clan  of  the  Choctaws,  and  the   name   Biloxi,    a 
corruption  of  the  Choctaw  word  Ba-luh-chi,    signifying   hick 
ory  bark.     Thence  going'  eastward  they   discovered   another 
tribe  weich  they  called  the  Pascagoulas,   which    also   proved 
to  be  a  clan  of  the    Choctaws,    and   the   name   Pascagoula,   a 
corruption  of  the   two   Choctaw   words   Puska   (bread)   and 
Okla  (people),  i.  e:     Bread  People,    or   people   having   bread; 
but  which  has  been  erroneously  interpreted  to  mean  "Bread 
Eaters."     A  remnant  of  the  Ba-luh-chis  still  exist  among  the 
Choctaws,  while  the  Puskaoklas  have  been  long  lost  by   unit 
ing  with  other  Choctaw  clans.     There  was  an  ancient   tradi 
tion  among  the  Puskaoklas,  which  stated  that,    in   the   years 
long  past,  a  small  tribe  of  Indians  of  a  lighter  complexion  than 
themselves,  and  also  different  in  manners   and    customs,  ^in 
habited  the  country  near  the  mouth  of  the  Pascagoula   river r 
whose  ancestors,  according  to  the  tradition,   originally  emer 
ged  from  the  sea,  where  they  were  born;   that   they   were   a 
kind,  peaceful  and  inoffensive  people,  spending   their  time  in 
public  festivals  and  amusements  of  various  kinds;   that   they 
had  a  temple  in  which  they   worshiped   the   figure   of  a  Sea 
God;  every  night  when  the  moon  was  passing  from   its   cres 
cent  to  the  full,  they  gathered  around  the  figure  playing  upon 
instruments  and  singing  and  dancing,  thus   rendering   hom 
age  to  the  Sea  God.     That  shortly   after   the   destruction   of 
Mobilla  (now  Mobile,  Alabama,)  in  1541,    by   De   Soto,    there 
suddenly  appeared  among  the  Sea  God   worshippers  a   white 
man  with  a  long,  gray  beard,  flowing  garments   and    bearing 
a  large  cross  in  his  right  hand;  that  he  took  from  his   bosom 


288  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

X 

a  book,  and,  after  kissing-  it  again  and  again,  he  began  to  ex 
plain  to  them  what  was  contained  in  it;  that  they  listened 
attentively  and  were  fast  being-  converted  to  its  teaching's 
when  a  fearful  catastrophy  put  an  end  to  all.  One  night, 
when  the  full  moon  was  at  its  zenith,  there  came  a  sudden 
rising  of  the  waters  of  the  river,  which  rolled  in  mighty 
waves  along  its  channel;  on  the  crest  of  thefoamingwaterssat 
a  woman,  with  magnetic  eyes,  singing  in  a  tone  of  voice  that 
fascinated  all;  that  the  white  man,  followed  by  the  entire 
tribe,  rushed  to  the  bank  of  the  stream  in  wild  amazement, 
when  the  siren  at  once,  modulated'  her  voice  to  still  more 
fascinating  tones,  chanting  a  mystic  song  with  the  oft 
repeated  chorus,  "Come  to  me,  come  to  me,  children  of  the 
sea!  Neither  book  nor  cross,  from  your  queen,  shall  win  ye;" 
Soon,  an  Indian  leaped  into  the  still  raging  waters,  followed 
by  the  remainder  in  rapid  succession,  all  disappearing  as 
they  touched  the  water,  when  a  loud  and  exultant  laugh  was 
heard,  and  then  the  waters  returned  to  their  usual  level  and 
quiet  leaving  no  trace  of  their  former  fury;  the  white  man 
was  left  alone,  and  soon  died  of  grief  and  loneliness. 

TRADITION  OF  THE  PAPAGOES  INDIANS. 

It  is  stated  of  the  Papagoes,  (known  as  the  short-haired 
Indians  of  the  Southwest)  that  an  ancient  tradition  of  their 
tribe  proclaims  the  coming  of  a  Messiah  by  the  name  "Moc- 
tezuma."  They  affirm  that,  in  the  ancient  past,  he  lived  in 
Casa  Grande,  the  famous  prehistoric  temple  on  the  Gila 
river;  that  his  own  people  rebelled  against  him  and  threaten 
ed  to  kill  him,  and  he  fled7  to  Mexico.  But  before  leaving 
them  he  told  them  that  they  would  experience  great  afflic 
tions  for  many  years,  but  eventually,  at  the  time  of  their 
greatest  need,  he  would  return  to  them  from  the  east  with 
the  rising  sun;  that  he  would  then  cause  the  rain  to  fall  again 
upon  their  arid  country,  and  make  it  bloom  as  a  garden,  and 
make  his  people  to  become  the  greatest  on  earth.  There 
fore,  when  Moctezuma  arrives,  that  he  may  see  all  the  doors 
open  and  none  closed  against  him,  this  humble  people,  with 
a  pathetic  faith,  make  the  only  entrance  to  their  houses 
toward  the  east  and  leave  the  door  always  standing  open 
that  their  Messiah  may  enter  when  he  comes.  During  the 
years  1891,  1892  and  1893,  a  three  years'  drouth  had  destroy 
ed  their  crops,  dried  up  their  water,  cut  off  their  supply  of 
seeds,  and  killed  great  numbers  of  their  cattle.  Truly  it 
was  the  time  of  their  greatest  suffering,  and  surely  Mocte 
zuma  would  now  come  to  their  rescue;  and  it  was  enough  to 
move  the  heart  of  the  most  obdurate  infidel,  to  see  the  people. 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  289 

ascending-  just  before  sunrise  to  the  top  of  the  surrounding- 
hills  and  look  anxiously  toward  the  rising-  sun  for  Moctezu- 
ma,  until  disappointment  usurped  the  place  of  hope,  and 
one  by  one,  each  returned  patiently  to  his  house,  but  to 
hope  on. 

Christianity,  it  is  said,  dates  back  from  the  return  of 
the  Hellenist  Jews  and  proselytes  from  "Egypt  and  the 
parts  of  Libya  about  Cyrene,"  who  heard  St.  Peter  preach 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost. 

It  is  well  known  that,  in  the  history  of  the  early  church, 
no  city  is  more  famous  than  Alexandria.  From  that  city 
came  Apollos  ;  there,  too,  Mark,  the  evangelist,  is  said  to 
have  preached  ;  and  from  it  Pantemusas  was  sent  as  a  mis 
sionary  to  India  ;  in  it  also  dwelt  Clement,  Athanasius  and 
Origin.  Carthage  and  Hippo  have  given  to  the  world  the 
names  of  Cyprian,  Tertullian  and  Augustine.  In  the  fifth 
century  there  were  560  Bishoprics  in  North  Africa.  The 
Coptic  church  in  Egypt,  and  its  daughter  church  in  Abys 
sinia  which  still  survive,  though  in  corrupted  state,  while  of 
the  ancient  North'  African  church,  not  a  vestige,  it  is  said, 
remains,  being  wholly  swept  away  by  Mohammedism  in  the 
seventh  century. 

May  not  the  ancestors  of  the  North  American  Indians 
have  dwelt  in  some  of  those  regions  of  country  in  which  the 
gospel  was  preached  by  those  ancient  missionaries?  and 
also  have  been  among  those  of  the  early  Christians  who  fled 
before  the  persecutions  of  the  Turk  and  Tartar,  and  cross 
ed  over  to  this  continent  by  way  of  Behring  Strait,  or  the 
fabled  sunken  continent  Atlantis  (if  it  ever  existed),  bring 
ing  with  them  the  many  Asiatic  characteristics  they  possess 
in  their  manners  and  customs  and  religious  ceremonies,  and 
their  traditional  knowledge  of  the  flood?  But  alas!  upon 
this  we  can  but  conjecture,  there  we  can  but  begin  and  there 
we  have  to  end. 

The  belief  of  the  ancient  Choctaws  in  regard  to  the 
eclipses  of  the  sun  was  not  more  inconsistent,  than  that  of 
an}r  portion  of  the  human  family,  whose  minds  had  never 
been  enlightened  by  the  rays  of  spiritual  light  from  the  gos 
pel  of  the  Son  of  God.  The  Romans}  the  Celtics,  the  Asia 
tics,  the  Finns  of  Europe,  and,  110  doubt,  Britons,  too,  all 
had  their  views  in  regard  to  eclipses  as  absurd  as  the  Choc- 
taws.  The  Choctaws,  as  before  stated,  attributed  an  eclipse 
of  the  sun  to  a  black  squirrel,  whose  eccentricities  often  led 
it  into  mischief,  and,  among  other  things,  that  of  trying-  to 
eat  up  the  sun  at  different  intervals.  When  thus  inclined, 
they  believed,  which  was  confirmed  by  long  experience,  that 
the  only  effective  means  to  prevent  so  fearful  a  catastrophe 


•  -' 

290  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

befalling-  the  world  as  the'~blotting  out  of  that  indispensable 
luminary,  was  to  favor  the  little,  black  epicure  with  a  first- 
class  scare;  therefore,  whenever  he  manifested  an  inclination 
to  indulge  in  a  meal  on  the  sun,  every  ingenuity  was  called 
into  requisition  to  give  him  a  genuine  fright  that  he  would 
be  induced,  at  least,  to  postpone  his  meal  on  the  sun  at  that 
particular  time  and  seek  a  lunch  elsewhere.  As  soon,  there 
fore,  as  the  sun  began  to  draw  its  lunar  veil  over  its  face, 
the  cry  was  heard  from  every  mouth  from  the  Dan  to  the 
Beersheba  of  their  then  wide  extended  territory,  echo 
ing  from  hill  to  dale,  "Funi  lusa  hushi  umpa!  Funi  lusa 
hushi  umpa,"  according  to  our  phraseology,  The  black  squir 
rel  is  eating  the  sun!  Then  and  there  was  heard  a  sound  of 
tumult  by  day  in  the  Choctaw  Nation  for  the  space  of  an 
hour  or  two,  far  exceeding  that  said  to  have  been  heard  by 
night  in  Belgium's  Capital,  and  sufficient  in  the  conglomera 
tion  of  discordant  tones  terrific,  if  heard  by  the  distant, 
little,  fastidious  squirrel,  to  have  made  him  lose  forever 
afterward  all  relish  for  a  mess  of  suns  for  an  early  or  late 
dinner.  The  shouts  of  the  women  and  children  mingling 
with  the  ringing  of  discordant  bells  as  the  vociferous  pound 
ing  and  beating  of  ear-splitting  tin  pans  and  cups  mingling 
in  "wild  confusion  worse  confounded,"  yet  in  sweet  unison 
with  a  first-class  orchestra  of  yelping,  howling,  barking 
dogs  gratuitously  thrown  in  by  the  innumerable  and  highly 
excited  curs,  produced  a  din,  which  even  a  "Funi  lusa,"  had 
he  heard  it,  could  scarcely  have  endured  even  to  have  in 
dulged  in  a  nibble  or  two  of  the  sun,  though  urged  by  the 
demands  of  a  week's  fasting. 

But  during  the  wild  scene  the  m^n  were  not  idle  specta 
tors,  or  indifferent  listeners.  Each  stood  a  few  paces  in 
front  of  his  cabin  door,  with  no  outward  manifestation  of 
excitement  whatever — so  characteristic  of  the  Indian  war 
rior — but  with  his  trusty  rifle  in  hand,  which  so  oft  had 
proved  a  friend  sincere  in  many  hours  of  trial,  which  he 
loaded  and  fired  in  rapid  succession  at  the  distant,  devastat 
ing  squirrel,  with  the  same  coolness  and  calm  deliberation 
that  he  did  when  shooting  at  his  game.  More  than  once  have 
I  witnessed  the  fearful  yet  novel  scene.  When  it  happened 
to  be  the  time  of  a  total  eclipse  of  the  sun,  a  sufficient  evi 
dence  that  the  little,  black  epicure  meant  business  in  regard 
to  having  a  square  meal,  though  it  took  the  whole  sun  to  fur 
nish  it,  -then  indeed  there  were  sounds  of  revelry  and  tumult 
unsurpassed  by  any  ever  heard  before,  either  in  "Belgium" 
or  elsewhere.  Then  the  women  shrieked  and  redoubled 
their  efforts  upon  the  tin  p,ans,  which,  under  the  desperate 
blows,  strained  every  vocal  organ  to  do  its  utmost  and  whole 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  291 

duty  in  loud  response,  while  the  excited  children  screamed 
-and  beat  their  tin  cups,  and  the  sympathetic  dogs  (whose 
name  was  legion)  barked  and  howled — all  seemingly  deter 
mined  not  to  fall  the  one  behind  other  in  their  duty — since 
the  occasion  demanded  it ;  while  the  warriors  still  stood,  in 
profound  and  meditative  silence,  but  firm  and  undaunted,  as 
they  quickly  loaded  and  fired  their  rifles,  each  time  taking- 
deliberative  aim,  if  perchance  the  last  shot  might  prove  the 
•successful  one  ;  then,  as  the  moon's  shadow  began  to  move 
from  the  disk  of  the  sun,  the  joyful  shout  was  heard  above 
the  mighty  din  Funi-lusa-osh  mahlatah  !  The  black  squirrel 
is  frightened.  But  the  din  remained  unabated  until  fhe  sun 
again  appeared  in  its  usual  splendor,  and  all  nature  again 
.assumed  its  harmonious  course  ;  then  quiet  below  again  as 
sumed  its  sway,  while  contentment  and  happiness  resumed 
their  accustomed  place  in  the  hearts  of  the  grateful  Choc- 
taws — grateful  to  the  Great  Spirit  who  had  given  them  the 
victory.  But  the  scene  of  a  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  in  the 
•Choctaw  Nation  in  those  ancient  years  must  be  witness 
ed  to  be  justly  comprehended  by  the  lover  of  the  romantic, 
and  heard  by  the  highly  sensitive  ear  to  be  fully  appreciated 
and  enjoyed. 

On  the  road  leading  from  St.  Stephens  then  a  little  town 
in  Alabama,  near  which  was  the  home  of  the  renowned  Choc- 
taw  Chief  Apushamata  hahubi  in  1812,  to  the  city  of  Jackson, 
Mississippi,  stood  the  mound  Nunih  Waiyah  erected  by  the 
Choctaws  in  commemoration  of  their  migration,  as  has  been 
previously  stated,  from  a  country  far  to  the  west  to  their 
homes  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  where  they  were  first 
known  to  the  Europeans.  I  read  an  article  published  some 
years  ago  in  a  newspaper,  which  stated  that  an  ancient  tra 
dition  of  the  Choctaws  affirmed  that  they  derived  their 
origin  from  Nunih  Waiyah,  their  ancestors  swarming  from 
the  hole  on  the  top  as  bees  swarming  from  the  hive  in  sum 
mer,  and  thus  was  that  part  of  the  world  peopled  with  Choc 
taws.  The  Choctaws  did  not  so  state  their  origin  to  the 
early  missionaries  of  1818.  They  always  have  claimed  their 
origin  from  a  country  far  to  the  West,  and  the  above  men 
tioned  tradition  with  all  its  absurdities,  so  numerous  in  the 
writings  of  the  majority  of  those  of  the  present  age,  who, 
having  nothing  more,  clothe  their  nominal  Indian  in  myths 
and  hide  him  in  impenetrable  fogs,  had  its  origin  in"  the 
prolific  brain  of  the  writer,  who  assumes  to  be  gifted  with  a 
vivid  imagination,  even  as  his  congenial  fellow  writers  of  the 
present  day  when  getting  up  a  "send-off"  upon  the  Indians; 
and  who  imagine  themselves  wiser  than  even  seven  men  who 
can  render  a  reason,  though  they  have  advanced  no  further 


292  '    HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

in  Indian  lore  than  the  widely  circulated  '  hear-say '& 
elementary  spelling-book;  and,  having-  learned  all  there  is  to- 
be  known  in  that  branch  of  historical  information,  they  feel 
themselves  incapable  of  receiving-  any  further  instruction 
in  regard  to  the  North  American  Indian  characteristics,, 
from  any  source  whatever,  yet  they  are  lacking  in  one  very 
essential  thing;  i.  e.  Not  to  know  how  little  they  do  know. 
But  nothing  better  could  be -expected  from  such  "Worldly 
Wisemen,"  whose  heads  have  been  stuffed  with  naught  else 
but  tales  of  "Indian  devils  and  Indian  ghosts;  Indian  fairies 
and  Indian  elves;  Indian  tomahawks  and  Indian  scalps;"  and 
with  ears  full  of  such  hobgoblins,  they  fell  in  love,  as  soon  as 
thev  grew  to  manhood,  with  the  desire  to  anathematize  that  un 
fortunate  race  as  naturally  as  a  bird  sings;  yet  blinded  as  ef 
fectually  to  the  enemity  and  atrocity  of  the  wrongs  and  in 
juries  done  to  the  helpless  Indians,  as  that  drunkenness  of 
"heart  which  follows  up  long,  continued  success,  creating 
utter  insensibility  and  remorselessness  of  conscience,  but 
establishing  the  fact,  that  morally  the  Indians  are  immeasur 
ably  superior  to  any  and  all  such  oppressing,  plundering  and. 
defaming  specimens  of  humanity. 

The  Choctaws  lived  around  their  honored,  memento  of 
the  past  for  many  successive  generations,  and  some,  even  in 
large  excavations  made  in  its  sides.  And  when  interrogated^ 
by  the  whites  with  the  question  "Whence  came  they?" 
alluding  to  the  origin  of  their  race,  the  Choctaws,  thinking 
their  interrogator  wished  to  learn  from  what  part  of  their 
nation  they  came,  replied:  "From  the  Mound;"  while  those 
who  dwelt  in  the  excavations  made  in  its  sides,  answered: 
"From  out  the  Mound,"  meaning  they  lived  in  the  mound. 
No  Choctaw  was  such  a  fool  as  to  believe,  or  even  assert, 
their  ancestors  jumped  out  of  the  hole  on  the  top  of  Nunih 
Waiyah  full  fledged  warriors,  as  they  of  fabled  renown  who 
spring  from  the  dragon's  teeth  sown  in  the  earth.  And 
when  speaking  to  them  of  this  tradition,  with  seeming  emo 
tions  of  pity  mingled  with  contempt,  they  have  replied: 
"That  fellow  did  not  know  what  he  was  talking  about;"  a 
self-evident  truth  to  all  who  know  anything  about  the  Choc- 
taw  people.  True,  they  held  Nunih  Waiyah  in  N  great  rever 
ence;  but  not  as  the  author  of  the  tradition  would  make 
believe,  that,  in  their  degraded  ignorance,  they  cherished  it 
as  the  place  of  their  origin  which  sent  them  forth  in  num 
bers  "as  swarming  bees,"  but  as  an  ancient  relic  handed 
down  to  them  through  a  long  line  of  honored  ancestry;  and 
even  as  the  great  pyramid,  Cheops,  of  the  arid  desert,  points 
the  Egyptian  back  to  the  cycles  of  ages  past,  so  too  did  Nu 
nih  Waiyah  remind  the  Choctaw  of  his  long  line  of  descent  as- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  293 

lie  proudly  gazed  upon  its  hoary   and   weather-beaten   sides. 

As  an  evidence  of  their  admiration  and  veneration  for 
this  ancestral  memento,  the  Choctaws,  when  passing-,  would 
-ascend  it  and  drop  into  the  hole  at  its  top  various  trinkets, 
and  sometimes  a  venison  ham,  or  dressed  turkey,  as  a  kind 
of  sacrificial  offering"  to  the  memory  of  its  ancient  builders, 
who  only  appeared  to  them  through  the  mists  of  ages  past; 
and  as  the  highest  evidence  of  their  veneration  for  this 
relic  of  their  past  history,  it  was  sometimes  spoken  of  by 
the  more  enthusiastic  as  their  Iholitopa  Ishki,  (beloved 
mother). 

In  1810,  the  United  States  Agent,  George  S.  Gaines,  was 
-one  day  riding  along  the  road  that  leads  near  Nunih  Waiyah, 
and  to  satisfy  his  curiosity  turned^and  rode  to  its  base,  then 
dismounted  and  walked  to  its  top.  While  there,  he  noticed 
a  large  band  of  Choctaw  warriors  passing  along  the  road; 
.and  being  desirous  of  their  company,  he  hastily  descended, 
mounted  his  horse  and  soon  overtook  them.  As  he  rode  up, 
-and  the  usual  salutations  had  been  exchanged,  the  chief, 
who  was  no  less  than  the  renowned  Apushamatahaubih,  with 
a  significant  smile  in  which  fun  and  innocent  mischief  were 
most  prominent,  said:  "Well,  friend  Gaines,  I  see  you  have 
been  up  to  pay  your  compliments  to  our  good  mother." 
"Yes,  I  concluded  to  pay  her  a  visit  as  I  was  passing,"  re 
plied  Mr.  Gaines.  "Well,  what  did  she  say  to  you?"  asked 
the  great  chief .  "She  said,"  responded  Mr.  Gaines,  "that 
her  Choctaw  children  had  become  too  numerous  to  longer 
be  prosperous,  contented  and  happy  in  their  present  coun 
try,  therefore,  she  thought  it  best  for  them  to  exchange 
their  old  country  and  lands  for  a  new  country  and  lands 
•west  of  the  Mississippi  river,  where  the  ,game  was  much 
more  abundant,  and  the  hunting  grounds  far  more  exten; 
;$ive."  With  a  loud  laugh  in  which  his  warriors  also  heartily 
joined,  Apushamatahah  then  exclaimed  "Holobihlholubit  ish 
nohowa  nih!  (It's  a  lie.)  Do  not  go  about  telling  lies.  Our. 
.good  old  mother  never  could  have  spoken  such  words  to 
you."  After  the  laugh  of  the  joke  was  over,  Apushamata- 
hahubih  expressed  himself  freely  with. Mr.  Gaines  upon  vari 
ous  subjects  relative  to  his  people  as  they  rode  along 
together;  among  many  things  that  were  mentioned,  that  of 
their  origin  was  brought  up;  and  to  the  inquiry  of  Mr. 
Gaines,  "Whence  they  came  to  the  country  then  occupied  by 
them,"  the  chief  replied:  "Our  ancestors  came  from  a 
•country  far  to  the  west  many  suns  and  moons  ago.  And  this 
was  the  invariable  reply  made  by  all  the  Choctaws  when 
asked  concerning  their  traditional  origin. 

The  Choctaw  Nation,  from  its  earliest  known  history   to 


294  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

/ 

the  present  time  has,  at  different  intervals,  produced  many 
great  and  good  men;  who,  had  they  have  had  the  advantages 
of  education,  wpuld  have  lived  upon  the  pages  of  history 
equally  with  those  of  earth's  illustrious  great. 

The  first  of  whom  we  have  any  historical  account,  is 
Tush-ka  Lu-sa,  (the  heroic  defender  of  Moma  Bin-na,  a 
Lodge  for  All — corrupted  first  to  Mobila,  then  to  Mobile) 
who  perished,  with  many  thousands  of  his  people,  in  that 
bloody  tragedy  of  three  and  a  half  centuries  ago,  while  de 
fending  his  ancient  city  against  the  Spaniards,  nothing  more 
"however,  has  been  handed  down  by  which  we  can  judge  of 
his  ability  as  a  wise  and  judicious  ruler,  but  the  fact  that  De 
Soto  found  his  Nation  in  a  prosperous  condition;  his  people 
dwelling  in  large  and  well  fortified  towns,  comfortable  houses, 
subsisting  to  a  very  large  extent  by  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil. 

But  of  the  patriotism  and  undaunted  bravery  of  Tush- 
ka  Lusa,  and  his  ability  as  a  commander  of  his  warriors, 
DeSoto  had  satisfactory  proof  at  the  battle  of  Momabinah. 
But  so  little  of  the  history  of  those  ancient  Choctaws  has 
escaped  oblivion  that  in  sketching  a  line  of  their  history  at 
such  a  distance  of  time  we  necessarily  pass  through  un 
known  fields  so  wide  and  diversified  that  it  is  like  gliding 
lightly  and  swiftly  over  the  numberless  waves  of  the  agita 
ted  ocean,  and  only  touching  here  and  there  some  of  their 
highest  tops  ;  while,  as  we  approach  our  own  times,  merely 
the  outline  of  their  history,  if  accurately  drawn,  would  fill 
many  volumes  ;  therefore,  in  the  selection  of  objects  to  pre 
sent  to  the  reader,  with  a  due  regard  for  his  pleasure  and 
profit,  I  shall  have  continual  reference  to  the  power  of  as 
sociation,  and  endeavor  to  present  such  as  will  be  most 
likely  to  bring  to  my  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  friends,  for 
whom  the  work  is  especially  written,  the  remembrance  of 
many  incidents  and  circumstances,  which  once  were  fresh, 
but  now  are  fading  in  their  minds,  by  devoting  here  a  few 
'pages  to  the  brief  sketch  of  the  lives  of  some  of  their  emi 
nent  men  now  living,  together  with  some  of  their  distin 
guished  dead.  Noble  men  they  were  ;  the  fame  of  whose 
virtues  belong  not  to  the  world,  but  alone  to  their  own  Na 
tion  and  people,  though  I  am  well  aware  that  the  whole  sub 
ject  of  the  North  American  Indians  is  so  tinged  with  ro 
mance  and  fiction  that  did  not  the  interest  of  correct  history 
demand  that  at  least  an  attempt  should  be  made  to  shed  a 
ray  of  light  upon  that  wonderful  people,  I  would  not,  as  a 
truthful  chronicler,  have  attempted  to  lift  the  veil  and  look  in 
upon  this  mystic  people,  so  long  known,  but  so  little  under 
stood  by  my  own  race. 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  295 

It  is  an  accepted  fact  that  one/grand  requisite  to  give,,  or 
sufficiently  comprehend  a  biography,  lies  in  a  knowledge  of 
the  times  to  which  it  refers.  I  can  truly  say  that  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  times  to  which  most  of  the  following  bio 
graphical  sketches  refer,  I  am  fully  acquainted  ;  but  I  am 
well  aware,  however,  that  the  standard  of  public  regard  is 
so  constantly  changing  that  a  character  half  a  century  ago 
would  have  attracted  the  adulation  of  the  world  with  its  ex 
cellence  ;  in  the  present  age  receives  but  a  moderate  share  of 
praise,  however  meritorious,  aside  from  that  of  its  own  fel 
low  citizens  and  people. 

But  the  custom  of  commemorating  the  virtues  and  emi 
nent  characteristics  of  .those  who  have  won  the  admiration, 
confidence  and  affection  of,  their  fellow  citizens,  and  have 
passed  away  from  earth's  tragic  scenes,  has  always  com 
manded  the  services  of  civilized  life;  as  it  has  been  deemed 
usjeful  to  their  contemporaries  to  awaken  and  keep  alive  in 
their  thoughts  those  grateful  deeds  that  are  hallowed  by 
memory,  and  to  transmit  a  record  of  those  deeds  to  the 
future,  in  order  to  act  as  incentives  and  models  to  succeeding 
generations. 

Therefore,  that -the  following  biographical  sketches  may 
be  as  incentives  and  models  to  the  young  men  of  the  Choc- 
taw  and  Chicaksaw  people,  has  been  one  of  the  inducements 
that  has  actuated  me  in  writing  them.  Still  to  notice  the 
virtues  of  humble  individuals,  lacking  kingly  ancestry  and 
high  position  in  the  civilized  world,  with  none  of  the  accom 
plishments  of  birth,  fortune  and  name,  is  an  incident  so  un 
usual,  that  I  might  forbear,  were  I  not  writing  to  and  for 
their  owrn  people,  who  will  read  not  to  criticise,  but  to  bear 
testimonv  to  the  excellence  and  worth  of  their  noble  dead. 

It  has  been  said  that  there  is  a  place  for  every  man  in 
the  theatre  of  life.  If  true,  it  is  equally  so,  that  every  man 
does  not  always  find  his  true  place,  nor  occupy  the  position 
best  suited  to  his  capacity  or  ability.  The  circumstances 
and  incidents  of  human  life,  as  they  are  daily  unrolled,  have 
much  to  do  in  throwing  men  in  the  various  situations  in  soci 
ety,  someof  which  they  neither  occupy  nor  faith  fully,fill.  There 
should  be  a  fitness  for  the  man  for  the  place;  else  a  statue  of 
Vulcan  would  as  well  adorn  a  niche  in  the  temple  of  the  Muses, 
and  a  clown  in  his  colored  dress  suitably  represent  the  stern 
judge.  I  claim,  however,  for  the  subjects  of  this  biography, 
not  only  a  proper  place,  but  an  entire  fitness  for  the  varied 
duties  incident  to  the  occupancy  of  the  place.  Therefore, 
whether1  we  look  upon  them  as  the  faithful  men,  the  intelli 
gent  and  judicious  citizens  or  the  zealous  rulers,  they 
challenge  alike  a  just  adimration  and  worthy  praise.  In  the 


296  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

various  relations  in  which  they  stood  among  their  people, 
-|;hey  won  the  confidence,  affection  and  esteem  of  all  who 
knew  them,  both  of  their  own  race  and  also  of  the  white;  and, 
under  the  influence  of  a  laudable  ambition,  they  spared 
neither  labor,  time,  nor  well  directed  exertion  to  elevate  their 
people  in  the  scale  of  morality,  prosperity  and  happiness. 
To  their  signal  success  in  these  efforts,  the  intelligence  and 
prosperity  of  their  people  to-day,  bear  indisputable  testimony, 
as  the  result  of  the  labors  of  those  who,  in  conjunction  with 
the  missionaries,  carried  all  the  ardor  of  their  souls,  all  the 
strength  of  their  minds,  and  all  the  application  and  concen 
tration  of  their  powers  that  were  necessary  for  securing 
their  object  in  view.  The  responsibility  of  the  stations  they 
thus  honored,  they  felt  in  all  their  force,  and  earnestly, 
honorably,  and  nobly  they  endeavored  to  discharge  them. 

None  but  those  who  personally  knew  them,  can  form 
any  just  conception  of  the  manly  efforts  put  forth  by  those 
truly  noble  and  honest  patriots,  in  their  exertions  to  elevate 
the  standard  of  their  Nation  in  the  estimation  of  the  Chris 
tian  world.  They  sought  and  obtained  every  useful  informa 
tion  that  could  give  them  additional  mental  power  in  the 
pursuit  of  their  favorite  object,  and  studiously  gathered  the 
ripe  experience  of  others,  both  by  the  study  of  books  and 
observations  in  their  travels  among  the  whites,  in  their  visits 
to  Washington  City  on  business  of  national  affairs;  and  it  is 
a  matter  of  astonishment  that  amid  the  many  difficulties 
they  had  to  overcome  in  counteracting  the  evil  influences  of 
the  lawless  whites  who  invaded  their  country,  that  they  ac 
complished  what  they  did.  /  Yet  they  were  but  in  a  prepara 
tory  state  for  enlarged  usefulness  among  their  people,  when 
the  hand  of  disease  was  laid  upon  them  and  they  were  re 
moved  from  their  labors.  Many  of  them  in  the  very  prime 
of  their  powers,  in  the  very  morn  of  the  expansion  of  their 
matured  minds,  were  cut  down  in  the  bright  promise  of  a 
glorious  future.  But  the}^  had  done  enough  to  make  their 
lives  notable,  and  to  justify  the  presenting  of  the  records  of 
their  lives  as  containing  laudable  incentives  to  encourage 
others  in  the  path  of  honorable  usefulness,  and  meritorious 
examples  as  a  model  for  them. 

Tushka  Lusa,  the  hero  of  Moma  Bina,  as  before  stated, 
is  the  only  Choctaw  chief  whose  name  has  been  handed  down 
from  that  tragic  scene  through  the  long  line  of  historic 
silence,  to  the  year  1745,  when  in  the  English  and  French 
wars,  in  which  each  were  contending  for  supremacy  upon 
the  western  continent,  involving  both  the  Choctaw  and  Chick- 
asaw  Nations,  a  few  chiefs  arose  to  the  surface  whose  names 
.have,  escaped  oblivion  by  their  daring  achievements  during 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  297 

"those  scenes  of  blood  and  carnage;  the  most  prominent  of  the 
•Choctaws  were  Shulush  Humma  and  Ibanowa,  (one  who 
walks  with)  Miko  (chief)  whom  I  will  more  particularly 
.speak  in  the  history  of  the  Chickasaws.  From  1745  to  1785 
no  other  names  of  Choctaw  chiefs  have  been  preserved',  all 
alike  having-  gone  down  into  the  silence  of  eternal  forgetful- 
ness,  but  from  1785  the  names  of  many  of  their  great  chiefs 
have  been  preserved,  though  long  since  deceased;  among 
which,  as  the  most  prominent,  stand  that  of  A-push-a-ma-ta- 
hah-ub-i,  (a  messenger  of  death;  literally,  one  whose  rifle, 
tomahawk,  or  bow  alike  fatal  in  war  or  hunting.)  A-pak- 
foh-li-chih-ub-ih,  (to  encircle  and  kill,  corrupted  by  the 
whites  to  A-puck-she-nubee,  and  so  used  by  the  Choctaws  of 
the  present  day.)  A-to-ni  Yim-in-tah,  (a  watchman  infatuated 
with  excitement)  Olubih,  (to  take  by  force);  -Coleman  Cole, 
Greenwood  La  Flore,  Nit-tak-a  chih-ub-ih,  (to  suggest  the  day 
and  kill);  David  Folsom,  Peter  P.  Pitchlynn,  (the  Calhoun  of 
the  Choctaws);  Isaac  Folsom,  Silas  Pitchlynn,  Israel  Fol 
som,  (The  Wesley  of  the  Choctaws)  and  many  others. 
With  the  last  seven  mentioned  I  was  personally  acquainted. 

The  distinguished  warrior  and  chief  of  the  Choctaws, 
Apushamatahah,  was  born,  as  near  as  can  be  ascertained,  in 
the  year  1764.  He  was  of  the  Iksa,  called  Kun-sha  (A  reed 
— the  name  of  the  creek  along  whose  banks  the  Kunsha  Clan 
dwelt.)  Kunsha-a-he  (reed — potato)  is  the  full  name -of  the 
•clan,  which  took  its  name  from  the  thick  reeds  and  wild 
potatoes  that  grew  together  in  the  marshy  ground  along  the 
banks  of  the  creek — Cane  and  Potato  creek. 

At  an  early  age  Apushamatahah  (For  the  sake  of  brevity 
the  ubi  is  dropped). acquired  great  celebrity  among  his  peo 
ple  as  a  brave  warrior  and  successful  hunter.  His  love  for 
the  facinating  excitement  of  the  chase  and  daring  adventures 
frequently  led  him  into  the  deep  solitudes  of  the  then  distant 
and  wild  forests  west  of  the  Mississippi  river  untrodden  by 
the  foot  of  the  white  man,  to  engage  in  hunting  buffalo,  a 
•sport  considered  by  the  red  man,  and  at  a  later  period  by  the 
white  also,  as  the  noblest  ever  engaged  in  upon  the  North 
American  continent.  The  buffalo,  at  that  day,  congregated 
in  seemingly  incredible  numbers,  and  roamed  over  the  entire 
wide  extended  western  valley,  grazing  in  countless  multi 
tudes  upon. the  rich  grasses  of  the  vast  prairies  that  extended 
before  the  vision  to  where  earth  and  sky  seemed  to  embrace. 
But  now  that  noble  game  is  numbered  with  the  things  of  the 
past. 

In  those  distant  hunting  expeditions  and  daring  adven 
tures,  accompanied  only  by  a  small  number  of  youthful  and 
congenial  spirits,  Apushamatahah  encountered  many  dangers 


298  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

; 

and  ended  many  privations  "and  hardships;  which  consti 
tuted,  to  the  young-,  free  and  independent  Indian  warrior  and 
hunter,  the  veritable  elixir  of  life,  the  ultimatum  of  earthly 
bliss. 

At  one  time,  while  engaged  in  one  of  those  hunts  on  Red 
river  with  a  little  party  of  Choctaw  "braves,"  his  camp  was 
unexpectedly  and  unceremoniously  attacked,  by  a  large  band 
of  CalTlag--e-hah  warriors,  (Callage-hah  is  evidently  a  cor 
ruption  of  the  words,  Chah  lih  hihla,  (fast  dancers).  These 
Indians  may  possibly  have  been  a  clan  of  the  Choctaws  be 
fore  they  left  Mexico,  and  .afterwards  followed  on  to  join  the 
main  body,  but  nexver  crossed  the  Mississippi  river,  hence 
became  forever  lost  from  the  parent  stock)  and  being- 
greatly  outnumbered,  Apushamatahah  and  his  little  party, 
after  a  brief  skirmish,  were  totally  defeated,  and  but  few 
escaped,  each  taking  care  of  himself.  Apushamatahah, 
being  one  of  the  few,  found  himself  alone.  After  experienc 
ing  great  hardships  and  dangers  in  eluding  the  vigilance  of 
his  wily  enemies,  he  fortunately  stumbled  upon  a  Spanish 
settlement,  in  which  he  remained  many  months,  hunting1  for 
the  Spaniards,  and  secretly  preparing  his  plans  for  revenge 
against  the  Callagehahs  for  their  unceremonious  attack  upon 
his  camp,  and  which  he  successfully  executed,  as  the  sequel 
will  show.  At  this. time  (1793)  Missouri,  Kansas  and  Arkan 
sas  were  under  Spanish  Dominion. 

After  he  had  thoroughly  laid  his  plans  of  revenge,  he 
bade  his  Spanish  employers  a  formal  adieu,  and  started  for 
his  distant  and  long  absent  home  by  devious  paths,  until  he 
came  upon  a  camp  of  his  enemies,  the  Callag'ehahs,  upon 
which  he  rushed  at  night  with  the  ferocity  of  a  tiger,  and 
slew  seven  of  its  occupants  and  secured  their  scalps,  ere 
they  could  recover  from  their  surprise;  then  shouting'  back  his 
war-whoop  of  defiance,  he  fled  with  the  nimble  feet  of  the 
antelope,  directing  his  course  homeward,  where  he,  in  the 
course  of  several  weeks  safely  arrived,  to  the  astonishment 
and  joy  of  his  relatives,  who  had  regarded  him  among-  the 
number  of  the  slain,  who  had  fallen  on  the  fatal  night  of  the 
raid  made  upon  their  camp  by  the  Callagehahs.  He  remain 
ed  at  home  two  or  three  years,  but  had  not  forgotten  the: 
attack  made  upon  his  hunting  camp  in  the  distant  solitudes 
of  the  forests  west  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  the  death  of 
his  comrades;  while  his  proud  spirit  still  chafed  under  the 
imagined  disgrace  of  his  defeat,  he  yearned  to  punish  the 
Callagehahs  still  more  severely  for  their  audacity  and  insult; 
therefore,  he  again  started  with  a  select  company  of  warriors 
for  his  enemies'  territories;  where  again  surprising  one  of 
their  unsuspecting  camps  he  slew  three  warriors  without.sus- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  299' 

taining  loss;  after  which  he  withdrew  from  the  Callagehahs'' 
country,  but  remained  west  of  the  Mississippi  river  for  sev 
eral  months  in  the  fascinating-  amusements  of  the  chase,  that 
exciting-  occupation  that  renders  the  hunter,  both  red  and 
white,  oblivious  to  all  else.  Again  he  returned  home  with 
his  little  band;  yet  his  restless  spirit  could  not  rest  in  in 
activity  longer  than  a  few  weeks;  and  once  more,  with  anoth 
er  little  company  of  cong-enial  spirits  of  about  twenty-five  in 
number,  he  started  for  the  land  of  his  foes  and  was  gone 
several  months,  when  he  again  returned  home  with  a  dozen 
or  more  Callagehah  scalps,  without  the  loss  of  a  single  one  of 
his  little  party.  He  remained  at  home,  after  this  exploit, 
nearly  a  year,  then  again,  but  for  the  last  time,  sought  the 
distant  territories  of  the  Callagehahs  with  another  band  of 
his  warriors;  again  fortune  smiled  upon  her  seemingly 
chosen  favorite;  for  he  struck  another  death  dealing  blow, 
obtaining  many  scalps,  then  bade  the  unfortunate  Callage 
hahs  a  final  adieu,  returned  to  his  native  land  with  his  war 
riors,  and  annoyed  them  no  more. 

The  Choctaws  and  Muscogees,  in  years  long  past,  were 
proverbial  enemies,  and  hated  each  other  with  uncompromis 
ing  bitterness  ;  therefore,  embraced  every  opportunity  to 
manifest  their  hostility  the  one  toward  the  other.  On  on£ 
occasion  a  oarty  of  Muscogees  secretly  entered  the  Choctaw 
territories  and,  among  other  depredations  committed  on 
their  devious  route,  they  burned  the  house  of  Apushamata- 
hah,  who,  with  his  family,  was  absent  from  home  engaged 
in  his  favorite  amusement — a  grand  ball-play.  As  soon  as  he 
returned  home  and  found  it  a  heap  of  smoking  ruins,  and 
learned  who  had  committed  the  mischief,  he  at  once  collec 
ted  a  company  of  warriors  and  sought  the  Muscogee  Nation 
with  the  same  determination  and  resolution  that  he  had  pre 
viously  sought  that  of  the  Callagehahs  ;  and  when  arrived, 
he  repaid  them  ten  fold  for  the  destruction  of  his  home. . 
Many  years  afterward  Apushamatahah  was  the  first  Choc- 
taw  chief  who  led  a  war-party  of  800  warriors  against  the 
Muscogees  in  what  is  known  as  the  Creek  War  of  1812. 

Several  Choctaw  companies  joined  Washington's  army 
during  our  Revolutionary  war,  and  served  during  the  entire 
war;  some  of  them  were  at  the  battle  of  Cowpens,  under 
General  Morgan;  others,  at  the  battle  of  Stony  Point,  under 
General  Wayne, and  others,  at  the  battle  of  Tilico  Plains,  un 
der  General  Sullivan,  sent  by  General  Green  to  punish 
the  Tories  and  northern  Cherokees  (at  that  time  the 
only  Cherokees  hostile  to  the  Americans)  for  the  destruction 
of  Fort  Loudon,  situated  on  the  Tennessee  river  in  the  terri 
tories  then  of  North  Carolina,  whom  he  overtook  at  Tilico- 


300  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

Plains,  engaged  and  routed,  with  great  loss  on  the  part  of 
the  tories  and  Cherokees,also  securing-  the  women  and  child 
ren  whon  they  taken  had  prisoners  in  the  fall  of  Fort  Loudon, 
and  devastating-  the  country  of  the  hostile  Cherokees  as  he 
went,  in  driving-  them,  (Tories  and  Cherokees)  through 
Deep  Creek  Gap,  in  Cumberland  mountains,  into  the  now 
State  of  Kentucky;  and  there  ending  the  pursuit,  Sullivan  re 
turned  and  joined  his  command  near  Yorktown.  It  is  said, 
those  Cherokees  never  did  return  to  their  former  homes, 
but  became  incorporated  with  other  Indians  in  Kentucky; 
others,  were  under  Washington  at  the  capture  of  Yorktown, 
and  witnessed  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis. 

An  amusing-  incident  was  related  to  me  when  in  the  Choc- 
taw  Nation  in  1888,  in  which  a  Choctaw  scout,  under  General 
Sullivan,  previous  to  the  defeat  of  the  Tories  and  Cherokees 
at  Tilico  Plains,  was  the  chief  hero.  This  scout,  from  his 
short  and  thick  set  form,  was  given  the  name  Dutch  Johnnie, 
by  the  soldiers.  Dutch  Johnnie  was  an  uncompromising 
enemy  to  the  hostile  Cherokees,  for  the  re'ison  that  a  scout 
ing  party  of  theirs  had  killed  his  wife  and  only  child;  and  in 
revenge  he  had  sworn,  as  he  of  ancient  Carthage,  eternal 
hatred  against  the  Cherokees.  Learning  this,  Gen.  Sullivan 
.appointed  Dutch  Johnnie  as  one  of  his  chief  scouts,  much  to 
the  joy  of  Johnnie,  as  it  gave  him  a  broader  field  in  which  to 
seek  and  obtain  the  much  desired  revenge  for  the  death  of 
his  wife  and  child.  He  soon  became  noted  for  his  intrepidity 
endurance,  skill,  and  valuable  reports  in  regard  to  the  enemy; 
and  by  his  many  noble  traits  also  became  the  pet  of  the  army. 
At  one  time,  he  was  returning  to  the  command  from  a  long 
scout  of  several  days  absence,  and  had  reached  within  ten  or 
fifteen  miles  of  the  army,  when  night  overtook  him  at  an  old 
and  long  deserted  house.  It  had  been  raining  all  day,  so  the 
story  goes,  and  was  still  raining  and  growing  dark.  As  any 
port  in  a  storm  had  long  been  Dutch  Johnnie's  motto,  he  at 
once  resolved  to  accept  the  offered  hospitalities  of  the  for 
saken  mansion;  and,  without  formality,  entered  the  open 
space,  where  once  had  hung  the  door  that  then  lay  upon  the 
ground,  a  wreck  of  its  former  glory,  and  surveyed  its  apart 
ments.  He  found  it  consisted  of  but  one  room,  with  but  one 
ingress  or  egress,  one  chimney  of  sticks  and  dirt,  and  four 
or  five  logs  extending  across  the  room  above,  about 
four  feet  apart,  upon  which  were  loosely  laid  some 
boards  extending  from  one  to  the  other. 

Being  a  good  retreat  from  the  rain  and  chill  without, 
Dutch  Johnnie  soon  stretched  himself  upon  the  puncheon 
floor  in  his  wet  clothes,  too  considerate  to  build  a  fire  in  the 
hearth  by  which  to  dry  and  warm  himself,  and  thus  attract 


HISTQRY    OF   THE  INDIANS  301 

the  eye  of  an  enemy  engaged  in  the  same  business  as  him 
self,  and  was  just  passing"  into  the  shadows  of  the  land  of 
dreams,  when  his  ears,  ever  wakeful  sentinels  and  always 
on  the  alert,  whispered  "danger  without."  He  instantly 
arose  to  a  sitting  posture  and  heard  approaching  footsteps. 
Instantly  he  seized  his  rifle  and  quickly  and  noiselessly 
climbed  up  the  wall  and  laid  down  upon  the  boards,  and  there 
waited  future  developments.  The  approaching  footsteps 
grew  plainer  until  they  stopped  before  the  house.  Then  all 
was  hushed  for  a  few  moments,  and  then  the  intruders  en 
tered.  Dutch  Johnnie  from  above  could  see  nothing,  so  in 
tense  was  the  darkness  ;  but  soon  learned  that  his  visitors 
were  a  company  of  Tories  and  Cherokee  warriors,  who,  alike 
with  him,  had  sought  the  hospitality  of  the  deserted  house 
from  the  inclemency  of  the  night.  He  understood  enough 
English  to  learn  much  of  their  plans  as  the  Tories  convers 
ed  with  each  other.  In  the  course  of  an  hour  all  had  stretch 
ed  themselves  upon  the  puncheon  floor,  and  were  shortly 
after  wrapt  in  sleep  ;  yet  with  a  sleepless  sentinel  eight  feet 
above,  who  could  see  nothing — not  even  his  hand  before  him 
— but  hear  everything,  even  to  the  low  breathing  of  his  un 
welcome  visitors  belo\v.  Poor,  entrapped  Johnnie,  how 
was  he  to  safely  get  out  of  the  dilemma?  If  he  remained 
until  morning  some  curiosity  seeker  might  climb  the  wall  to 
see  what  lay  above,  and  then  Dutch  Johnnie's  doom  was  in 
evitable.  After  cogitating  the  matter  over  carefully,  he 
finally  concluded  he  would  try  and  escape  by  noislessly  de 
scending  the  wall  which  he.  had  ascended;  but  the  question 
arose  in  his  mind — how  far  from  the  wall  in  \vhich  the  door 
way  was  cut  wras  the  first  parallel  joist  over  which  space  he 
discovered  there  were  no  boards  when  he  first  entered  the 
house.  When  he  had  taken  his  position  above  he  had 
stretched  himself  full  length  (face  downward)  upon  the 
boards,  with  his  head  toward  the  wall  he  desired  to  descend. 
He  began  at  once  to  /reach  out  with  his  right  hand  into  the 
darkness  for  the  wall,  but  his  arm  was  too  short.  Again 
and  again  he  stretched  it  out,  but  to  no  avail.  Anxiety,  at 
length,  overcame  his  prudence  ;  for,  in  attempting  to  extend 
his  body  a  little  over  the  joist  that  he  might  be  enabled,  per 
chance,  to  reach  the  coveted  wrall,  the  boards,  which  were 
not  nailed  to  the  joist,  slipped  from  their  places  and,  in  con 
fusion  worse  confounded,  fell  together  with  Dutch  Johnnie 
in  a  promiscuous  mass  upon  the  sleepers  below.  The  scene 
of  confusion  that  then  ensued  may  be  imagined  only. 

The  sleepers,  thus  suddenly  aroused,  \vere  utterly  be 
wildered,  and  unable  to  decide  whether  a  cyclone  had  struck 
the  house,  an  earthquake  was  upon  them,  or  the  knell  of  time 


302  .  .      HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

was  at  hand.     But  Dutch  Johnnie's  presence   of  mind,/vhich 
had  so  oft  brought  him   safely   out  of   difficulties   that  tried 
men's  souls,  forsook  him  not  in  this   hour  of   peril,    but   ren 
dered  him  equal  to  the  emergency,  having-,  however,    the  ad 
vantage  of  his  foes  in  knowing  why  he  had  made   such  a  des 
perate  charge,  alone  and  in  utter  darkness,    upon   them;   for 
he  seized  a  board  with  both" hands,  sprang  to  his  feet, and  be 
gan  to  strike,  right  and  left  in  the   dark,   with    super-human 
force,  accompanying  the  act  with    reiterated   Choctaw  war- 
hoops  intermingled  with  General   Sullivan's   war-cry  in  Eng 
lish;  which  at  once  caused  the  Tories  and  Cherokee  warriors 
to  believe  that,  instead  of  a  cyclone,  earthquake,  or   the  knell 
of  time,  or  all  together,  it  was  Sullivan  and  his  troopers  upon 
them;  therefore,    each  one,  actuated  with  the   frantic   desire 
of  self-preservation  alone,  sought,  in  frenzied   haste,  the  one, 
and  only  egress  into  the  open  air,  jumping,  tumbling,  falling, 
rolling  out,  while  Johnnie's  wild   war-hoops  uttered   in   both 
Choctaw  and  English,  with  his  board  wielded  by  his  vigorous 
arms,  whizzing  through  the  darkness  this  way  and    that  thus 
oft  meeting  in  collision  with  heads  and  bodies,   added  wings 
to    the    retreat    of   his  foes.     Soon  the   house   was      left   in 
possession  of  Dutch  Johnnie  alone;  then  to  make   the   victory 
complete,  he  sprang  to  the   rifles   of   his   foes    stacked   in   a 
corner  of  the  room  and  then  to  the  door,   where   he   fired   off 
each  one  in   rapid    succession  accompanied   with   reiterated 
war-hoops,     which   made   each   flying    Tory   and    Cherokee 
:believe  that  himself  alone  had  escaped.     As  he  seized   a   gun 
and  fired  it  off,  he  threw  it  upon  the   floor,    and   sprang   for 
another,  and  so  continued  to  do  until  he   had   fired   the   last; 
then,  not  knowing  what  might  still  be  in  the  house,  since  the 
pitchy  darkness  prevented  anything   being   seen,    he   leaped 
out,  uttered  several  war-hoops  of  victory,  and    sought  safety 
amid  the  darkness  of  the  forest  feeling  his   way  .as   best  he 
could.     When   he   had   gone   far   enough   to   feel   safe   from 
immediate  danger,  he  sat  down  and  waited  for   the  light  of 
the  returning  morning:  then  hastened   to  the   encampment, 
where  he  arrived  in  safety  about  an  hour  after   sunrise.     He 
soon  related  his  adventure  to  General   Sullivan,    who   sent  a 
company  of  troopers  back  with   Dutch  Johnnie  to   prove   the 
statement  of  his  romantic  adventure,  and  night  conflict   with 
the  emeny,  over  whose  unknown  numbers — unlike   Sampson 
with  his  jaw  bone  of  an  ass,  but  like  Dutch   Johnnie   alone— 
with  a  post-oak    board,   hfc    had   gained   a   complete   victory. 
When  the  company  had  reached  the  battle  ground  and  enter- 
'ed  the  again  tenantless  and  silent  fort,  they   found  the  fallen 
boards  upon  the  floor  under  which  lay  Johnnie's   rifle — suffi 
cient  proof  of  his  rapid  descent  upon   the   enemy,:  ...while   the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  303 

twenty  empty  rifles  that  lay  upon  the  floor,  gave  entire  satis 
faction,  none  more  so  than  to  Dutch  Johnnie  himself,  that  he 
had  defeated  his  enemies  as  one  to  twenty,  by  his  rapid  de 
scent  upon  them  with  his  shower  of  boards,  followed  by  the 
vigorous  use  of  one  alone  in  his  stalwart  hands  accompanied 
with  his  terrific  war-hoops.  Of  course,  he  became  the  hero 
of  the  day.  The  twenty  rifles  were  justly  awarded  to  him 
as  trophies  of  his  victory;  which  he  traded"  for  various  articles 
necessary  for  his  comfort  and  protection  in  his  anticipated 
future  adventures.  He  lived  through  the  war  as  an  indis 
pensable  scout,  proving-  himself  fearless  in  battle,  and  oft 
dazzling  his  comrades  by  his  daring  acts. 


THE  MEETING  IN  1811,  OF  TECUMSEH,  THE 
MIGHTY  SHAWNEE,  WITH  APUSHAMATA- 
HAH,  THE  INTREPID  CHOCTAW. 

I  will  here  give  a  true  narrative  of  an  incident  in  the  life 
of  the  great  and  noble  Choctaw  chief,  Apushamatahah,  as  re 
lated  by  Colonel  John  Pitchlynn,  a  white  man  of  sterling 
'  integrity,  and  whb  acted  for  many  years  as- interpreter  to 
the  Choctaws  for  the  United  States  Government,  and  who 
was  an  eye-witness  to  the  thrilling  scene,  a  similar  one,  never 
before  nor  afterwards  befell  the  lot  of  a  white  man  to  witness, 
except  that  of  Sam  Dale,  the  great  scout  of  General  Andrew 
Jackson,  who  witnessed  a  similar  one — that  of  Tecumseh  in 
council  assembled  with  the  Muscogees,  shortly  afterwards 
— of  which  I  will  speak  in  the  history  of  that  once  powerful 
and  war-like  race  of  people. 

Colonel  John  Pitchlynn  was  adopted  in  early  manhood  by 
the  Choctaws,  and  marrying  among  them,  he  at  once  became 
as  one  of  their  people;  and  was  named  by  them  "Chahtah  It- 
ti-ka-na,"  The  Choctaws'  Friend;  and  long  and  well  he 
proved  himself  worthy  the  title  Conferred  upon,  and  the  trust 
confided  in  him.  He  had  five  sons  by  his  Choctaw  wife, 
Peter,  Silas,  Thomas,  Jack  and  James,  all  of  whom  provea  to 
be  men  of  talent,  and  exerted  a  moral  influence  among  their 
people,  except  Jack,  who  was  ruined  by  the  white  man's 
whiskey  and  his  demoralizing>examples  and  influences.  I 
was  personally  acquainted  with  Peter.  Silas  and  Jack,  the 
former  held,  during  a  long  and  useful  life,  the  highest  posi 
tions  in  the  political  history  of  his  Nation,  well  deserving  the 
title  given  him  by  the  whites,  "The  Calhoun  of  the  Choc 
taws;"  but  of  whom  I  will  speak  more  particularly  else 
where. 

England,  in  her  anticipated  war  with  the  United  States  in 


304  HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS. 

1812,  early  made  strenuous  efforts  to  secure  the  co-operation 
of  all  the  Indian  tribes,  both  north  and  south,  as  allies 
against  the  Americans,  as  she  had  done  against  the  French 
previous  to  supplanting-  them  in  1763;  though,  not  with  that 
success  that  she  did  in  arraying  them  in  opposition  to  the 
Americans;  for  to  the  honor  and  praise  of  the  majority  of 
the  early  settlers  of  the  French  among  the  North  American 
Indians  be  it  said,  that  they  had  won  the  respect,  confidence^ 
and  love  of  the  northern  Indians  especially,  by  their  freedom 
from  all  arrogance,  abuse  and  oppression,  and  by  honest 
dealing  with  them,  comparing  well  in  this  particular  with 
the  Quakers,  and  thus  seeming  to  the,  highly  appreciative 
Indians  more  as  affable  companions  and  genial  friends,  than 
insolent  and  pretended  masters,  as  the  English  had  assumed 
to  be,  and  afterwards  the  Americans,  who  followed  in  their 
wake;  both  of  whom,  early  and  late,,  introduced  the  traffic  in 
whiskey  among  them,  which  had  been  effectually  prohibited 
by  the  French  down  to  that  time. 

Having  secured  the  co-operation,  however,  of  many  of 
the  northern  tribes  to  operate  under  the  command  of  the 
cruel  Proctor,  the  English  then  turned  their  attention  to  the 
securing  of  the  south ern  tribes  as  allies,  especially  the  five 
great  and  most  war-like  tribes  then  within  the  boundaries  of 
the  United  States,  viz:  The  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  Chero- 
kees,  Muscogees  and  Seminoles,  whose  warriors  were  then 
justly  considered  as  the  shrewdest,  bravest  and  most  to  be 
dreaded  in  war  of  all  the  North  American  Indians;  and  that 
they  might  the  more  effectually  and  with  greater  certainty 
secure  the  aid  of  those  brave,  skilful  and  daring  warriors  of 
the  south,  the  renowned  Shawnee  chief,  Tecumseh,  was  sent 
to  persuade  them  by  his  great  influence  and  unsurpassed 
native  eloquence  to  unite  with  them  as  allies  in  the  expected 
war.  As  one  of  the  bravest  and  most  skilful  Indian  chiefs 
that  ever  trod  the  American  soil;  as  a  statesman  in  the 
council  of  his  nation;  as  a  foresighted  politician;  as  a  man  of 
integrity  and  humanity,  according  to  the  morals  of  his 
people;  as  a  man  of  comprehensive  mind,  rich  in  resources 
for  every  emergency;  as  a  man  of  undaunted  nature,  Tecum 
seh  stands  with  no  superiors  and  few  equals  upon  the  pages 
of  Indian  history;  and  his  name  still  hovers  among  the 
northern  and  western  tribes,  with  those  of  Sassacus,  chief 
of  the  Pequods,  in  1637;  Philip,  chief  of  the  Pokanokets  in 
1674;  Canonochet,  chief  of  the  Naragansetts  in  1675;  and  the 
great  Pontiac,  chief  of  the  Ottawas  in  1763;  Red  Jacket,  of 
the  Senecas;  Black  Hawk,  of  the  Sacs,  and  Fox,  and  others, 
who  figured  along  down  the  path  of  time  in  their  noble  but 
vain  endeavors  to  protect  their  homes  and  country  from  the 


HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS.  305 

encroachment  of  foreign  vandals,  as  the  heroes,  who,  in  the 
days  of  their  prosperity  and  strength,  had  each  devised  the 
plan  for  unity  of  action  among  all  the  tribes  in  driving-  back 
the  usurping  whites  from  their  common  territories,  and 
conducted  their  mighty  but  unavailing  struggles  with  seem 
ing  destiny  for  the  continued  independence  of  their  race,  as- 
men  who  loved  no  enjoyment  equal  to  that  of  perfect  per 
sonal  freedom  in  the  companionship  of  nature,  as  it  then 
presented  itself  in  its  picturesque  garb  of  mountains  and 
valleys, 'rivers  and  lakes,  forests  and  prairies,  affording  them 
all  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  uniting  to  consummate  their 
earthly  bliss  as  a  free,  independent,  contented  and  happy 
people.  Therefore  one  master  spirit  filled  and  ruled  the 
hearts  of  those  ancient  chieftains,  and  gave  to  their  whole 
lives  their  character. 

Willingly,  therefore,  did  Tecumseh  accept  the  embassy 
to  the  southern  tribes,  in  behalf  of  tfce  English  ;  nor  could 
they  have  confided  their  mission  with  greater  hope  of  suc 
cess  to  a  more  influential  chief,  or  a  more  bitter  enemy  to 
the  Americans  than  to  Tecumseh.  North  and  South,  far 
and  near,  was  the  name  of  the  great  Shawnee  Chief  and1, 
warrior  known.  From  their  youth  the  warriors  of  all  the: 
tribes,  at  that  day  and  time,  had  heard  of  his  great  achieve 
ments  in  battle;  of  his  irresistible  eloquence  in  debate  and 
the  devastation  that  marked  his  footsteps  upon  the  war-path  ;. 
for  his  tomahawk  was  like  the  lightning  bolt  in  force  and 
power,  armed  with  swift  and  sure  destruction  to  all  upon 
whom  it  fell  when  wielded  by  its  master's  hand,  to  all  In 
dians,  a  meritorious  commendation  and  worthy  all  accepta 
tion.  Unknown  to  fear,  yet  it  is  said  of  Tecumseh  that 
his  heart  was  tender  as  a  child's,  and  the  sufferings  of  a 
friend  whom  he  loved  could  torture  him  with  the  keenest 
anguish.  His  mother  was  a  Muscogee  and  his  father  a 
Shawnee  ;  and  both  were  born  in  Alabama,  at  a  village  called 
Sau-van-o-gee  (afterwards  known  as  "Old  Augusta")  on  the 
Tallapoosa  river,  though  Tecumseh's  father  and  grand  par 
ents  belonged  to  the  Shawnees  of  the  North.  They  moved 
to  the  then  wilds  of  the  now  State  of  Ohio  with  their  family 
of  several  children,  where,  in  1768,  Tecumseh  was  born,  who 
became  so  distinguished  in  the  history  of  his  race  as  a  chief 
and  warrior.  He  had  five  brothers,  all  of  whom  were  noted 
warriors.  He  also  had  one  sister  named  Tecum-a-pease, 
-,  who  was  highly  endowed  as  a  woman  of  strong  character 
and  sound  judgment,  and  a  great  favorite  of  her  war-like 
brother,  over  whom  she  exercised  great  influence.  At  the 
age  of  nineteen  years  Tecumseh  visited  the  South,  once  the 
home  of  his  parents,  where  he  spent  a  few  years  principally 


-• 


306  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

among-  the  Muscogees,  the  relatives  and  friends  of  his 
mother — engaging  with  them  in  their  hunts  and  various 
amusements,  and  winning  their  admiration  by  a  heroism  free 
from  tefmerity,  and  a  friendship  free  from  partiality. 

In  the  spring  of  1811,  'tecumseh,  with  thirty  congenial 
spirits  all  well  mounted,  again  left  his  northern  home  and 
directed  his  course  once  more  to  the  South  to  visit  those  dis 
tant  friends,  not  as  before,  a  pleasure  seeker  in  their  hunts, 
national  festivals  and  social  amusements,  but  as  one  seeking 
co-operative  vengeance  upon  a  common. foe,  the  pale-face  in 
truders  and  oppressors  of  their  race.  Silently  and  fearlessly 
did  the  little  band  of  resolute  men, keep  their  course  with  un 
wearied  resolution  and  unerring  judgment  through  the  vast 
wilderness  that  intervened;  over  hills .  and  endless  wastes; 
swimming  broad  rivers  and  narrow  creeks,  and  working 
their  way  through  wide  extended  cane-brakes,  where  seldom 
or  never  before  had  trod  human  feet,  the  sun  their  guide  by 
dav,  the  stars,  by  night,  until  they  reached  the  broad  terri 
tories  of  the  Chickasaws  through  which  they  passed,  'nor 
ceased  their  march,  until  they  entered  the  Choctaw  Nation 
in  the  district  over  which  Apakfohlichihubih  was  the  ruling 
chief  and  there  pitched  their  camp.  Soon  the  tidings  of  the 
arrival  and  encampment  of  the  renowned  Shawnee  chief  and 
his  thirty  warriors  as  an  embassy  were  borne  as  on  wings  of 
the  wind,  throughout  the  district  fanning  the  hitherto  quiet 
inhabitants  into  a  blaze  of  the  wildest  exciteme'nt,  and  many 
rushed  at  once  to  see  the  great  Chieftain  and  his  warriors; 
actuated  more  however  through  curiosity  than  expectation  of 
learning  anything  concerning  the  intent  or  purpose  of  their 
coming;  for  an  Indian  embassador  is  ever  silent  upon  the  sub 
ject  of  his  mission,  and  opens  not  his  mouth  but  in  council 
assembled,  and  thus  manifesting  good  sense  and  profound 
judgment.  In  solemn  pomp,  therefore,  Tecumseh  and  his 
warriors  /were  escorted  to  the  home  of  Apakfolichihubih,-  to 
whom  Tecumseh  stated  that  his  business  was  of  a  national 
character  and  of  the  most  vital  importance,  to  the  Choctaw 
Nation.  At  once  Apakfolichihubih,  summoned  the  warriors 
of  his  district  to  convene  in  council,  at  which  a  resolution  was 
passed  calling  the  entire  Choctaw  Nation  to  assemble  in  a 
great  council,  extending  the  invitation  alike  to  the  Chickasaw 
Nation,  stating  as  a  reason,  that  it  was  made  through  the 
request  of  Tecumseh,  as  an  embassador  of  the  Shawnees; 
that  he,  with  thirty  warriors,  was  now  a  guest  of  Apakfolih- 
chihubih,  and  had  a  proposition  to  lay  before  the  council  of 
vital  import  to  both  Nations.  A  day  was  also  appointed  and 
the  place  designated,  in  and  at  which  the  two  Nations  should 
assemble  in  united  council  to  hear  the  words  of  the  mighty 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  307 

r 

"Shawnee.  The  place  selected  at  which  the  council  was  to 
convene,  was  at  a  point  on  the  Tombigbee  riyer>,five  miles  (by 
land)  north  of  Columbus,  Mississippi,  and  now  known  by  the 
name  of  Plymouth. 

Immediately  runners  (news  horsemen)  were  sent  out  to 
the  remotest  points  of  their  country,  also  to  the  Chickasaws, 
to  notify  all  of  the  coming"  event;  and  soon  they  were  seen  on 
their  fleetest  horses  speeding-  in  wild  haste  and  in  all  direc 
tions,  over  their  wide  extended  territory;  even  as  was  wit 
nessed  when  our  Declaration  of  Independence  was  first  pro 
claimed,  and  the  "Old  Liberty  Bell"  rang-  out  its  joyous  peals 
echoing  amid  wild  shouts  along-  the  hills  of  the  Atlantic 
shore,  but  to  die  away  in  muffled  tones  among  the  rocky  bat 
tlements  of  the  far-away  Pacific  coast;  and  as  the  tones  of 
the  "Old  Liberty  Bell"  secured  responsive  ears,  so  too  the 
call  of  Tecumseh  secured  the  speedy  response  'of  every 
Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  warrior,  however  remote  his  cabin 
from  the  designated  place  of  rendezvous. 

For  many  days  previous  to  the  convening  of  the  council, 
hundreds  upon  hundreds  of  warriors,'  in  various  groups, 
were  seen  slowly  and  silently  wending  their  way  through 
the  forests  from  every  direction  toward  the  designated  place 
for  the  meeting  of  the  two  Nations  in  council  with  the  mighty 
chief  and  Shawnee  embassador;  and  when  the  appointed  day 
came,  many  thousands  had  presented  themselves. 

Col.  John  Pitchlynn  stated  to  the  missionaries  who  es 
tablished  a  mission  among  the  Choctaws  several  years  after, 
that  he  never  saw  so  great  a  number  of  Indian  warriors 
gathered  together.  It  was  indeed  a  congregation  vast  of  so 
licitous  and  expectant  men,  whose  breasts  heaved  and  tossed 
with  the  conflicting  emotions  of  the  wildest  imaginations, 
for  rumor  of  war  between  the  United  States  and  England 
liad  reached  them  in  their  distant  villages  situated  along  the 
banks  of  their  rivers  and  creeks,  and  in  their  humble  cabins 
found  scattered  everywhere  amid  the  deep  solitudes  of  their 
seemingly  illimitable  forests  ;  therefore  hope  and  fear  alter 
nately  held  dubious  sway  o'er  their  minds  as  to  the  design 
of  Tecumseh's  unexpected  visit,  and  the  calling  them  to 
gether  in  council,  which  seemingly  foreshadowed  evil,  also  to 
their  respective  nations  as  compulsory  allies  to  the  one  or  to 
the  other  of  the  belligerent  parties  ;  still  no  external  mani 
festations  of  any  kind  whatever  were  seen  that  betrayedythe 
secret  emotions  within,  as  profound  silence  and  the  utmost 
decorum  were  always  and  everywhere  observed  by  the  North 
American  Indians  when  assembling  and  having  assembled  in 
national  council. 

But   the  light   of    that   memorable  day  seemed  to  wane 


308  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

slowly,  and  its  sunset  was  followed  by  that  seemingly  breath 
less  pause  and  stupor  so  oft  experienced  in  a  southern  clime. 
The  increasing  dusk  crept  011  by  degrees,  while  the  outlines 
of  familiar  objects  became  blurred,  then  dim  and  fantastic 
in  the  uncertain  light.  At  length  the  leaves  began  to  stir 
and  the  placid  waters  of  the  itombi  ikbi  trembled  in  the 
darkness,  for  the  night  wind  had  sprung  .up  freighted  with 
the  cool  breath  and  sweet  odors  of  the  surrounding  forests, 
as  twilight  dropped  her  'mantle  to  her  successor — night. 
Then  a  huge  pile  of  logs  and  chunks,  previously  prepared, 
was  set  on  fire — the  signal  to  the  waiting  multitudes,  who 
sat  in  groups  of  hundreds  around  chatting  in  low  tones  and 
smoking  .their  indispensable  pipes,  constructed  in  the  heads- 
of  their  tomahawks.  Each  group  arose  without  delay  or 
confusion  and  in  obedience  to  its  mandates,  marched  up  in 
solemn  and  impressive  silence,  and  took  their  respective 
seats  upon  the  ground  forming"  many  wide,  extended  circles 
around  the  blazing  heap,  but  leaving  an  open  space  of  twenty 
or  thirty  feet  in  diameter  for  the  occupancy  of  the  speaker 
and  his  attendants. 

The  chiefs  and  old  warriors  always  formed  the  inner 
circle;  the  middle  aged,  next,  and  soon  to  the  outer  circle, 
which  was  composed  of  the  young  and  less  experienced  war 
riors,  thus  carrying  out  the  old  precept,  "The  old  for 
counsel,  the  young  for  war."  All  being  seated,  the  pipes, 
indispensable  adjuncts  in  all  the  North  American  Indians' 
national  and  religions  assemblies,  were  lighted,  and  com 
menced  their  rounds  through  the  vast  concourse  of  seated 
men;  and  each  one,  as  a  pipe  came  to  him,  drew  a  whiff  or 
two,  and  then,  in  turn,  passed  it  on  to  the  next,  while  pro 
found  silence  throughout  the  vast  assembly  reigned  su 
preme,  disturbed  alone  by  the  crackling  and  sputtering  of 
the  burning  logs.  ' 'Twas  indeed  a  silence  deep,  as  if  all 
nature  had  made  a  pause  prophetic  of  the  gathering  storm. 

What  a  beautiful  characteristic  of  the  North  American 
Indians  was  that  of  repressing  every  emotional  feeling  when 
assembled  in  council  or  otherwise,  and  observing  the  most 
profound  silence  when  one  of  their  number  was  speaking! 
Even  in  the  social  circle,  never  but  one  speaks  at  a  time 
while  the  closest  attention  is  given  and  the  most  profound 
silence  observed  by  the  others.  This  was  and  is  a  part  of 
their  education,  an  established  rule  of  their  entire  race,  into 
the  violation  of  which  they  were  seldom  if  ever  betra}^ed  by 
any  kind  of  excitement  whatsoever;  and  in  visiting  the  Choc- 
taw  and  Chickasaw  councils  in  1885, 1  found  they  still  adhered 
to  the  old  established  rule  with  the  same  rigid  tenacity  as- 
did  their  ancestors  east  of  the  Mississippi  river  in  the  days- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  309 

•of  the  long-ago.  For  this  noble  virtue  (for  virtue  it  may  be 
called)  they  are  termed  taciturn  and  grave,  yet  their  national 
sensibilities  are  deep,  active  and  strong. 

Soon  Tecumseh  was  dimly  seen  emerging  from  the  dark 
ness  beyond  into  the  far  reflected  light  of  the  blazing  logs, 
followed  by  his  thirty  warriors.  With  measured  steps  and 
grave  demeanor  they  slowly  advanced.  But  no  wild  shouts 
heralded  their  coming.  No  deafening  yells  proclaimed  their 
welcome.  Silence  deep  and  profound  swayed  her  sceptre 
there.  Yet  that  vast  assembly  of  silent  men  seated  in  cir 
cles  upon  the  ground,  'while  clouds  of  tobacco  smoke  gently 
floated  o'er  their  heads;  with  countenances  beaming  with  in 
quiry  as  their  calm  but  piercing  eyes  glistened  in  the  reflect 
ed  light  of  the  blazing  logs,  spoke  a  language  to  Tecumseh 
more  potent  than  the -wild  huzzas  of  the  whites  ever  did  to 
their  approaching  political  favorite.  In  silence  the  circle 
was  opened  as  Tecumseh  and  his  followers  drew  near 
through  which  they  slowly  marched,  then  immediately  closed 
.-behind'  them  surrounding  them  by^  thousands  of  strangers; 
but  nothing  to  fear,  for  the  Peace  Pipe  was  in  the  left  hand 
of  the  mighty  Shawnee,  an  emblem  rigidly  respected  by  all 
North  American  Indians  all  over  the  continent.  When  Te 
cumseh  had  reached  a  point  near  the  fire,  he  halted  and  his 
thirty  warriors  at  once  seated  themselves  on  the  ground 
forming  a  crescent  before  their  adored  chieftain,  while  he, 
the  personification  of  true  dignity  and  manly  beauty,  stood 
erect  and  momentarily  flashed  his  piercing1  eyes  over  the 
mighty  host  as  if  to  scan  each  countenance  (that  index  of  the 
soul)  and  read  its  import,  the  better  thereby  to  lav  a  proper 
basis  for  the  successful  effect  of  his  arguments  in  the  sup 
port  of  his  mighty  scheme. 

Every  eye  was  now  fastened  upon  him,  while,  in  turn, 
beneath  his  high  forehead  flashed  his  own  black  and  restless 
eyes;  and  though  his  face  wore  a  calm  expression 
yet  there  was  a  nervousness  about  him-  withal  that  plainly 
indicated  one  of  those  sensitive  organisms  that 
kindle  at  the  slightest  warmth.  But  he  sought  not  the 
personal  admiration  or  the  praise  of  his  audience.  He 
meant  business  serious  and  weighty;  business,  in  which  he 
fell  was  involved  thefuturedestiny  of  the  entirelndian  race  for 
weal  or  woe.  Noble  and  unselfish  patriot!  How  true  thy 
far-sighted  statemanship!  But  alas,  how  unavailing!  What 
-an  imposing  and  impressive  scene  was  there!  A  hundred 
closely  formed  circles  of  silent  men  seated  on  the  ground 
from  whose  dark  features  were  reflected,  by  the  light  on 
the  burning  log-heaps,  a  thousand  conflicting  emotions  of 
iiop£  and  doubt,  -as  they  gazed  in  profound  silence  upon  the 


310  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

imposing1  figure  that  stood  in  their  midst.  The  scene  at 
this  juncture,  stated  Col.  Pitchlynn,  was  grand  and  impos 
ing  indeed,  and  worthy  the  pencil  of  a  Raphael.  Every 
countenance  told  of  suppressed  feeling,  and  every  eye 
sparkled1  with  mental  excitement.  An  enthusiasm  border 
ing  on  ecstacy  marked  the  manner  of  the  elder,  while  the 
young,  sturdy  fellows  in  the  flower  of  manhood's  strength, 
had  more  than  usual  expression  upon  their  faces,  which 
indicated  that  some  of  the  deepest  chords  in  their  natures 
had  already  been  struck,  holding-  out  a  promise  to  them  of 
things  undreamed  of  before,  by  touching-  that  note  to  which 
their  every  breast  gave  more  or  less  response. 

Tecumseh's  observant  eye  read  its  import  at  a  glance, 
and  at  once  the  tones  of  his  voice  broke  the  stillness.  Now 
he  seemed  nothing  but  nerves,  and  shot  out  magnetism  that 
electrified  his  hearers  into  like  intensity  of  feeling-,  and  every^ 
nerve  and  muscle  of  the  vast  assembly  seemed  to  take  up 
the  measure  and  tingle  with  the  same  enthusiasm  and  feel 
ing,  as  the  wild  orator  voiced  the  sentiments  of  his  audience. 
In  the  outset  he  unfolded  the  desig-ns  of  the  whites  andjtheir 
schemes  to  accomplish  them  ;  he  portrayed  the  consequences 
that  would  inevitably  ensue  in  case  they  should  get  the  as 
cendency  ;  he  spared  no  artifice,  omitted  no  topic  that  would 
have  a  tendency  to  alarm  their  concern  for  their  country,  or 
their  fears  for  themselves ;  he  arraigned  all  the  conduct  of 
the  whites  since  their  first  introduction  among  their  race, 
and  portrayed  in  vivid  colors  their  ingenuity  in  concealing" 
their  avarice  and  'covetousness  under  a  veil  of  most  gener 
ous  and  disinterested  principles  ;  and  how  insidious  and  vile 
their  schemes  had  ever  been,  and  still  continued  to  be  ;  he 
made  good  use  of  the  figures  which  g-ave  force  and  energy 
to  his  discourse,  for  no  one  better  understood  the  designs  of 
the  white  man,  and  no  one  could  better  explain  them  than  he; 
therefore  he  drew  his  lines,  sketched  his  plans,  and  well  did 
the  drawings  and  sketches  manifest  the  master's  hand  ;  and 
ere  he  had  closed,  strange  alternatives  of  elevating  hope  were 
manifest  in  the  countenances  of  his  silent  and  attentive 
hearers. 

He  began  his  speech  in  a  grave  and  solemn  ifianner, 
stated  Col.  Pitchlynn,  which  I  here  give  in  substance,  as 
follows  : 

"In  view  of  questions  of  vast  importance,  have  we  met 
together  in  solemn  council  to-night.  Nor  should  we  here 
debate  whether  we  have  been  wronged  and  injured,  but  by 
what  measures  we  should  avenge  ourselves  ;  for  our  merci 
less  oppressors,  having  long  since  planned  out  their  proceed 
ings,  are  not  about  to  make,  but  have  and  are  still  making: 


HISTORY   OF   THE  INDIANS.  311 

attacks  upon  those  of  our  race  who  have  as  yet  come  to  no 
resolution.  Nor  are  we  ig-norant  by  what  steps,  and  by 
what  gradual  advances,  the  whites  break  in  upon  our  neigh 
bors.  Imagining  themselves  to  be  still  undiscovered,  they 
show  themselves  the  less  audacious  because  you  are  insen 
sible.  The  whites  are  already  nearly  a  match  for  us  all 
united,  and  too  strong  for  any  one  tribe  alor^e  to  resist ;  so 
that  unless  we  support  one  another  with  our  collective  and 
united  forces  ;  unless  every  tribe  unanimously  combines  to 
grve  a  check  to  the  ambition  and  avarice  of  the  whites,  they 
will  soon  conquer  us  apart  and  disunited,  and  we  will  be 
driven  away  from  our  native  country  and  scattered  as 
autumnal  leaves  before  the  wind. 

"But  have  we  not  courage  enough  remaining  to  defend 
our  country  and  maintain  our  ancient  independence?  Will 
we  calmly  suffer  the  white  intruders  and  tyrants  to  enslave 
us?  Shall  it  be  said  of  our  race  that  we  knew  not  how  to  ex 
tricate  ourselves  from  the  three  most  to  be  dreaded  calami 
ties — folly,  inactivity  and  cowardice?  But  what  need  is 
there  to  speak  of  the  past?  It  speaks  for  itself  and  asks, 
'Where  to-day  is  the  Pequod?  Where  the  Narragansetts, 
the  Mohawks,  Pocanokets,  and  many  other  once  powerful 
tribes  of  our  race?  They  have  vanished  before  the  avarice  and 
oppression  of  the  white  men,  as  snow  before  a  summe^"  sun. 
In  the  vain  hope  of  alone  defending  their  ancient  possessions, 
they  have  fallen  in  the  wars  with  the  wrhite  men.  Look 
abroad  over  their  once  beautiful  country,  and  what  see  you 
now?  Naught  but  the  ravages  of  th£  pale-face  destrovers 
meet  your  eyes.^So  it  will  be  with  you  Choctaws  and  Chicka- 
saws!  Soon  your  mighty  forest  trees,  under  the  shade  of 
whose  wide  spreading  branches  you  have  played  in  infancy, 
sported  in  boyhood,  and  now  rest  your  wearied  limbs  after 
the  fatigue  of  the  chase,  will  be  cut  down  to  fence  in  the  land 
which  the  white  intruders  dare  to  call  their  own.  Soon 
their  broad  roads  will  pass  over  the  grave  of  your  fathers, 
and  the  place  of  their  rest  will  be  blotted  out  forever.  The 
annihilation  of  our  race  is  at  hand  unless  we  unite  in  one 
common  cause  against  the  common  foe.  Think  not,  brave 
Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  that  you  can  remain  passive  and 
indifferent  to  the  common  danger,  and  thus  escape  the  com 
mon  fate.  Your  people  too,  will  soon  be  as  falling  leaA^es 
and  scattering  clouds  before  their  blighting  breath.  You  too 
will  be  driven  away  from  your  native  land  and  ancient  do 
mains  as  leaves  are  driven  before  the  wintry  storms." 

These  were  corroding  words;  and  well  might  terrible 
thoughts  of  resistance  pass  through  the  minds  of  those 
freemen  and  patriots,  as,  by  the  light  of  the  burning  heap 

\ 


312  ^  HISTORY    OF    THB   INDIANS. 

gleaming-  through  the  darkness  of  the  night,  they  in  admir 
ing*  silence  gazed  upon  the  face  of  Tecumseh  and  listened  to 
his  .untaught  eloquence,  which  thrilled  and  swayed,  their 
hearts  and  moved  the  deep  waters  of  their  souls,  as  he  plead 
the  cause  of  right  from  the  vindications  of  his  own  heart 
upon  which  wa's  written  the  statute — "A  favor  for  a  favor,  an 
injury  for  an  injury." 

"Sleep  not  longer,  O  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,"  con 
tinued  the  indefatigable  orator,  "in  false  security  and  delu 
sive  hopes.  Our  broad  domains  are  fast  .escaping  from  our 
grasp.  Every  year  our  white  intruders  become  more  greedy, 
exacting,  oppressive  and  overbearing.  Every  year  con 
tentions  spring  up  between  them  and  our  people  and  when 
blood  is  shed  we  have  to  make  atonement  whether  right  or 
wrong,  at  the  cost  of  the  lives  of  our  greatest  chiefs,  and  the 
yielding  up  of  larg'e  tracts  of  our  lands.  Before  the  pale 
faces  came  among  us,  we  enjoyed  the  happiness  of  unbounded 
freedom,  and  were  acquainted  with  neither  riches,  wants, 
nor  oppression.*"  How  is  it  now?  Wants  and  oppressions  are 
our  lot;  for  are  we  not  controlled  in  everything,  and  dare  we 
move  without  asking,  by  your  leave?  Are  we  not  being  strip 
ped' day  by  day  of  the  little  that  remains  of  our  ancient 
liberty?  Do  they  not  even  now  kick  and  strike  us  as  they 
•do  their  black-faces?  How  long  will  it  be  before  they  will  tie 
us  to  a  post  and  whip  us,  and  make  us  work  for  them  in  their 
corn  fields  as  they  do  them?  Shall  we  wait  for  that  moment 
or  shall  we  die  fighting  before  submitting  to  such  ignominy"? 

At  this  juncture  a  low,  muffled  groan  of  indignation 
forced  its  way  through  the  clinched  teeth  running  through 
the  entire  assembly,  and  some  of  the  younger  warriors,  no 
longer  enabled  to  restrain  themselves,  leaped  from  their 
seats  upon  the  ground,  and,  accompanying  the  act  with  the 
thrilling  war-whoops  of  defiance,  nourished  their  toma 
hawks  in  a  frenzy  of  rage.  Tecumseh  turned  his  eyes  upon 
them  with  a  calm  but  rebuking  look,  which  spoke  but  too 
well  his  disapproval  of  such  an  undignified  and  premature 
display  of  feelings,  which  had  interrupted  him;  then  with 
a  gentle  wave  of  the  hand,  the  interpretation  of  which  was 
not  very  difficult,  he  again  continued:  "Have  we  not  for 
years  had  before  our  eyes  a  sample  of  their  designs,  and  are 
they  not  sufficient  harbingers  of  their  future  determina 
tions?  Will  we  not  soon  be  driven  from  our  respective 
countries  and  the  graves  of  our  ancestors?  Will  not  the 
bones  of  our  dead  be  plowed  up,  and  their  graves  be  turned 
into  fields?  Sjiall  we  calmly  wait  until  they  become  so  numer 
ous  that  we  will  no  longer  be  able  to  resist  oppression? 
Will  we  wait  to  be  destroyed  in  our  turn,  without  making  an 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  313 

effort  worthy  our  race?  Shall  -we  give  up  our  homes,  our 
country,  bequeathed  to  us  by  the  Great  Spirit,  the  graves  of 
our  dead,  and  everything"  that  is  dear  and  sacred  to  us,  with 
out  a  struggle?  I  know  you  will  cry  with  me,  Never! 
Never!  Then  let  us  by  unity  of  action  destroy  them  all, 
which  we  now  can  do,  or  drive  them  back  whence  they  came. 
War  or  extermination  is  now  our  only  choice.  Which  do 
you  choose?  I  •  know  your  answer.  Therefore,  I  now  call 
on  you,  brave  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  to  assist  in  the  just 
cause  of  liberating  our  race  from  the  grasp  of  our  faithless 
invaders  and  heartless  oppressors.  '!  he  white  usurpation 
in  our  common  country  must  be  stopped,  or  we,  its  rightful 
owners,  be  forever  destroyed  and  wiped  out  as  a  race  of 
people.  I  am  now  at  the  head  of  many  warriors  backed  by 
the  strong  arm  of  English  soldiers.  Choctaws  and  Chicka-. 
saws,  you  have  too  long  borne  with  g'rievous  usurpation  in 
flicted  by  the  arrogant  Americans.  Be  no  longer  their 
dupes.  If  there  be  one  here  to-night  who  believes  that  his 
rights  will  not  sooner  or  later,  be  taken  from  him  by  the 
avaricious  American  pale-faces,  his  ignorance  ought  tp  excite 
pity,  for  he  knows  little  of  the  character  of  our  common  foe. 
And  if  there  be  one  among  you -mad  enough  to  undervalue 
the  growing  power  of  the  white  race  among  us,  let  him 
tremble  in  considering  the  fearful  woes  he  will  bring  down 
upon  our  entire  race,  if  by  his  criminal  indifference  he 
assists  the  designs  of  our  common  enemy  against  our  com 
mon  country.  Then  listen  to  the  voice  of  duty,  of  honor, 
of  nature  and  of  your  endangered  country.  L/et  us  form  one 
body,  one  heart,  and  defend  to  the  last  warrior  our  country, 
our  homes,  our  liberty,  and  the  graves  of  our  fathers. 

"Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  you  are  among  the'few  of 
our  race  who  sit  indolently  at  ease.  You  have  indeed  enjoy 
ed  the  reputation  of  being  brave,  but  will  you  be  indebted 
for  it  more  from  report  than  fact?  Will  vou  let  the  whites 
encroach  upon  your  domains  even  to  your  very  door. before 
you  will  assert  your  rights  in  resistance  ?  Let  no  one  in 
this  -council  imagine  that  I  speak  more  from  malice  against 
the  pale-face  Americans  than  just  grounds  of  complaint. 
Complaint  is  just  toward  friends  who  have  failed  in  their 
du.ty ;  accusation  is  against  enemies  guilty  of  injustice. 
And  surely,  if  any  people  ever  had,  we  have  good  and  just 
reasons  to  believe  we  have  ample  grounds  to  accuse  the 
Americans  of  injustice;  especially  when  such  great  acts  of 
injustice  have  been  committed  by  them  upon  our  race,  of 
which  they  seem  to  have  no  manner  of  regard,  or  even  to  re 
flect.  ;  They  are  a  people  fond  of  innovations,  quick  to  con 
trive  and  quick  to  put  their  schemes  into  effectual  execution, 


314    '  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

no  matter  how  great  the  wrong  and  injury  to  us;  while  we 
are  content  to  preserve  what  we  already  have.  Their  de 
signs  are  to  enlarge  their  possessions  by  taking  yours  in 
turn  ;  and  will  you,  can  you  longer  dally,  O  Choctaws  and 
Chickasaws?  Do  you  imagine  that  that  people  will  not  con 
tinue  longest  in  the  enjoyment  of  peace  who  timely  prepare 
to  vindicate  themselves,  and  manifest  a  determined  resolu 
tion  to  do  themselves  right  whenever  they  are  wronged? 
Far  otherwise.  Then  haste  to  the  relief  of  our  common 
ca^use,  as  by  consanguinity  of  blood  you  are  bound  ;  lest  the 
day  be  not  far  distant  when  you  will  be  left  single-handed 
and  alone  to  the  cruel  mercy  of  our  most  inveterate  foe." 

Though  the  North  American  Indians  never  expressed 
their  emotions  by  any  audible  signs  whatever,  yet  the  frown 
ing  brows,  and  the  flashing  eyes  of  that  mighty  concourse  of 
seated  and  silent  men  told  Tecumseh,  as  he  closed  and  took 
his  seat  upon  the  ground  among  his  warriors,  that  he  had 
touched  a  thousand  chords  whose  vibrations  responded  in 
tones  that  were  in  perfect  unison  and  harmony  with  his  own, 
and  he  fully  believed,  and  correctly  too,  that  he  had  accom 
plished  the  mission  whereunto,  he  was  sent,  even  beyond  his 
most  sanguine  hopes  and  expectations. 

A  few  of  the  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  chiefs  now  arose 
in  succession  and,  walking  to  the  centre,  occupied,  in  turn, 
the  place  which  Tecumseh  had  just  vacated  and  expressed 
their  opinions  upon  the  question  so  new  and  unexpectedly 
presented  to  them  for  their  consideration;  the  majority  lean 
ing  to  the  views  advanced  by  the  Shawnee  chief,  a  few  doubt 
ing  their  expediency.  Tecumseh  was  now  jubilant,  for  his 
cause;  seemed  triumphant.  But  at  this  crisis  of  affairs,  a  sud 
den  and  unexpected  change  came  o'er  the  scene.  Another, 
who,  up  to  this  time,  had  remained  a  silent  but  attentive 
listener,  arose  and,  free  of  all  restraint,  marched  to  the  cen 
tre  mid  the  .deep  silence  that  again  prevailed.  A  noble  speci 
men  also,  was  he,  of  manly  beauty,  strength,  [and  unlettered 
eloquence,  who  was  to  fasten  a  ring  in  the  nose  of  the  mighty 
Shawnee  to  lead  him  before  all  the  Philistines  at  his  royal 
will  and  pleasure.  As  he  drew  himself  up  to  his  full  height, 
there  was  revealed  the  symmetrical  form  of  the  intrepid  and 
the  most  renowned  and  influential  chief  of  the  Choctaws,  a 
man  of  great  dignity,  unyielding  firmness,  undisputed  brav 
ery,  undoubted  veracity,  sound  judgment,  and  the  firm  and 
undeviating  friend  of  the  American  people.  He  was  Apush- 
amatahah. 

All  eyes  were  at  once  turned  to  and  riveted  upon  him,  as 
he  momentarily  stood  in  profound  silence  surveying  the  faces 
of  his  people  with  that  indescribable  expression  which  in- 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  315- 

clicated  to  the  stranger,  and  none  the   less  to  the  astonished 
g-aze  of  Tecumseh,    that   under  it   lurked   such   fearlessness 
as   commanded   respect.     How    truly   and   plainly   the   soul 
writes  its  tale  on  that  expressive  and  plastic  tablet — the  face 
:>f  man!     Though  habitually  of  a  lively  and  jovial  disposition, 
yet  Apufehamatahah  could  rival  the  lynx  when  he   applied  his 
penetrating  mind  to  detect  the  weak  points  of   his   opponent, 
and  present  his  arguments  in  such  a   manner   as   to    unravel 
the  hidden  meaning  of  those  of   his   antagonist.     Free   from 
any  nervous  agitation  he   calmly  looked   over   his    audience. 
His  long  black  locks   fell   back   from   a   broad    manly   brow, 
from  which  shone  dark,  eloquent  eyes  full  of  depth  and   lire; 
his  face  broad   and   of  a   clear   olive   tint,  his  lips    thin   and 
compressed,  all  united  to  give  an  expression  of  firmness  and 
intellectuality.     The  solemn  manner  and  long  silence  that  he 
assumed  as  he  calmly  gazed  upon  the  scene   before  him,  was 
as  full  of  eloquence  as  any  words  he  could  have    uttered,  and 
fell  with  unmistakable  meaning  upon  the  silent  throng,  upon 
whose  faces  still  shone  the  light  of   the    blazing  council  fire, 
reflecting  no  longer  conflicting  emotions,  but  one  seemingly 
united  all  pervading   sentiment.     War  and  extermination  to 
the  whites.     Apushamatahah's  observant   eye  read   its   deep 
signification.     But  n'othing  daunted,    he   began  in  a  low   but 
distinct  tone  of  voice,  which  increased  in  volume  and  pathos  as 
he  he  became  more  and  more  animated.     It  was  then  that  his 
eloquence   also   struck  other     sympathetic     chords    in   that 
silent  and  attentive  audience,  and  caused  hundreds  of  hearts 
to  pulsate  faster' under  the  magnetic  influence  of  his   words, 
and  feel  at  once  that  before'j:hem  stood,  what  many   already 
knew,  a  great  man.     He  also  began  his  speech  in  the  ancient 
method  of  opening  an  address   (long   since   obsolete),   thus: 
"O-mish-ke!    A  numpa   tillofasih    ish   hakloh."     (Attention! 
Listen  you  to   my   brief   remarks)  ;    and   then   continued   in 
substance  as  follows: 

"It  was  not  my  design  in  coming  here  to  enter  into  a 
disputation  with  any  one.  But  I  appear  before  you,  my 
warriors  and  mv  people  not  to  throw  in  my  plea  against  the 
accusations  of  Tecumseh;  but  to  prevent  your  forming  rash 
and  dangerous  resolutions  upon  things  of  highestimportance, 
through  the  instigations  of  others.  I  have  myself  learned 
by  experience,  and  I  also  see  many  of  you,  O  Choctaws  and 
Chickasaws,  who  have  the  same  experience  of  years  that  I 
have,  the  injudicious  steps  of  engaging  in  an  enterprise  be 
cause  it  is  new.  Nor  do  I  stand  up  before  you  to-night  to 
contradict  the  many  facts  alleged  against  the  American 
people,  or  to  raise  my  voice  against  them  in  useless-accusa 
tions.  The  question  before  us  now  is  not  wThat  wrongs- 


316  HISTORY  OF  THB  INDIANS. 

they  have  inflicted  upon  our  race,  but  what  measures  are 
best  for  us  to  adopt  in  regard  to  them;  and  though  our  race 
may  have  been  unjustly  treated  and  shamefully  wronged  by 
them,  yet  I  shall  not  for  that  reason  alone  advise  you  to  de 
stroy  them,  unless  it  was  just  and  expedient  for  you  so  to  do; 
nor,  would  I  advise  you  to  forgive  them,  thoug-h  worthy  of 
your  commiseration,  unless  I  believe  it  would  be  to  the  in 
terest  of  our  common  good.  We  should  consult  more  in  re 
gard  to  our  future  welfare  than  our  present.  What  people, 
my  friends  and  countrymen,  were  so  unwise  and  inconsid 
erate  as  to  engage  in  a  war  of  their  own  accord,  when  their 
own  strength,  and  even  with  the  aid  of  others,  was  judged 
unequal  to  the  task?  I  well  know  causes  often  arise  which 
force  men  to  confront  extremities,  but,  my  countrymen, 
those  causes  do  not  now  exist.  Reflect,  therefore,  I*  earn 
estly  beseech  you,  before  you  acthas'tily  in  this  great  matter, 
arid  consider  with  yourselves  how  greatly  you  will  err  if  you 
injudiciously  approve  of  and  inconsiderately  act  upon  Te- 
cumseh's  advice.  Remember  the  American  people  are  now 
friendly  disposed  toward  us.  Surely  you  are  convinced  that 
the  greatest  good  will  result  to  us  by  the  adoption  of  and  ad 
hering  to  those  measures  I  have  before  recommended  to 
you;  and,  without  giving  too  great  a  scope  to  mercy  or  for 
bearance,  by  which  I  could  never  permit  myself  to  be  se 
duced,  I  earnestly  pray  you  to  follow  my  advice  in  this 
weighty  matter,  and  in  following  it  resolve  to  adopt  those  ex 
pedients  for  our  future  welfare.  My  friends  and  fellow 
countrymen!  you  now  have  no  just  cause  to  declare  war 
against  the  American  people,  or  wreak  your  vengeance  upon 
them  as  enemies,  since  they  have  ever  manifested  feelings 
of  friendship  towards  you.  It  is  besides  inconsistent  with 
vour  national  glory  and  with  your  honor,  as  a  people,  to  vio 
late  your  solemn  treaty;  and  a  disgrace  to  the  memory  of 
your  forefathers,  to  wage  war  against  the  American  people^ 
merely  to  gratify  the  malice  of  the  .English. 

"The  war,  which  you  are  now  contemplating  against 
the  Americans,  is  a  flagrant  breach  of  justice;  yea,  a  fear 
ful  blemish  on  your  honor  and  also  that  of  your  fathers,  and 
which  you  will  flnd  if  you  will  examine  it  carefully  and  judi 
ciously,  forbodes  nothing  but  destruction  to  our  entire  race. 
It  is  a  war  against  a  people  whose  territories  are  now  far 
greater  than  ^our  own,  and  who  are  far  better  provided  with 
all  the  necessary  implements  of  war,  with  men,  guns, 
horses,  wealth,  far  beyond  that  of  all  our  race  combined,  and 
where  is  the  necessity  or  wisdom  to  make  war  upon  such  a 
people?  Where  is  our  hope  of  success,  if  thus  weak  and  un 
prepared  we  should  declare  it  against  them  ?  Let  us  not  be 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  317 

deluded  with  the  foolish  hope  that  this  war,  if  begun,  will 
soon  be  over,  even  if  we  destroy  all  the  whites  within  our 
territories,  and  lay  waste  their  homes  and  fields.  Far  from 
it.  It  wijl  be  but  the  beginning  of  the  end  that  terminates 
in  the  total  destruction  of  our  race.  And  though  we  will 
not  permit  ourselves  to  be  made  slaves,  or,  like  inexperienced 
warriors,  shudder  at  the  thought  of  war,  yet  I  am  not  so  in 
sensible  and  inconsistent  as  to  advise  you  to  cowardly  yield 
to  the  outrages  of  the  whites,  or  wilfully  to  connive  at  their 
unjust  encroachments  ;  but  only  not  yet  to  have  recourse  to 
war,  but  to  send  embassadors  to  our  Great  Father  at  Wash 
ington,  and  lay  before  him  our  grievances,  without  betraying 
too  great  eagerness  for  war,  or  manifesting  any  tokens  of 
pusillanimity.  Let  us,  therefore,  my  fellow  countrymen, 
form  our  resolutions  with  great  caution  and  prudence  upon 
a  subject  of  such  vast  importance,  and  in  which  such  fearful 
consequences  may  be  involved. 

"Heed  not,  O,  my  countrymen,  the  opinions  of  others  to 
that  extent  as  to  involve  your  country  in  a  war  that  destroys 
,its  peace  and  endangers  its  future  safety,  prosperity  and 
happiness.  Reflect,  ere  it  be  too  late,  on  the  great  uncer 
tainty  of  war  with  the  American  people,  and  consider  well, 
ere  you  engage  in  it,  what  the  consequences  will  be  if  you 
should  be  disappointed  in, your  calculations  and  expectations* 
Be  not  deceived  with  illusive  hopes.  Hear  me,  O,  my  coun 
trymen,  if  you  begin  this  war  it  will  end  in  calamities  to  us 
from  which  we  are  now  free  and  at  a  distance;  and  upon 
wrhom  of  us  they  will  fall,  will  only  be  determined  by  the  un 
certain  and  hazardous  event.  Be  not,  I  pray  you,  guilty  of 
rashness,  which  I  never  as  yet  have  known  you  to  be;  there 
fore,  I  implore  you,  while  healing  measures  are  in  the  elec 
tion  of  us  all,  not  to  break  the  treaty,  nor  violate  vour  pledge 
of  honor,  but  to  submit  our  grievances,  whatever  they  may 
be,  to  the  Congressvof  the  United  States,  according  to  the 
articles  of  the  treaty  existing  between  us  and  the  American 
people.  If  not,  I  here  invoke  the  Great  Spirit,  wrho  takes- 
cognizance  of  oaths,  to  bear  me  witness,  that  I  shall  endeavor 
to  avenge  myself  upon  the  authors  of  this  war,  by  whatever 
methods  you  shall  set  me  an  example.  Remember  we  are  a 
people  who  have  never  grown  insolent  with  success,  or  be 
come  abject  in  adversity;  but  let  those  who  invite  us  to  haz 
ardous  attempts  by  uttering  our  praise,  also  know  that  the 
pleasure  of  hearing  has  never  elevated  our  spirits  above  our 
judgment,  nor  an  endeavor  to  exasperate  us  by  a  flow  of  in 
vectives  to  be  provoked  the  sooner  to  compliance.  From 
tempers  equally  balanced  let  it  be  known  that  we  are  warm 
in  the  field  of  battle,  and  cool  in  the  hours  of  debate  ;  the  for- 


318  HISTORY   OF   THE  INDIANS. 

mer,  because  a  sense  of  duty  has  the  greater  influence  over 
a  sedate  disposition,  and  magnanimity  the  keenest  sense  of 
shame;  and  thoug-h  good  we  are  at  debate,  still  our  education 
is  not  polite  enough  to  teach  us  a  contempt  of  laws,  yet  by  its 
severity  gives  us  so  muclugood  sense  as  never  to  disregard 
them. 

"We  are  not  a  people  so  impertinently  wise  as  to  invali 
date  the  preparations  of  our  enemies  by  a  plausible  haran 
gue,  and  then  absolutely  proceed  to  a  contest;  but  we  reckon 
the  thoughts  of  the  pale-faces  to  be  of  a  similar  cast  with  our 
own,  and  that  hazardous  contingenciesarenottobe'determined 
by  a  speech.  We  always  presume  that  the  projects  of  our 
enemies  are  judiciously  planned,  and  then  we  seriously  pre 
pare  to  defeat  them.  Nor  do  we  found  our  success  upon  the 
hope  that  they  will  certainly  blunder  in  their  conduct,  but 
upon  the  hope  that  we  have  omitted  no  proper  steps  for  our 
own  security.  Such  is  the  discipline  which  our  fathers 
have  handed  down  to  us;  and  by  adhering1  to  it,  we  have 
reaped  many  advantages.  Let  us,  my  countrymen,  not  forget 
it  now,  nor  in  short  space  of  time  precipitately  determine  a 
question  in  which  so  much  is  involved.  It  is  indeed  the  duty 
of  the  prudent,  so  long  as  they  are  not  injured,  to  delight  in 
peace.  But  it  is  the  duty  of  the  brave,  when  injured,  to  lay 
peace  aside,  and  to  have  recourse  to  arms;  and  when  success 
ful  in  these,  to  then  lay  them  down  again  in  peaceful  quiet; 
thus  never  to  be  elevated  above  measure  by  success  in  war, 
nor  delighted  with  the  sweets  of  peace  to  suffer  insults.  For 
he  who,  apprehensive  of  losing  the  delight,  sits  indolently  at 
ease,  will  soon  be  deprived  of  the  enjoyment  of  that  delight 
which  interesteth  his  fears;  and  he  whose  passions  are  in 
flamed  by  military  success,  elevated  too  high  by  a  treacher 
ous  confidence,  hears  no  longer  the  dictates  of  judgment. 

"Many  /are  the  schemes,  though  unadvisedly  planned, 
through  the  more  unreasonable  conduct  of  an  enemy,  which 
turn  out  successful  ;  but  more  numerous  are  those  which, 
though  seemingly  founded  on  mature  counsel,  draw  after 
them  a  disgraceful  and  opposite  result.  This  proceeds  from 
that  great  inequality  of  spirit  with  which  an  exploit  is  pro 
jected,  and  with  which  it  is  put  into  actual  execution.  For 
in  council  we  resolve,  surrounded  with  security  ;  in  execu 
tion  we  faint,  through  the  prevalence  of  fear.  Listen  to 
the  voice  of  prudence,  oh,  my  countrymen,  ere  you  rashly 
act.  But  do  as  you  may,  know  this  truth,  enough  for  you  tcr, 
-  know,  I  shall  join  our  friends,  the  Americans,  in  this  war." 

The  observant  eye  of  Tecumseh  saw,  ere  Apushamajta- 
hah  had  closed,  that  the  tide  was  turning  against  him  ;  afvcl, 
maddened  at  the  unexpected  eloquence,  the  bold  and  irre- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  319 

sistible  arguments  of  the  Choctaw  orator,  the  moment 
Apushamatahah  had  taken  his  seat  he  sprang-  to  the  center 
of  the  circle  and,  as  a  last  effort  to  sustain  his  waning-  cause, 
cried  out  in  a  loud,  bold  and  defiant  tone  of  voice,  "All  who 
will  follow  me  in  this  war  throw  your  tomahawks  into  the 
air  above  your  heads."  Instantly  the  air  for  many  feet  above 
was  filled  with  the  clashing-  of  ascending-,  revolving-  and  de 
scending  tomahawks,  then  all  was  hushed.  Tecumseh 
then  turned  his  piercing-  eyes  upon  Apushamtahah  with  a 
haughty  air  of  triumph,  and  ag-ain  took  his  seat.  All  eyes 
were  instantly  turned  to  where  the  fearless  hero  sat.  "At 
once  the  mighty  Choctaw,  nothing  daunted,  sprang-  to  his 
feet,  gave  the  Choctaw  hoyopatassuha  (war-whoop),  then, 
with  the  nimble  bound  of  an  antelope,  leaped  into  the  circle, 
and  hurling  his  tomahawk  into  the  air,  shouted  in  a  loud  and 
defiant  tone,  "All  who  will  follow  me  to  victory  and  glory  in 
this  war  let  me  also  see  your  tomahawks  in  the  air." 

Again  the  air  seemed  filled  with  tomahawks.  Again 
silence  prevailed.  The  test  has  been  made,  and  what  is  the 
issue?  The  two  forest  orators  have  just  counterpoised  each 
others'  arguments,  making  an  equal  division  in  opinion 
among  the  vast  assembly  of  warriors,  which  caused  a  strange 
alternative  of  hope  in  the  one,  and  of  apprehension  in  the 
other,  of  the  now  newly  formed  and  opposing  parties.  Truly, 
that  midnight  council  presented  as  wild  and  romantic  a 
scene  as  can  possibly  be  imagined,  but  which  neither  words 
nor  pencil  can  justly  express  or  paint;  the  wild  glare  of  the 
burning  log-heap  alternately  presenting  in  different  shades 
the  immediate  surroundings  in  all  their  picturesque  and 
romantic  appearance;  the  voice  of  nature's  unlettered  and 
untutored  orators  alone  disturbing  the  stillness  of  the  night; 
friends  and  countrymen  besieged  by  conflicting  emotions 
expressed  alone  by  the  face.  What  a  medley  was  there  and 
then  presented!  some  incredulous,  some  convinced;  some 
hopeful,  some  despairing;  but  all  breasts  heaving  with  the 
wildest,  conflicting  emotions.  But  I  leave  the  reader  to  turn 
his  thoughts  upon  it,  and  view  it  through  the  whole  of  its 
proceedings  by  the  power  of  his  imagination,  which  he  can 
only  do. 

What  now  was  to  be  done  in  this  dilemma  of  a  dubious 
issue?  If  half  followed  the  suggestions  of  Tecumseh,  and 
took  sides  with  the  English,  and  the  other,  those  of  Apush 
amatahah  declaring  for  the  Americans,  it  would  virtually  be 
civil  war,  and  that  should  not — must  not  be.  To  settle  the 
question,  after  many  conflicting  suggestions  had  been  pro 
posed  and  rejected  by  first  one  and  then  the  other  of  the  two 
opposing  parties,  it  was  finally  resolved  to  refer  the  matter 


320  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

to  an  aged  Choctaw  seer,  living  some  distance  away,  and 
abide  by  his  decision.  The  council  adjourned  to  await  his 
coming.  A  proper  deputation  was  immediately  sent  to 
request  his  presence  without  delay,  which  returned  in  the 
evening  of  the  second  day  accompanied  by  the  old  and  vener 
able  Choctaw  hopaii  (seer)  whose  white  locks  and  wrinkled 
face  proclaimed  life's  journey  had  passed  many  years  beyond 
man's  alloted  period  of  three  score  and  ten.  As  the  twilight 
of  the  declining  day  approached,  the  council  fire  was  replen 
ished,  and  when  night  again  had  thrown  o'er  all  her  sable 
mantle,  the  council  once  more  convened. 

Again  Tecumseh  made  the  opening  speech,  rehearsing 
his  designs  and  plans  before  the  attentive  seer  and  warrior 
host  in  strains  of  the  most  fascinating  eloquence.  Again 
followed  Apushamatahah,  who  fell  not  behind  his  worthy 
competitor  in  native  eloquence  and  logical  argument.  No 
other  spoke,  for  both  parties  had  mutually  left  the  mooted 
question  in  the  hands  of  the  two  great  chiefs,  statesmen  and 
orators.  When  the  two  distinguished  disoutants  had  been 
respectively  heard  by  the  aged  seer,  he  arose  and  slowly 
walked  to  the  centre  of  the  circle,  gazed  a  moment  over  the 
silent  but  solicitous  throng,  and  then  said:  "Assemble  here 
to-morrow  vrhen  the  sun  shall  be  yonder — pointing  to  the 
zenith^ — buila  i  scaffold  there — pointing  to  the  spot — as  high 
as  my  head;  fill  up  the  intervening  space  beneath  with  dry 
wood;  bring  also  a  red  heifer  two  years  old  free  of  all  disease, 
and  tie  her  near  the  sGaffold;'and  to-morrow  the  Great  Spirit 
will  decide  for  you  this  great  question." 

On  the  next  day  the  appointed  hour  found  the  multitude 
assembled;  the  altar  erected;  the  wood  prepared,  and  the 
sacrificial  offering  in  waiting.  The  seer  then  ordered  the 
heifer  to  be  slain;  the  skin  removed;  the  entrails  taken  out 
and  placed  some  distance  away;  the  carcase  cut  up  into 
small  pieces  and  laid  upon  the  scaffold;  he  then  applied  a 
brand  of  fire  to  the  dry  wood  under  the  scaffold;  then  com 
manded  the  vast  multitudes,  all,  everyone,  to  stretch  them 
selves  upon  the  ground,  faces  to  the  earth,  and  thus  to  re 
main  in  profound  silence  until  he  ordered  them  to  rise,  which 
command  was  instantly  obeyed;  then  seizing  the  bloody  skin 
he  stretched  it  upon  the  ground,  hair  downward,  and 
quickly  rolled  himself  up  in  it,  and  commenced  a  series  of 
prayers  and  doleful  lamentations,  at  the  same  time  rolling 
himself  backward  and  forward  before  the  consuming  sacri 
fice  uttering  his  prayers  and  lamentations  intermingled  with 
dissonant  groans  fearful  to  be  heard;  and  thus  he  continued 
until  the  altar  and  the  flesh  thereon  were  entirely  consumed. 
Then  freeing  himself  from  the  skin,  he  sprang  to  his  feet 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  321 

and  said:  "Osh  (the)  Hoche-to  (Great)  Shilup  (Spirit)  a- 
num-pul-ih  (has  spoken).  Wak-a-yah  (rise)  ah-ma  (and)  Een 
(His)  a-num-pa  (message)  hak-loh  (hear).  ^All  leaped  to  their 
feet,  and  gathered  in  close  circles  around  their  venerated 
seer,  who,  pointing  to  the  sky,  exclaimed:  "The  Great 
Spirit  tells  me  to  warn  you  against  the  dark  and  evil  designs 
of  Tecumseh,  and  not  to  be  deceived  by  his  words;  that  his 
schemes  are  unwise;  and  if  entered  into  by  you,  will  bring 
you  into  trouble;  that  the  Americans  are  our  friends,  and 
you  must  not  take  up  the  tomahawk  against  them;  if  you  do, 
vou  will  bring  sorrow  and  desolation  upon  yourselves  and 
nations.  Choctaw  and  Chickasaws,  obey  the  words  of 
the  Great  Spirit.'1  Enough!  As  oil  upon  the  storm  agi 
tated  waters  of  the  sea,  so  fell  the  mandates  of  the  Great 
Spirit  upon  the  war  agitated  hearts  of  those  forest  warriors, 
and  all  was  hushed  to  quiet;  reason  assumed  again  her  sway; 
peace  rejoiced  triumphant,  as  all  in  harmony  sought  their 
forest  homes;  and  thus  the  far  scattered  white  settlers,  in 
Mississippi,  Alabama,  Georgia  and  Florida,  and  the  western 
portion  of  Tennessee,  escaped  inevitable  destruction;  for, 
had  Tecumseh  been  successful  in  uniting  those  five  then 
powerful  and  warlike  tribes  into  the  adoption  of  his  schemes 
scarcely  a  white  person  would  have  been  left  in 
all  their  broad  territories  to  tell  the  tale  of 
their  complete  extermination;  since  the  wily  Shawnee 
had  laid  off  for  each  ^ibe  its  particular  field  of 
operation,  before  he  had  left  his  northern  home  to  entice 
them  into  daring  schemes.  The  whites  were  then  but  fewv 
scattered  here  and  there,  and  at  great  distances  apart,  and 
could  not  have  competed  even  with  the  Choctaws  alone,  as, 
they,  at  that  time,  numbered  between  thirty  and  forty  thou 
sand  warriors,  and,  besides,  the  blow  would  have  fallen  upon 
them  when  least  expected  and  most  unprepared. 

But  the  long  cherished  hopes  of  Tecumseh  were  blas 
ted,  and  Apushamatahah  erected  his  trophies  upon  his  de 
feat.  Though  greatly  disappointed,  yet  not  disheartened, 
Tecumseh  at  once  set  his  footsteps  toward  the  Muscogee 
Nation,  now  the  State  of  Georgia. 

Apushamatahah,  who  then  lived  near  St.  Stephens,  now 
in  Washington  county,  Alabama,  turned  his  steps  directly 
for  that  little  town.^  Rumor  of  Tecumseh 's  presence  among 
the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  and  the  council  on  the  Tana- 
poh  Ikbfh  river,  had  preceded  him  ;  and  when  he  arrived  at 
the  little  place  he  found  it  in  a  blaze  of  excitement,  for  a 
thousand  exaggerated  reports  had  but  added  to  the  conjec 
ture  as  to  the  convening  of  the  two  tribes  in  common  coun 
cil,  with  the  noted  Shawnee  Chief.  But  their  fears  were 


.'322  HISTORY    OP    THE   INDIANS. 

wholly  allayed  when  the  noble  Apushamatahah,  whose  vera 
city  none  questioned,  rode  into  the  little  town,  and  gave  a 
short  sketch  of  the  proceedings  at  the  council,  and  also 
proffered  the  services  of  himself  and  warriors  to  the  Ameri- 
'cans,  which  were  cordially  accepted  by  George  S.  Gaines,  then 
-United  States  agent  to  the  Choctaws.  and  who,  in  company 
"with  the  noble  chief,  immediately  hastened  to  Mobile,  to  in 
form  General  Flournoy  of  Apushamatahah 's  proposition. 
'To  the  astonishment  of  all,  General  Flournoy  refused  to  ac- 
•cept  the  offer  of  the  great  Choctaw  chief  and  warriors;  while 
from  every  mouth  loud  curses  and  bitter  denunciations  were 
heard  against  his  considered  folly  and  seeming  madness. 
-With  heavy  heart  and  unpleasant  forebodings  Gaines  return- 
<ed  to  St.  Stephens  with  Apushamatahah,  whose  grave  silence 
..but  too  plainly  told  the  wound  inflicted. 

Fortunately,  however,  Flournoy  reconsidered  his  re- 
'fusal,  and  at  once  sent  word  to  Gaines  not  only  to  accept  the 
proposal  of  Apushamatahah  in  the  name  of  the  United  States, 
but  also  to  go  immediately  into  the  Choctaw  Nation  and  se- 
•cure  the  Choctaws  as  allies  in  the  approaching  war.  There 
had  been  great  apprehension  lest  the  Choctaws  would  unite 
nvith  the  Muscogees  and  other  disaffected  tribes,  as  allies  to 
the  English;  which  they  would,  perhaps,  have  done,  had 
Flournoy's  rejection  of  Apushamatahah's  proposal  been 
given  previous  to  the  council  held  but  a  few  days  before. 
Apushamatahah,  without  delay,  returned  to  his  people  then' 
in  the  northern  district  of  his  Nation — contiguous  to~the 
Chickasaw  Nation,  and  there  assembled  his  warriors  in  coun- 
t<$fo  while  Gaines  hastened  to  Colonel  John  Pitchlynn's  house, 
ne^r  where  the  council  with  Tecumseh  had  but  shortly 
•adjourned,  and  where  he  was  fortunate  enough  to  meet 
^Colonel  McKee,  United  States  Agent  to  the  Chickasaws.  At 
that  time,  the  Choctaw  Nation  was  divided  into  three  dis 
tricts,  of  which  Apushamatahah  was  the  ruling  chief  of  the 
.eastern,  Apakfohlichihubih,  of  the  northern,  and  Amosho- 
lihubih  of  the  southern.  Gaines  at  once  left  Colonel  Pitch- 
lynn's.^-W'd  hastened  to  the  Choctaw  council,  where  he  found 
Apusfaamatahah  and  several  thousand  of  his  warriors  already 
-Assembled;  to  whom  Apushamatahah  made  a  long  and  elo 
quent  speech  denouncing  the  ambitious  views  of  Tecumseh, 
and  extolling  the  friendship  of  the  American  people;  then 
'.offered  to  lead  all  who  would  follow  him,  to  victory  and  glory 
against  the  enemies  of  the  Americans.  As  soon  as  he  had 
concluded  his  speech,  a  warrior  sprang  from  his  seat  on  the 
ground,  and  striking  his  breast  repeatedly  with  the  palm  of 
:h}.s  right  hand,  shouted:  "Choctaw  siah!  Tushka  chitoh 
.siah  aiena!  Pimnii  miko  nno  iakiyah.  (A  Choctaw  I  am.  I 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  323 

•am  also  a  great  warrior.  I  will  follow  our  chief)  .  To  which 
action  and  sentiment  the  whole  council  at  once  responded. 
In  the  mean  time,  McKee  hastened  with  Colonel  John  Pitch- 
lynn  to  the  Chickasaw  Nation,  and  by  mutual  efforts  suc 
ceeded  in  assembling"  them  in  council,  and  successfully 
secured  them  also  as  the  allies  to  the  Americans.  Thus,  by 
the  firmness,  influence  and  eloquence  of  the  great  and  g*ood 
.Apushamatahah,  Tecumseh's  plans  were  thwarted,  and  those 
two  then  powerful  tribes,  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws, 
secured  as  allies  to  the  Americans,  in  the  Avar  with  England 
in  1812,  and  also  in  that  known  as  "The  Creek  war." 

In  the  council  convened,  in  which  the  Choctaws  declared 
in  favor  of  the  Americans  against  the  English  and  the  Mus- 
cogees,  Apushamatahah  publicly  announced  that,  every 
Choctaw  warrior  wrho  joined  the  Muscogees,-  should  be  shot, 
if  ever  they  returned  home.  Still,  there  were  thirty  young 
warriors  under  the  leadership  of  a  sub-chief  named  Illi 
Shuah  (Dead  Stink),  who  joined  the  Muscogees.  It  was  said, 
five  or  six  lived  to  return  home  after  the  defeat  of  the  Mus 
cogees,  all  of  whom  Apushamatahah  caused  to  be  shot.  But 
an  aged  Choctaw  (long  since  deceased)  whom  I  interviewed 
concerning-  the  subject,  stated  that  all  the  thirty  warriors, 
who  joined  the  Muskog-ees  under  Illi  Shuah,  were  slain  in 
battle  to  a  man;  but  Illi  Shuah  escaped  and  finally  returned 
home,  but  he  did  not  remember  whether  Apushamatahah 
had  him  shot  or  not.  In  the  "Creek  Avar,"  Apushamatahah, 
assisted  General  Jackson  with  seven  hundred  warriors;  and 
in  the  "Battle  of  Orleans,"  with  five  hundred.  In  both  of 
which  they  proved  themselves  to  be  worthy  allies  in  bravery 
and  in  the  use  of  the  deadly  rifle. 

The  noble  Apushamatahah  descended  not  through  a 
successive  line  of  chiefs,  but  was  of  common  parentage.  Yet 
of  whom  it  may  be  truly  said:  He  was  one  of  nature's  nobil 
ity,  and  born  to  command — a  man  who  raised  himself  from 
the  obscurity  of  the  wilderness  unlettered  and  untaught; 
but  by  his  superior  native  talents,  undaunted  bravery,  noble 
generosity,  unimpeachable  integrity,  unassumed  hospitality 
to  the  known  and  unknown,  won  the  admiration,  respect, 
confidence  and  love  of  his  people;  and  also,  of  all  the  whites — 
high  or  low,  rich  or  poor — who  were  personally  acquainted 
with  him.  He  was  truly  and  justly  the  pride  of  the  Choctawr 
people  when  living,  and  their  veneration  today  though  long- 
dead.  He  acknowledged  no  paternity.  Yet,  hfs  own  state 
ment  in  regard  to  his  genaeology,  as  related  to  me  by  the 
aged  Choctaws  of  the  past,  and  is  still  mentioned  by  their 
descendants  at  the  present  day,  with  great  pride,  as  charac- 


324  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

teristic  of  the  manly  independence  of  their  honored  chief 
tain,  is  worthy  of  record.     It  is  in  substance  as  follows: 

On  one  occasion  a  deputation  was  sent  by  the  Choctaws 
to  Washing-ton  City  to  present  the  respects  of  their  nation  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States  who,  at  that  time,  was 
Andrew  Jackson,  and  to  assure  him  of  their  abiding-  friend 
ship  toward  him  as  the  "Great  Chief"  of  the  American  peo 
ple,  and  to  also  confer  with  him  relative  to  the  future  inter 
ests  and  welfare  of  their  nation.  The  renowned  Apushama- 
tahah  was  one  of  the  deputation.  A  few  days  after  their 
arrival  in  the  city  a  reception  was  given  to  them,  at  which 
many  of  the  cabinet  and  representative  officers  were  pres 
ent.  Among  the  many  and  various  questions  that  were 
asked  of  the  different  members  of  the  delegation  was  the 
question,  How  they  became  so  distinguished  among-  their 
people  ?  To  which  various  answers  were  given,  each  telling- 
his  own  story  of  the  exploits  which  brought  him  out  of  ob 
scurity  and  placed  his  name  in  the  temple  of  human  fame. 
Apushamatahah,  up  to  this  time,  had  said  nothing-.  At  length 
President  Jackson  requested  the  interpreter  to  ask  him  how 
.he  became  such  a  great  warrior  and  renowned  chief.  To 
which  Apushamatahah  coolly  and  with  unassumed  indiffer 
ence  replied:  "Tell  the  white  chief  it's  none  of  his  busi 
ness."  This  unexpected  retort  attracted  the  attention  of 
all  present,  and  all  eyes  were  at  once  turned  upon  the  bold 
chief.  Jackson,  amused  at  the  reply,  and  pleased  at  the 
manly  independence  of  the  noble  chief,  requested  the  inter 
preter  to  propound  the  same  question  again  ;  which  was 
done,  but  to  which  Apushamatahah  seemed  to  give  no  heed. 
The  curiosity  of  all  being- greatly  excited,  the  question  was 
asked  still  again.  To  which  Apushamatahah  then  replied  : 
"Well,  if  the  white  chief  must  know,  tell  him  fhat  Apusha- 
matahahubih  has  neither  father  nor  mother,  nor  kinsman 
upon  the  earth.  Tell  him  that  once  upon  a  time,  far  away 
from  here  in  the  great  forests  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  a  dark 
cloud  arose  from  the  western  horizon,  and  with  astonishing- 
velocity,  traveled  up  the  arched  expanse  ;  across  its  dark 
face  the  bright  lightning  played  in  incessant  flashes,  while 
the  rolling  thunder  reverberated  in  muffled  tones  from  hill 
to  hill  amid  the  vast  solitudes  of  the  surrounding  forests. 
Swiftly  and  majestically  it  climbed  the  western  sky, 
while  the  lightning  flashed,  followed  by  the  thunder's  roar  in 
successive  peal  after  peal.  In  silence  profound,  -till  animate 
nature  stood  apart  ;  soon  the  fearful  cloud  reached  the  zen 
ith,  then  as  quickly  spread  its  dark  mantle  o'er  the  sky  en 
tire,  shutting  out  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  wrapping  earth  in 
midnight  gloom,  ligh'ted  only  in  lucid  intervals  by  the  light- 


HISTORY  OF  THB  INDIANS.  325 

rung's  fitful  glare,  followed  by  peals  of  thunder  in  deafening 
roar.  Then  burst  the  cloud  and  rose  the  wind;  and  while 
falling  rains  and  howling  winds,  lightnings  gleam  and  thun 
ders  roar,  in  wild  confusion  blended,  a  blinding  flash  blazed 
athwart  the  sky  as  if  to  view  the  scene, 'then  hurled  its 
strength  against  a  mig'hty  oak— an  ancient  monarch  of  tWe 
woods  that  for  ages  had  defied  the  storm  with  his  boasted 
power — and  cleft  it  in  equal  twain  from  utmost  top  to  lowest 
bottom;  when,  lo!  from  its  riven  trunk  leaped  a  mighty 
man;  in  stature,  perfect ;  in  wisdom,  profound;  in  bravery, 
unequalled — a  full-fledged  warrior.  'Twas-Apushamatahah- 
ubih." 

In  November  1812,  Apushamatahah  visited  General 
Claiborne.  When  he  approached  the  General's  tent,  he  was 
received  by  thelieutenanton  guard,  who  invited  him  to  drink, 
that  "civilized"  method  of  the  whites  to  prove  the  sincere 
emotions  of  the  heart  in  regard  to  friendship.  Apushama 
tahah  answered  only  with  adook  of 'contempt.  He  recognized 
no  equal  with  one  epaulette.  When  Gen  Claiborne  walked 
in,  the  Choctaw  Chieftan  shook  him  by  the  hand  and  proudly 
.said,  as  to  one  equal,  "Chief,  I  will  drink  with  you."  He 
was  six  feet  two  inches  in  height,  of  powerful  frame  and 
Herculean  strength,  and  with  features  after  the  finest  models 
of  the  antique,  composed,  dignified,  and  seductive  in  his  de 
portment,  and  was  the  most  remarkable  man  the  Choctaws 
ever  produced  since  the  days  of  Cbahtah,  the  Great  Miko  of 
their  traditional  past.  He  was  sometimes  called  Koi  Hosh, 
(The  Panther);  and  sometimes,  Ossi  Hosh;  sometimes  Oka 
Chilohonfah  (Falling  Water).;  The  two  first  alluding  to  his 
quick  movements  and  daring  exploits  in  war,  and  the  latter, 
to  the  sonorous  and  musical  intonations  of  his  voice. 

Sam  Dale,  the  renowned  scout  of  General  Andrew  Jack 
son  in  the  "Creek  war"  of  1812,  and  as  famous  in  his  day, 
as  Kit  Carson  in  the  narrative  of  Gen.  Fremont  in  his  ex 
ploring  expedition  over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  stated  that  he 
had  heard  Tecumseh  and  the  Prophet  of  the  Shawtiees; 
Bill  Weatherford  of  the  Muscogees;  Big  Warrior  of  the 
Cherokees,  and  Apokfohlichubih  of  the  Choctaws,  besides 
the  most  distinguished  American  orators  in  congress,  but 
never  one  who  had  such  music  in  his  tones,  such  energy  in 
his  manner,  and  such  power  over  his  audience  as  Apushama 
tahah,  the  Choctaw  chief,  patriot  and  warrior. 

Many  characteristic  anecdotes  are  related  of  him,  and 
of  which  I  will  mention  a  few:  A  feud  once  existed  between 
him  and  another  Choctaw  chief  of  the  Yazoo  district,  and  it 
was  generally  believed  that  when  they  met  their  tomahawks 
•would  settle  the  difference  between  them.  One  day  his  rival 


326'  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

was  seen  approaching-  in  company  with  a  large  party  of  war 
riors;  and  on  a  nearer  approach,  manifested  great  agitation 
irresolutely  grasping1  his  tomahawk/  Apushamatahah,  as 
soon  as  he  discovered  him  shoutedhis  challenging-  warwhoop, 
rushed  toward  him  with  his  long  hunting  knife  in  his  hand, 
then  suddenly  stopped,  and  with  a  smile  of  the  utmost  con 
tempt,  cried  out  "Hushi  osh  chishikta!  Katihma  ish  wun- 
nichih!  Hosh  mahli  Keyumahlih.  Ea,  ho  bak!  Ea!" 
(Leaf  of  the  red-oak!  Why.  do  you  tremble?  The  wind 
blows  not.  Go,  coward!  Go!)  The  word  hobak  is  consid 
ered  by  the  Choctaws,  as  a  word  of  the  greatest  reproach 
and  most  unpardonable  offense  that  could  possibly  be  ap 
plied  to  a  man,  its  true  signification  being  an  eunuch. 

^Apushamatahah  was  very  sensitive  at  the  appearance  of 
anything- that  even  bore  the  appearance  of  oppression.  A 
few  soldiers,  at  that  day,  were  stationed  at  the  agency  among- 
the  Choctaws,  as  they  are  and  always  have  b'een  among-  all 
Indians,  as  a  bright  (?)  manifestation  of  the  great  confidence(?) 
~the  whites  cherished  in  the  integrity  and  friendship  of  all 
Indians;  and  one  of  the  soldiers  being  addicted  to  drunk 
enness,  and  at  one  time  having-  become  boisterously  drunk,, 
he  was  tied  to  a  tree,  for  the  want  of  that  necessary  ap 
pendage  to  an  Indian  Ag-ency,  as  well  as  to  all  towns  among- 
the  whites,  a  jail  or  guard  house,  until  he  became  sober. 
Apushamatahah  happening-  to  pass  by  and  seeing"  the 
soldier,  tied  asked  him  of  what  he  was  guilty,  that  he  should 
be  placed  in  so  humiliating-  a  condition;  being  told  the  cause-, 
he  at  once  released  the  unfortunate  man,  exclaiming,  "Is 
that  all?  many  good  warriors  get  drunk." 

Apushamatahah,  in  unison  with  the  ancient  custom  of 
the  Choctaws,  had  two  wives.  Being  asked  if  he  did  not 
consider  it  wrong  for  a  man  to  have  more  than  one  living- 
wife,  he  replied:  ''Certainly  not.  Should  not  every  woman 
be  allowed  the  privilege  of  having  a  husband,  as  well  as  a  man 
a  wife?  and  how  can  every  one  have  a  husband  when  there  are 
more  women  than  men?  Our  Great  Father  had  the  Choc 
taws  counted  last  year,  and  it  was  ascertained  that  there 
were  more  women  than  men,  and  if  a  man  was  allowed  but 
one  wife  many  of  our  women  would  have  no  husbands. 
Surely,  the  women  should  have  equal  chances  with  the  men 
in  that  particular." 

During-  the  Creek  war  of  1814,  in  which  Apushamatahah 
was  engag-ed  with  eight  hundred  of  his  warriors  as  allies  of 
the  United"  States,  as  before  stated,  a  small  company  of 
Choctaw  women,  among  whom  was  the  wife  of  Apushamata 
hah,  visited  their  husbands  and  friends  then  in  the  Ameri 
can  army  in  the  Creek  Nation.  A  white  soldier,  grossly 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  327 

insulted  the  wife  of  the  distinguished  Choctaw  chief,  for 
which  the  justly  indignant  chief  knocked  him  down  with  the 
hilt  of  his  sword,  instead  of  plunging  it  through  his  body,  as~ 
he  should  have  done.  Being  arrested  for  the  just  anc£  meri 
torious  act,  and  asked  by  the  commanding  general  the  rea 
sons  for  his  act,  he  fearlessly  answered:  "He  insulted  my 
wife,  and  I  knocked  the  insolent  dog  down;  but  had  you,. 
General,  have  insulted  her  as  that  common  soldier  did,  I 
would  have  used  the  point  upon  you  instead  of  the  hilt,  in, 
resenting  an  insult  offered  to  my  wife."  And  he  would  have 
been  as  good  as  his  word;  for  a  Choctaw  then,  as  now,  is  not 
slow  in  resenting  any  insult  offered  to  the  female  portion  of 
his  family,  and  his  work  is  quick  and  sure;  and  had  not  the 
noble  Apushamatahal}.  regarded  the  soldier  who  insulted  his 
wife,  as  too  contemptible  a  creature  for  the  point  of  his- 
sword,  he  would  have  plunged  it  through  his  body  without  a 
moment's  hesitation;  and  that  he  only  knocked  him  down 
with  the  hilt,  is  sufficient  evidence  that  he  did  not  regard! 
him  worthy  its  point. 

•    Apushamatahah   was    exceedingly   fond  of  engaging  in. 
that  ancient  and  time-honored  amusement,   the   famous   To- 
lih   (ball   play)  ;    and   in  which  the  Choctaws,  as  well  as  the 
southern  portion  of  their  race,  took  great  delight — a  gymna 
sium  indeed,  where  were  exhibited   and   tried    the   various, 
physical  powers  of  man,  unsurpassed  on  earth;  and  in  which 
even  those  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome  dwindle  into   insig 
nificance. 

While  battling  with  his  warriors  for  the  interests  of  the 
Americans  under  Andrew  Jackson,  in  1814.   General  Jackson 
presented  to  Apushamatahah  a  complete  military  suit   and 
sword,   as   worn  by  the  American  generals  ;  which  he  wore 
with  manly  and  becoming  dignity  until  the  close  of  the  war; 
which,  after  the  close,  he  took  off  and  hung  up  in  his  cabin,, 
and  never  afterwards  put  on  the  suit ;  but  donned  his  native 
garb  and  once  more  became  the  Apushamatahah  of  his  peo 
ple.     Having  become  wearied,   however,  in  looking  upon  the 
white   man's   insignia — that   feeble   representation    of    true- 
greatness   in  the  opinion  of  the   Choctaw  hero — he  took  the: 
suit  from  its  resting  place,  rolled  it  up  and  fastened  it  to  one- 
end  of  a  long  rope,  then  attached  the  other  end   to  his  belt; 
and   then,   with   quiver   full   of    arrows   hung   over   his   left 
shoulder  and  bow  in  hand,  marched  through  various  parts  of 
his /village,  dragging  the  insignificant  badge   of    meritorious 
distinction  on  the  ground  behind  him;  at  each  house  he  ap 
proached,  he  shot  a  chicken,  if  one  was  found  ;  took  it  up  and. 
inserted  its  head  under  his  belt ;  then  he  continued  his  silent, 
walk,  and  seeking  another  house,  there  shot  another,  chicken,. 


328  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

also  slipped  its  head  under  his  belt :  and  thus  he  continued 
his  march  from  house  to  house  with  a  solemn  and  silent  grav 
ity,  taxing-  each  a  chicken  until  he  had  shot  as  many  as  he 
could  slip  heads  under  the  belt.  The  owners  of  the  chickens 
said  nothing-,  knowing1  that  some  fun  was  ahead.  He  then 
walked  to  an  untaxed  house  with  his  load  of  chickens  dang 
ling-  from  his  belt,  had  them  nicely  dressed  and  cooked,  then 
invited  all  from  whom  he  had  taken  a  chicken  to  come  and 
partake  of  the  feast  he  had  thus  unceremoniously  prepared 
for  them.  They  went  and  had  a  jolly  time,  Apushamatahah 
figuring-  as  the  g-ayest  among-  the  g-ay.  He  left  his  suit  lying 
upon  the  ground  before  the  door  of  the  house  at  which  he 
deposited  the  chickens,  a  frail  memento  of  human  greatness 
with  its  hopes  departed. 

In  1823,  Apushamatahah,  then  about  sixty  years  of  age. 
walked  about  80  miles  from  his  home  (being  too  poor  to  own  a 
horse,  and  too  proud  to  borrow  one)  to  attend  a  council  of  his 
Nation.  Mr.  John  Pitchlynn,  then  United  States  interpreter 
to  the  Choctaws,  and  Mr.  Ward,  United  States  agent,  (with 
both  of  whom  I  was  in  boyhood  personally  acquainted),  were 
present  at  the  council.  At  the  adjournment  of  the  council, 
Mr.  Ward  suggested  to  Mr.  Pitchlynn  that  they  purchase  a 
horse  for  the  old  chief.  Mr.  Pitchlynn  readily  acquiesced 
in  the  proposition,  but  with  the  proviso  that  Apushamatahah 
must  pledge  his  word  that  he  would  not  sell  the  horse  for 
whiskey.  Apushamatahah  cheerfully  gave  the  pledge,  re 
ceived  the  horse  and  departed  for  his  distant  home  highly 
•elated  with  his  unexpected  good  fortune.  A  few  months 
.after  he  visited  the-  agency,  and  Ward  discovered  that  he 
was  again  minus  a  horse,  and  learned,  upon  inquiry  that  he 
had  lost  the  presented  horse  in  betting  him  on  a  ball-play. 
Ward  at  once  accused  him  of  violating  his  pledged  word, 
which  Apushamatahah  as  firmly  denied.  "But  you  promised," 
continued  Ward,  "that  you  would  not  sell  the  horse." 
"True  I  did;"  retorted  the  venerable  old  chief.  "But  I  did 
not  promise  you  and  my  good  friend,  John  Pitchlynn,  that  I 
would  not  bet  him  in  a  game  of  ball.  Ward  conceded  the 
victory  to  Apushamatahah,  and  chided  him  no  more. 

In  1824,  this  great  and  good  man  visited  Washington 
'City  in  company  with  other  Ghoctaw  chiefs,  as  delegates  of 
their  Nation  to  the  United  States  government;  at  which  time 
he  made  the  following  remarks  to  the  Secretary  of  War, 
which  were  written  down  as  he  spoke  them. 

"Father,  I  haye  been  here  many  days,  but  have1  not 
talked,  have  been  sick.  I  belong  to  another  district,  differ 
ent  from  these  my  companions  and  countrymen.  You  have 
no  doubt  Jbeaund  of  me,  I  am  Apushamatahahubih.  When  in 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  329 

my  own  country,  I  often  looked  towards  this  Council  House, 
and  desired  to  see  it,  I  have  come,  but  I  am  in  trouble,  and 
would  tell  my  sorrows;  for  I  feel  as  a  little  child  reclining 
in  the  bend  of  its  father's  arms,  and  looks  up  into  his  face 
in  childish  confidence  to  tell  him  of  its  troubles;  and  I  would 
now  recline  in  the  bend  of  your  arm,  and  trustingly  look  in 
your  face,  therefore  hear  my  words. 

"When  at  my  distant  home  in  my  own  native  land,  I 
heard  thai  men  had  been  appointed  to  talk  to  us;  I  refrained 
from  speaking  there,  as  I  preferred  to  come  here  and  speak; 
therefore  I  am  here  to-day.  I  can  boastingly  say,  and  in  so 
doing  speak  the  truth,  that  none  of  my  ancestors,  nor  my 
present  Nation,  ever  fought  against  the  United  States.  As 
a  Nation  of  people,  we  have  always  been  friendly,  and  ever 
listened  to  the  applications  of  the  American  People.  We 
have  given  of  our  country  to  them  until  it  has  become  very 
small.  I  came  here  years  ago  when  a  young  man  to  see  my 
Father  Jefferson.  He  then  told  me  if  ever  we  got  into 
trouble  we  must  come  and  tell  him,  and  he  would  help  us. 
We  are  in  trouble,  and  have  come;  but  I  will  now  let  another 
talk." 

The  above  was  but  a  preliminary  to  a  speech  he  intended 
to  make,  and  which,  had  he  lived  to  have  delivered,  would 
have  proved  to  his  hearers  in  Washington  his  great  native 
eloquence,  which  had  been  so  long  and  much  eulogized  by 
the  whites  who  had  often  heard  him  around  the  council  fires 
of  his  Nation. 

In  conversation  with  the  noble  General  Lafayette  during 
the  same  visit  to  Washington  City  Apushamatahah  closed 
with  the  following  :  "This  is  the  first  time  I  have  seen  you, 
and  I  feel  it  will  be  the  last.  The  earth  will  separate  us  for 
ever — farewell !"  How  prophetic  !  He  died  but  a  few  days 
after.  When  stretched  upon  his  bed  of  death,  fully  con 
scious  of  his  near  approaching  end,  he  calmly  turned  his 
eyes  upon  the  faces  of  the  Choctaw  delegates  standing 
around  him,  and  said  :  "I  am  dying,  and  will  never  return 
again  to  our  native  and  loved  land.  But  you  will  go  back  to 
our  distant  homes  ;  and  as  you  journey  you  will  see  the  wild 
flowers  of  the  forests  and  hear  the  songs  of  the  happy  birds 
of  the  woods,  but  Apushamatahahubih  will  see  and  hear 
them  no  more. 

•'When  you  return  home  you  will  be  asked,  'Apushama 
tahah  katimmaho?'  (where  is1  Apushamatahah?),  and  you 
will -answer,  'Illitok'  (dead  to  be).  And  it  will  fall  upon  their 
>ars  as  the  sound  of  a  mighty  oak  falling  in  the  solitude  of 
the  woods."  His  dying  words  were — "Illi  siah  makinli  sa 
paknaka  tanapoh  chitoh  tokalichih"  (As  soon  as  I  am  dead 


330  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

shoot  off  the  big-  guns  above).  The  request  of  the  dying- 
hero  was  strictly  complied  with.  The  minute-guns  were 
fired  on  Capitol  Hill  as  the  solemn  and  imposing  procession 
of  half  a  mile  in  length  marched  to  the  cemetery — that  silent 
and  melancholy  habitation  of  the  dead — and  there  the  great 
Choctaw  Chief  and  warrior  found  a  grave  where  all  distinc 
tions  cease  and  where  neither  flatteries,  nor  censures,  nor 
proffered  wealth,  nor  honors,  could  seduce  his  incorruptible 
heart. 

His  surrounding  brother  chiefs  erected  a  monument 
over  the  grave  of  their  distinguished  chieftain,  with  the  fol 
lowing  meritorious  epitaph,  —  "Apushamatahah,  a  Choctaw 
Chief;  lies  here.  This  monument  to  his  memory  is  erected 
by  his  brother  chiefs  who  were  associated  with  him  in  a  dele 
gation  from  their  nation,  in  the  year  1824,  to  the  government 
of  the  United  States.  \  Apushamatahah  was  a  warrior  of 
great  distinction.  He  was  wise  in  council,  eloquent  to  an 
extraordinary  degree  ;  and  on  all  occasions,  and  under  all  cir 
cumstances,  the  white  man's  friend.  He  died  in  Washing 
ton  on  the  24th  of  December,  1824,  of  the  croup,  in  the  60th 
year  of  his  age." 

Apushamatahah  had  only  one  son,  who  was  named  John 
son.  He  moved  with  his  people  to  their  present  homes, 
and  served  them  in  the  capacity  of  Prosecuting  Attorney 
for  many  years,  in  Apushamatahah  District.  He  lived  to 
prove  himself  worthy  of  his  distinguished  father,  and  in 
many  respects  was  a  true  scion  of  the  parent  trunk. 

Truly,  if  the  adventures  through  which  Apushamatahah 
passed  had  been  preserved,  they  would  have  furnished  alone 
abundant  material  for  all  the  writers  of  romance  in  the 
United  States,  for  years. 

It  is  conceded  by  all  who  knew  him,  that  he  was  the 
most  renowned  warrior  and  influential  chief  of  the  Choctaw 
Nation,  since  their  acquaintance  with  the  whites.  He  was  a 
man  who  never  surrendered  nor  disguised  his  opinions  and  con 
victions  upon  any  subje'ct  whatever.  His  recoil  from  all  that 
which  was  mean,  selfish,  false,  and  unjust  resembled  the  im 
pulse  with  which,  the  strongly  bent  bow  recoils  from  the 
curve  to  which  the  strong  arm  of  the  experienced  archer  has 
forced  it. 

Nor  did  Tecumseh,  whom  I  would  not  pass  unheeded  by, 
fall  below  Apushamatahah;  and  he  too  may  deservedly  have 
a  place  among  the  greatest  of  the  North  American  Indian 
chiefs;and  truthfully  may  it  be  said  of  him,  his  arm  pervaded, 
his  vigilance  detected,  his  spirit  animated,  and  his  generosity 
won,  in  all  directions,  and  he  ever  maintained  the  standing 
he  acquired  among  all  his  race  everywhere. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  331 

That  Tecumseh  was  a  man  of  tender  feeling's  and  noble 
principles  is  sufficiently  attested  in  his  actions  at  Fort 
Miami.  When  the  white  prisoners,  taken  at  Fort  Meigs  in 
1813,  were  confined  in  Fort  Miami  by  General  Proctor,  some 
of  them  were  being-  slain  by  the  Indians  in  the  presence  of 
Proctor,  and  his  officers,  when  suddenly  a  thrilling  voice  in 
the  Shawnee  language  was  heard,  and  soon  Tecumseh  was 
seen  approaching-  on  his  horse  at  full  speed,  and  spring- 
ing  to  the  ground  where  two  Indians  were  in  the  act  of  kill 
ing  an  American  prisoner,  he  hurled  them  both  to  the  ground, 
then  brandishing  his  tomahawk  he  threatened  death  to  the 
Indian  that  dared  to  kill  another  prisoner.  All  knew  too 
well  that  the  fearless  chieftain  threatened  not  in  vain,  and 
the  killing-  instantly  ceased.  Then  he  called  out  in  the  loud 
est  tone  of  voice,  "Where  is  Proctor?"  but  at  the  same  in 
stant,  seeing-  him  standing-  a  few  rods  distant,  he  sternly 
demanded  of  him  why  he  permitted  the  murdering-  of  the 
American  prisoners?  To  which  Proctor. replied:  "I  cannot 
govern  your  warriors."  Upon  which  Tecumseh  fixed  his 
keen  and  penetrating-  eyes  upon  him  a  moment,  and  then, 
writh  the  utmost  contempt,  cried  out,  "Begone!  you  are  not 
fit  to  command;  go  put  on  a  petticoat,"  an  epithet  denot 
ing  the  Indian's  supreme  disgust  and  highest  contempt. 

To  Tecumseh  the  idea  of  selling  land  was  an  absurdity. 
On  one  occasion,  he  cried  out  in  unfeigned  astonishment: 
"What  !  sell  land  !  As  well  sell  air  and  water.  The  Great 
Spirit  gave  them  in  common  to  all — the  air  to  breathe,  the 
water  to  drink,  and  the  land  to  live  upon — you  may  as  well 
sell  air  and  water  as  sell  land;"  and  in  the  same  light  did  all\ 
the  North  American  Indians  view  it,  and  hence  their  opposi 
tion  to  land  severalty  which  they  cannot  understand  nor 
comprehend. 

Tecumseh,  signifying  Flying  Arrow,  (it  is  said)  belonged 
to  the  clan  called  Panther  of  the  Kickapoo  tribe.  His  mother 
was  a  Muscogee  and  his  father  a  Shawnee,  though  born 
among  the  Muscogees  in  the  South,  and  aferwards  moved  to 
Ohio  among  his  own  tribe  and  settled  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Sciota  river,  but  while  upon  the  journey  Tecumseh  was 
born. 

The  Kickapoos  of  the  present  day  are  supposed  to  be  a 
branch  of  the  Shawnee  tribe  proper,  as  the  traditions  of 
both  give  nearly  the  same  accounts  of  their  union  and  separa 
tion,  besides  their  language  is  said  to  identically  the  same- 

The  Shawnee  traditions  declare  their  ancestors  formerly 
dwelt  in  a  foreign  land,  but  the  reason  for  the  abandonment 
of  their  ancient  sites  is  not  stated. 

But  when  the   day  appointed  for   their    exodus   rolled 


332'  HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS. 

around,  they  were  informed  by  the  Great  Spirit  through  their 
prophets,  to  march  in  a  body  to  the  shore  of  a  sea,  and  then 
select  a  leader  from  themultitude,  who  would  be  clothed  by  the 
Great  Spirit  with  that  supernatural  power  that  the  waters  of 
the  sea,  as  soon  as  he  touched  them,  would  seperate  and  he 
would  conduct  them  on  dry  land  safely  across  to  another 
country.  Having-  reached  the  sea,  a  selection  was  made  but 
the  incredulity  of  the  chosen  caused  him  to  refuse  the 
honor  as  well  as  the  responsibility;  many  having  been  chosen 
with  like  results,  it  began  to  awaken  no  little  trepidation, 
when  one,  who  was  selected  from  a  clan  called  The  Turtle 
Clan,  accepted  the  position,  and  confidence  was  again  restored. 
All  thing's  being-  duly  prepared  to  resume  their  journey,  still 
to  many  of  uncertain  issue,  their  chosen  leader  boldly  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  host,  and  fearlessly  stepped  into 
the  sea,  upon  which  the  waters  at  once  divided  to  the  rig-ht 
and  to  the  left,  and  they  safely  walked  across  on  the  bottom 
and  thus  came  to  this  country;  reminding-  one  of  the  account 
given  by  Holy  Writ  of  Moses  and  the  Jewish  host  encounter 
ing-  the  waters  of  the  Red  Sea.  To  what  else  can  the  Shaw- 
nee  tradition  point,  but  the  crossing-  of  the  Red  Sea  by  the 
Israelites  in  their  exodus  from  Eg-ypt  and  their  flight  before 
Pharaoh  and  his  pursuing  army? 

The  Shawnees  had  another  tradition  whose  shades  of 
coloring  seem  greatly  Jewish.  It  is,  that  the  Shawnees  were 
originally  divided  into  twelve  tribes,  each  one  having  a 
distinct  and  separate  name;  and  each  of  which  was  after 
wards  sub-divided  into  clans.,  called  The  Eagle,  The  Pan 
ther,  The  Turtle,  etc.,  the  animals  whose  names  they  bore 
constituting  their  coat-of-arms,  or  totem.  Their  traditions 
also  affirm  two  of  the  original  tribes  became  extinct,  as  also 
were  their  names;  while  the  other  ten  are  still  extant,  though 
but  four  are  wholly  distinct,  and  are  called  The  Ma-kas-tra- 
ke,  The  Pick-a-way,  The  Kick-a-poo,  and  the  Chil-i-coth-e 
Clans;  the  other  six,  according  to  their  tradition,  having  been 
incorporated  with  the  four.  It  has  been  stated  by  the  early 
missionaries  to  them,  that  to  a  late  date  their  council  houses 
were  separated  into  four  divisions,  each  one  of  which  was 
assigned  to  the  occupancy  of  each  one  of  the  tribes  separate 
and  apart  from  each  other,  and  was  invariably  so  occupied. 
And  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  whites  to  discriminate  in 
the  least  whatever,  yet  the  Indians  themselves  could  tell  to 
which  clan  any  one  belonged  as  soon  as  they  saw  him. 

Truly,  what  an  interesting  and  instructive  volume 
would  the  early  history  of  the  North  American  Indians  have 
been,  with  all  the  various  traditions  of  their  migrations, 
vicissitudes  and  changes,  had  they  been  preserved. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  333 

It  long  has  been  believed  that  Col.  Richard  M.  Johnson 
killed  Tecumseh  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames,  and  the  follow 
ing  from  the  pen  of  Benjamin  B.  Griswold  strengthens,  if 
not  wholly  confirms  it.  "I  had  an  interview  with  Noon-day, 
chief  of  the  Ottawa  tribe,  about  the  year  1838.  This  chief 
was  six  feet  high,  broad  shouldered,  well  proportioned,  with 
broad  high  cheek  bones,  piercing  black  eyes,  and  long  black 
hair  which  hung  down  upon  his  shoulders,  and  he  possessed 
wonderful  muscular  power.  He  was  converted  to  the 
Christian  religion  by  the  preaching  of  a  Baptist  missionary 
named  Slater,  whose  mission  was  located  about  three  miles 
north  of  Gull  Prairie,  in  the  county  of  Kalamangoo,  Michi 
gan.  Just  over  the  county  line  and  in  the  edge  of  Barry 
county,  this  chief  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  his 
tribe  were  located  and  instructed  in  farming.  A  church 
was  erected  which  answered  for  a  school  house,  and  here, 
residing  near  them,  I  attended  their  church  and  listened  to 
the  teachings  of  Mr.  Slater  in  the  Indian  dialect,  and  to  the 
prayers  of  this  old  chief.  To  get  a  history  of  any  Indian 
who  fought  on  the  side  of  the  British  has  ever  been  a  dif 
ficult  task;  but  through  the  Rev.  Mr.  Slater  I  succeeded,  to  a 
limited  extent,  in  getting  a  sketch  from  this  old. chief  of  the 
battleof  the  Thames,  in  which  he  was  engaged.  After  rehears 
ing  the  speech  which  Tecumseh  made  to  his  warriors  previous 
to  the  engagement  and  how  they  all  felt,  that  they  fought  to 
defend  Tecumseh  more  than  for  the  British,  he  was  asked, 
were  you  near  Tecumseh  when  he  fell?  'Yes;  directly  on 
his  right.'  Who  killed  him?  'Richard  M.  Johnson.'  "Give 
us  the  circumstances.  'He  was  on  a  horse,  and  the  horse 
fell  over  a  log;  and  Tecumseh,  with  his  tomahawk,  rushed 
upon  him  to  kill  him,  when  he  drew  a  pistol  from  his  holster, 
shot  him  in  the  breast,  and  he  fell  dead  on  his  face.  I  ran 
to  him  and,  with  the  assistance  of  Sag'inaw,  carried  him 
from  the  field.  When  he  fell  the  Indians  all  stopped  fight 
ing  and  the  battle  ended.1  We  laid  him  down  upon  a  blanket 
in  a  wigwam,  and  we  all  wrept,  we  loved  him  so  much.  I  took 
his  hat  and  tomahawk.'  Where  are  they  now?  'I  have  his 
tomahawk  and  Saginaw  his"  hat.'  Could  I  get  them?  'No; 
Indian  keep  them.'  How : did  vou  know  it  was  Johnson  who 
killed  him?  'General  Gas's  took  me  to  see  the  Great  Father, 
Van  Buren,  at  Washington.  I  went  to  the  great  wigwam, 
and  when  I  went  in  I  saw  the  same  man  I  see  in  Battle,'  an 
Indian  never  forgets  a  man's  face  (once  seen).'  The  same 
man  I  see  kill  Tecumsee.  Johnson  replied  that  he  never 
knew  who  it  was,  but  a  powerful  Indian  approached  him  and 
he  shot  him  with  his  pistol.  'That  was  Tecumseh.  I  see 
you  do  it.'  Noon-day  finished  his  story  of  Tecumseh  bv 


334  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

telling  of  his  noble  traits,  the  tears  meanwhile  trickling 
down  his  cheeks."  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  Noon-day's 
unvarnisned  narative;  and  he  who  would  doubt  it,  is  well 
prepared  to  doubt  any  truth. 

It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  so  little  has  been  preserved 
of  Apushamatahah  and  Tecumseh,  and  so  few  circumstances 
have  escaped  oblivion,  which  would  most  clearly  have  eluci 
dated  their  private  characters.  Both  were  men  respected, 
honored,  and  loved  by  all  who  knew  them.  Tecumseh,  by 
the  Indians  and  English,  and  Apushamatahah,  by  the  Indians 
an cl  Americans.  Noble  men  !  Though  history  may  not  re 
cord  their  names  with  earth's  illustrious  great  as  worthy 
remembrance  in  the  years  to  come,  yet  they  were,  as -well  as 
thousands  of  their  race,  mortals  of  no  common  mould,  and 
worthy  a  place  'mid  names  of  high  degree. 

But  why  have  not  the  services  of  Apushamatahah — that 
remarkable  friend  of  the  American  people — been  written  ? 
Alas  !  he  was  an  Indian.  But  I  mistake  !  They  have  been 
written  ;  and  to-day,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  three  quarters 
of  a  century,  the  aged  Choctaws  speak  his  name  with  loving 
reverence,  while  the  young  listen  with  wondrous  delight  to 
the  thrilling  stories  of  his  life  in  many  an  humble  home  in 
their  territory. 

The  death  of  Apushamatahah  shrouded  the  countenances 
of  the  bereaved  chiefs  at  Washington  in  the  deepest  unaffec 
ted  gloom  during  their  remaining  short  stay  in  the  city,  tell 
ing  a  tale  of  sorrow  that  nothing  but  a  full  realization  of 
their  loss  could  create.  One,  however,  a  young  warrior  of 
noble  mien,  whose  power  of  self-command  was  not  equal  to 
his  seniors  in  age  and  experience,  betrayed  emotions  that 
told  of  a  heart  overwhelmed  with  the  keenest  and  deepest 
anguish,  though  manifested  by  no  outward  expression  of 
feeling.  To  offered  words  of  consolation  by  some  of  the 
whites,  he  replied  :  "I'm  sorry"  ;  and  being  questioned  why 
he  should  be  more  deeply  grieved  than  the  others,  answered: 
"I'm  sorry  it  was  not  I  who  had  died"  ;  signifying  that  his 
country  would  have  sustained^ but  little  loss  in  his  death,  in 
comparison  with  the  loss  sustained  by  the  death  of  Apusha 
matahah,  and  thus  expressed  it — 'Tm  sorry  it  was  not  I.'' 
But  the  recorders  of  the  incident  have  greatly  misrepresen 
ted  that  young  Choc: taw  by  stating  that  the  firing- of  the 
minute-guns  and  the  pageantry  displayed  at  the  burial  of 
Apushamatahah  alone  produced  the  deep  sorrow  manifested, 
because  he  himself  was  not  the  subject  of  the  honors  con 
ferred.  That  young  and  sorrowing  Choctaw  youth  was  Ni- 
takachieubih  (Give  us  the  day  to  kill),  the  nephew  of  A-push- 
a-ma-taha,  and  proved  himself  to  be  a  worthy  scion  of  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS  335 

^, 

ancestral  tree,  as  a  statesman  and  counselor  among  his  peo 
ple,  sustaining  his  high  honors  with  dignity  through  a  long 
and  useful  life  and  dying  as  his  noble  uncle — lamented  'by 
his  nation. 

In  traveling  through  their  present  country,  man}7  of  the 
aged  Choctaws  (old  friends  when  living  east  of  '  the  Missis 
sippi  river)  have  expressed  great  indignation  that  Nitakachie 
wras  so  unjustly  misrepresented.  Indian  men  die  every  day, 
whose  lives  are  grander  than  those  of  the  world's  historic 
battle  heroes  ;  yea,  and  women  too,  before  whose  pure  devo 
tion  the  heroism  even  of  Joan  of  Arc  would  fade  away  ;  yet 
the  world  knows  nothing  of  them. 

We,  the  American  people  of  to-day,  still  pay  (and  justly 
loo)  the  highest  honors"  to  the  name  of  General  La  Fafayette, 
who  extended  so  generously  a  helping  hand  to  our  fathers  in 
their  darkest  hour  of  need;  remembering  him  with  filial 
reverence  and  gratitude  unalloyed,  but  silently  bury  in 
oblivion  the  name  of  Apushamatahah,  as  unworthy  of  eulogy 
or  even  a  place  in  the  annals  of  history;  though  he,  at  the 
Tiead  of  his  brave  warriors,  with  purity  of  motives  and  with 
out  expectation  of  reward,  also  extended  to  them  a  helping 
hand  in  a  gloomy  hour  of  their  history-,  and  saved  the  primi 
tive  white  settlers  of  Mississippi,  Alabama  and  Georgia — 
then  few,  far  between,  and  feeble — from  actual  extermina 
tion. 

But  had  he  lived,  whose  character  and  noble  deeds  form 
the  subject  under  consideration,  some  centuries  ago;  had  he 
saved  a  portion  q_f_the  citizens  of  a  Roman  or  Grecian  province 
from  destruction,  as  he  did  the  American  citizens  of  the 
above  named  States  in  1811,  Old  Rome  and  Greece  would 
have  deemed  no  applause  too  loud,  no  honors  to  great,  no 
laurals  too  extravagant,  yea,  would  have  embodied  him  in 
columns  of  unfading  marble;  yet  the  name  of  the  old  hero  of 
the  past,  though  forgotten  by  the  white  beneficiaries  of  his 
friendship,  still  live  written  upon  that  imperishable  monu 
ment,  the  hearts  of  his  people. 

In  a  letter  to  me,  September  5th,  1891,  Judge  Julius  Fol- 
som,  son  of  Rev.  Israel  Folsom,  thus  wrote:  "'In  the  year 
1861,  two  Delegates  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  Peter  P.  Pitch- 
lynn  and  Israel  Folsom,  were  in  the  city  of  Washington,  D. 
C.,  attending  to  business  in  which  our  Nation  wras  interested, 
but  accomplished  nothing,  as  the  prospect  of  an  approaching 
war  between  the  North  and  South  absorbed  every  other  con 
sideration.  The  two  delegates,  as  soon  as  they  learned  that 
war  had  actually  commenced  between  the  North  and  South, 
hastened  home  that  they  might  use  their  influence  (which  no 
two  men  exercised  more  over  their  Nation  than  they)  in  an 


336  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

r         .  x 

effort  to  keep  the  Choctaw  Nation  upon  neutral  ground. 
But  alas,  they  were  too  late!  Already  had  the  Confederate 
troops  taken  possession  of  our  country,  and  they  found 
everything-  in  a  state  of  wildest  confusion.  Up  to  this  time, 
our  protection  was  in  the  United  States'  troops  stationed  at 
Fort  Washtta,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Emory.  But 
he,  as  soon  as  the  Confederate  troops  had  entered  our  coun 
try,  at  once  abandoned  us  and  the  Fort;  and,  to  make  his 
flight  more  expeditious  and  his  escape  more  sure,  employed 
Black  Beaver,  a  Shawnee  Indian,  under  a  promise  to  him  of 
five  thousand  dollars,  to  pilot  him  and  his  troops  out  of  the 
Indian  country  safely  without  a  collision  with  the  Texas 
Confederates;  which  Black  Beaver  accomplished.  By  this 
act  the  United  States  abandoned  the  Choctaws  and  Chicka- 
saws. 

Our  Indian  Agent,  Duglas  H.  Cooper,  also  betrayed  the 
United  States  by  his  acts,  for  he  at  once  joined  the  rebellion, 
and  urged  the  Indians  of  both  the  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw 
tribes  to  do  the  same,  backing- his  arg-uments  with  the  threat 
of  confiscation  of  both  land  and  stock  if  they  refused.  But 
-under  all  this  pressure,  abandoned  by  the  North,  and  threat 
ened  by  the  South,  they  stood  upon  neutral  grounds  until  the 
middle  of  June,  1861!  Then,  there  being-  no  other  alterna 
tive  by  which  to  save  their  country  and  property,  they,  as 
the  less  of  the  two  evils  that  confronted  them,  went  with  the 
Southern  Confederacy.  Your  friend,  JULIUS  FOLSOM." 

Contemporaneous  with  Apushamatahah  was  the  Choctaw 
chief  Apakfolichihubih  who  was  of  the  Hai-yipa-tuk-lo  Clan 
(meaning-  Two  Lakes.)  He  also  was  a  Choctaw  whose  blood 
was  uiicontaminated  with  anything-  foreign,  a  man  of  sterling- 
merits,  whose  name  is  held  in  grateful  and  proud  remem 
brance  by  his  people  to  this  day,  as  a  worthy  and  faithful 
chief  in  the  national  affairs  of  his  common  country  and  the 
interest  of  his  people.  He  was  also  a  quiet  and  unobtrusive 
man,  but  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his  dutys  as  chief;  and 
his  seemingly  premature  death  was  a  national  loss  to  his 
people,  and  deeply  deplored  by  them.  He  lost  his  life  by 
accidentally  stepping  off  a  balcony  at  night,  at  a  hotel  in  Mays- 
ville,  Kentuckey,  his  neck  being  dislocated  by  the  fall,  while 
going  to  Washington  City  as  a  deligate  with  Apushamatahah 
and  others  of  his  Nation.  Little  has  been  preserved  of 
Apakfolichih's  life  but  that  he  was  an  honest  man.  Enough! 
Requiescat  en  pace.  Amen!  Amosholihubih  (To  destroy 
as  by  fire),  was  a  noted  chief  of  the  Oklafalaiah  Clan  (Long 
People).  It  is  said  the  name  of  this  clan  had  its  origin  in 
a  Choctaw  family  who,  both  parents  and  children,  were  un- 
commonry  tall.  Amosholihubih,  than  whom  a  more  far- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  337 

sighted  man,  white  or  red,  is  seldom  found,  was  a  true 
patriot;  he  was  calm  and  dignified  in  council;  possessing-  a 
black,  keen  penetrating  eye,  and  a  lowering  yet  meditative 
brow7  on  which  a  thousand  emotions  of  conflicting  thoughts 
and  designs  seemed  to  have  stamped  a  portion  of  their 
obscurity.  Many  years  prior  to  the  expulsion  of  his  people 
from  their  ancient  homes,  his  character  was  assailed  by  the 
white  intruders  who  strolled  about  over  the  country,  and  of 
whom  he  had  seen  and  learned  enough  to  convince  him,  as 
well  as  many  others,  of  their  utter  want  of  scarcely  a  redeem 
ing  trait  of  character;  therefore,  strenuously  advocating 
measures  for  their  explusion  from  the  Choctaw  country  and 
prevention  of  their  return,  he  was  called  Hattak-upi-humma 
okpuloh,  (a  Bad  Red  Man.) 

Amosholihubih  through  whose  veins  unadulterated  Choc- 

o 

taw  blood  alone  coursed,  and  of  which  he  was  justly  proua, 
moved  with  his  people  to  their  present  homes,  where  he  spent 
the  few  remaining  years  of  his  life  (for  he  was  then  an  old 
man)  in  encouraging  their  desponding  hearts  to  rise  above 
misfortune  and  adversity.  Though  not  a  fluent  speaker,  yet 
he  spoke  with  a  dignified  but  gentle  humility;  he  addressed 
the  reason  and  good  sense  of  his  hearers,  and  not  their  pas 
sions  and  prejudices.  His  untutored  delivery  was  indeed 
graceful;  his  argument  connected  and  convincing,  and  his 
manners,  calculated  to  attract  audiences  and  hold  attention. 
He  lived  several  years  beyond  the  allotted  life  of  man,  reach 
ing  nearly  four  score  years  and  ten.  He  died  at  home  among' 
his  friends  and  people,  honored,  respected  and  loved  by  his 
nation,  though  age  seemed  not  to  have  diminished  his  mental 
faculties,  and  but  slightly  impaired  his  physical  powers;  and 
to  the  last  he  continued  a  gran'd  old  man,  who,  while  he  was 
as  confiding  as  a  child  in  those  who  had  won  his  confidence, 
was  full  of  fire  and  vigor  when  he  was  convinced  that  wrong1 
had  been  done  either  to  himself  or  his  people.  Always  a 
hater  of  shams  and  deceits,  liars  and  defamers,  and  being 
never  a  dissembler  nor  a  coward,  liar  or  defamer  himself, 
there  was  no  room  to  doubt  the  side  on  which  he  would  be 
found  in  any  cause  where  there  was  a  question  about  its 
truth  or  its  justice;  and  withal  a  kindlier,  gentler  spirit  than 
Amosholihubih  possessed  was  seldom  found.  The  years  of 
his  aged  wife,  who  survived  her  venerable  husband  many 
years  reached  within  a  few  years  of  a  century. 

Apushamatahahubih,  Apakfolichihubih  and  Amosholih 
ubih  were  the  head  chiefs  of  the  Choctaw  Nation  in  1814, 
the  latter  being  the  youngest;  but  after  the  demise  of  the 
two  former,  Coleman  Cole  and  Nittakachihubih,  the  nephew 
of  the  renowned  Apushamatahahubih  were  chosen  as  their 


338  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

successors  a  few  years  previous  to  the  treaty  of  1830  at 
Bok  Chuckfiluma.  He'hlah  (dancing  rabbit  creek),  Nittaka- 
chihubih  succeeding-  his  uncle  and  Coleman  Cole,  Apakfol- 
ichihubih. 

Subsequently  Greenwood  'Le  Flore  superseded  Coleman 
Cole  as  leading"  chief  of  the  Apakfolichihubih  District,  and 
David  Folsom  superseded  Amosholihubih  District ;  to  the 
proceeding's  of  the  latter  succession  Amosholihubih  taking 
exceptions,  and  being-  strenuously  supported  by  Nittakachi- 
hubih,  he  openly  disputed  the  claims  of  David  Folsom  to  the 
chieftaincy  over  him  ;  while  Coleman  Cole,  who  was  of  Shuk- 
chih  Humma  descent,  and  proved  himself  an  upright  and 
honest  man  during  his  whole  public,  as  well  as  private  life, 
quietly  returned  to  private  life  after  he  was  superseded  by 
Le  Flore,  moved  west  with  his  people  and  spent  his  remain 
ing  days  in  using  his  influence  by  precept  and  example,  for 
their  welfare  and  happiness,  and  died  in  the  fall  of  1884  at 
the  honored  age  of  four  score  and  ten,  at  his  home  near 
Atoka,  Indian  Territory.  But  Amosholihubih,  still  chafing 
under  his  political  defeat,  and  viewing  the  appointment  of 
Colonel  Dayid  Polsom  as  cnief  of  the  district  over  which  he 
had  so  long  ruled,  as  an  unjust  encroachment  upon  his 
rights,  resolved  to  sustain  his  claims  at  all  hazards.  At  this 
time  there  had  just  been  paid  to  the  Choctaws  an  annuity, 
which  getting  into  the  hands  of  Amosholihubih,  sustained  by 
a  strong  party  of  his  adherents,  and  also  by  Nittakachih  and 
his  entire  district,  he  refused  to  pay  it,  or  any  part  of  it,  into 
the  hands  of  Colonel  Folsom,  the  proper  person  to  hold  it 
for  distribution.  This  seemingly  bold  step  at  once  threw 
the  entire  nation  into  a  high  state  of  excitement.  A  council 
was  immediately  called,  to  be  represented  by  the  two  dis 
tricts — the  one  over  which'  Nittakachih  presided  and  t"he  one 
over  whichr-Colonel  Folsom  had  just  been  appointed.  The 
council  at  once  convened  and,  as  was  expected,  controversy 
ran  high  and  the  dispute  waxed  warmer  and  warmer,  and 
the  breach  grew  wider  and  wider,  resulting  in  the  adjourn 
ment  of  the  council  sine  die,  without  any  definite  conclusion 
being  attained  ;  and  each  party,  with  anything  but  amicable 
feelings  the  one  toward  the  other,  returned  to  their  respec 
tive  homes — Colonel  Folsom  and  his  partisans  to  their 
homes  in  the  northern  part  of  the  district,  the  others  to 
theirs  in  the  southern. 

Nittakachih  was  as  true  a  specimen  of  the  North  Ameri 
can  Indian  warrior  as  ever  lived.  True  courage,  than  which 
no  other  quality  commands  so  great  admiration  among  men, 
seemed  to  have  been  written  in  every  lineament  of  his  face, 
and  his  unflinching  eyes  convinced  at  a  glance  that  no  e«trth- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  339 

-    \ 

ly  power  could  intimidate  him.  Though  small  in  stature, 
yet  nature  had  cast  his  limbs  in  a  mould  of  delicate  yet  man 
ly  beauty,  and  also  endowed  him  with  a  constitution  which 
seemed  to  bid  defiance  to  almost  all  changes,  as  well  as  to 
fatigue  and  privations  of  every  kind.  His  disposition  seem 
ed,  in  a  great  degree,  to  partake  of  the  qualities  of  his  bodily 
frame;  and  as  the  one  possessed  great  activity,  strength  and 
endurance,  the  other,  under  a  calm  semblance,  had  much 
of  the  fiery  love  of  glory  which  constituted  the  principal 
attribute  of  the  Indian  character,  constituting  them,  in  the 
estimation  of  the  inconsiderate,  a  remarkable  phenomenon; 
though  not  more  so  to  be  regarded  than  many  of  the  Nations 
of  antiquity,  whose  love  of  war  fell  not  behind  that  of  the 
North  American  Indians,  yet  have  not  been  considered  as  a 
remarkable  phenomenon.  But  the  face  of  Nittakachih  might 
well  be  termed  a  luminous  medium  of  the  passions.  The 
bright  or  the  dark,  the  lurid  cloud  and  the  calm  sunshine, 
made  themselves  known,  not  only  in  the  voice  and  gesture, 
but  also  in  the  ever-varying  expression  of  his  eloquent  coun 
tenance.  His  self-command  under  any  and  all  circumstances, 
and  his  calm  and  unassumed  fearlessness  in  the  hour  that 
tests  the  soul  of  man,  were  truly  wonderful;  and,  as  an  illus 
tration,  I  will  here  relate  an  incident  of  his  life,  in  connection 
with  that  of  Colonel  David  Folsom,  having  its  origin  in  the 
deposal  of  Amosholihubih  and  the  elevation  of  Colonel  David 
Folsom  to  his  place  as  a  chief  concerning  which  I  have  just 
spoken. 

As  soon  as  the  council  adjourned,  Colonel  David  Folsom, 
fearing  the  hot  words  passed  in  the  council  might  be  but  the 
preliminaries  to  something  serious,  immediately  sent  a  mes 
senger  to  Greenwood  Le  Flore  then  living  in  the  extreme 
western  portion  of  the  Nation  to  inform  him  of  the  unpleas 
ant  state  of  affairs  existing  in  his  district,  and  the  causes; 
and  also  the  fears  he  entertained  of  its  .resulting  in  blood 
shed.  Le  Flore,  comprehending  the  situation  at  once,  col 
lected  a  large  body  of  his  warriors  without  delay  and  hasten 
ed  to  Colonel  Folsom 's  place  of  residence,  then  known  as 
The  Choctaw  Agency,  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  south  of  the 
present  town  of  Starkville,  Mississippi,  on  the  road  now 
leading  from  Columbus  to  Jackson,  then  known  as  the  "Old 
Robinson  Road." 

In  the  meantime  rumor  was  on  the  wing  that  Amosho 
lihubih  and  'Nittakachih  had  threatened  to  depose  Colonel 
Folsom  and  reinstate  Amosholihubih  even  if  it  had  to  be 
done  by  the  tomahawk  and  rifle.  Colonel  Folsom  at  first  re 
garded  the  rumor  as  having  no  foundation  in  truth — a  feint 
on  the  part  of  Amosholihubih  and  Nittakachih  to  bring  him 


340  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

.to  their  measures — but  soon  learned  to  his  surprise  and  sor 
row  that  they  evidently  meditated  hostilities,  as  they  were 
actually  collecting-  their  warriors  at  the  then  trading-house 
of  the  Choctaws  with  the  whites,  on  the  Tanapo  Ikbi  river, 
now  known  as  Demopolis.  Colonel  Folsom  now  fully  com 
prehended  the  gathering-  storm  no  longer  of  doubtful  mien  ; 
for  the  distant  thunder  in  its  low  muttering-s,  and  the  glitter- 
ings  here  and  there  of  the  lightning's  Hash,  while  he  felt  the 
heaving-  and  rocking-  of  the  convulsed  mountain,  all  unmis 
takably  portended  a  terrific  eruption  ;  and  it  was  now  mani 
fest  that  but  a  spark  was  wanting-  to  kindle  the  flame  of  civil 
war,  and  who  could  tell  the  moment  that  spark  would  ap 
pear!  Colonel  Folsom  immediately  sent  out  his  runners 
(fleet  horsemen)  to  call  tog-ether  his  warriors;  and  then  were 
seen  these  runners,  mounted  upon  their  fleetest  horses, 
speeding-  with  the  velocity  of  the  wind  from  village  to  village 
and  from  neighborhood  to  neighborhood,  calling  to  arms. 
Truly,  it  was  astonishing  in  how  short  a  time  the  Choctaws. 
at  that  day  and  time,  could  send  any  intelligence  they  desir 
ed  to  convey,  from  any  part  of  their  country  to  another.  If 
anything  of  importance  occurred  to-day  in  any  part  of  the 
Nation  it  was  known  on  the  morrow  at  distances  seemingly 
incredible. 

All  was  now  in  a  blaze  of  wild  excitement.  The  mission 
aries  in  their  quiet  and  peaceful  homes,  though  not  indif 
ferent  totheseeminglyapproaching  events thatwere  thenand 
there  extending  their  shadows  before,  did  not  anticipate 
anything  serious  at  first,  even  as  was  thought  by  all  that  the 
events  that  foreshadowed  our  civil  war  of  1861,  would  have  its 
origin  in  blustering  only  to  terminate  in  an  empty  noise;  but 
the  thrilling  warwhoop  that  now  disturbed  the  hitherto 
quiet,  echoing  by  day  and  by  night  from  hill  to  hill  through 
their  then  boundless  forest;  the  renewed  life  and  active 
energy  displayed  by  the  warriors,  who  but  the  day  before 
reclined  in  silent  reverie  before  their  cabin  doors,  or  in  list 
less  indifference  smoked  their  pipes,  but  too  plainly  an 
nounced  to  them,  that  a  fearful  storm  was  not  only  fast 
gathering,  but  seemed  ready  to  vb'urst  with  all  its  terrific 
fury  upon  the  Choctaw  Nation,  and  who  could  tell  where  or 
upon  whom  its  fury  would  be  spent!  The  pale-face  intru 
ders,  loafers,  stragglers,  and  traders,  taking  the  hint,  bade 
the  country  a  hasty  adieu;  but. the  missionaries  hoping  for 
the  better,  still  lingered  with  their  families,  but  stood  in 
readiness  forprecipitous  flight  ata  moments  warning,  should 
safety  absolutely  require  it.  Colonel  David  Folsom's  resi 
dence,  then  known  and  long  after  remembered  as  the  old 
Choctaw  Agency,  was  appointed  as  the  place  of  rendezvous 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  341 

for  his  assembling  warriors,  there  to  unite  with  the  coming 
forces  of  LeFlore,  the  warriors  of  Colonel  Folsom  living-  in 
the  northern  part  of  his  district,  passed  directly  by  Hebron, 
the  missionary  station  and  home  of  Mr.  Calvin  Cushman, 
on  their  way  to  the  point  of  rendezvous.  Many  parties 
stopped  in  passing  and  conversed  with  him  concerning  the 
unfortunate  state  of  affairs;  and  replied  to  his  interroga 
tories,  as  to  the  propriety  of  his  leaving  the  nation  with  his 
family  at  once,  or  wait  for  further  developments,  by  urging* 
him  to  remain,  and  assuring-  him,  at  the  same  time,  a  timely 
notice  of  approaching  danger,  and  also  a  sufficient  escort  to 
conduct  him  and  family  to  a  place  of  safety.  Mr.  Cushman, 
having  implicit  confidence  in  their  plighted  word,  resolved  to 
remain,  though  not  entirely  free  of  all  apprehensions,  but 
stood  in  readiness  to  depart  with  his  family  at  any  mo 
ment. 

For  two  or  three  days,  and  frequently  during  the  night, 
bands  of  warriors  continued  to  pass  dressed  in  all  the  Choc- 
taw  paraphernalia  of  war,  and  painted  as  an  Indian  only  can 
paint — an  art  known  but  to  him  by  which  the  countenance  is 
made  to  assume  a  most  frightful  and  awe-creating  express 
ion,  and  the  eye  that  deadly  ferocity,  which  to  be  compre 
hended  must  be  seen.  Invariably  when  passing,  night  or 
day,  as  they  drew  near  Mr.  Cush man's  home,  the  thrilling 
war-whoop  broke  the  stillness  of  the  forests  that  stretched 
around  and  away  from  that  humble  and  peaceful  missionary 
habitation,  as  a  signal  to  its  occupants  that,  though  it  pro 
claimed  war  to  others,  it  was  a  harbinger  of  peace  to  them; 
but  which,  after  all,  was  not,  to  the  unaccustomed  ear,  in 
strict  accordance  with  the  rules  of  harmony,  or  to  the  timid 
heart  very  persuasive  in  its  melody. 

But  this  difficulty,  the  result  of  which  seemed  would  in 
evitably  terminate  in  a  civil  war,  was  brought  to  a  happy 
settlement  by  an  incident  unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  an 
cient  or  modern  history,  and  which  I  will  here  relate  from, 
memory  as  I  heard  it  in  my  boyhood,  when  narrated  to  Mr. 
Cushman  by  Colonel  David  Folsom,  who  was  one  of  the  two 
who  figured  as  the  most  conspicuous  in  the  novel  scene;  and 
which  was  so  impressed  upon  my  youthful  mind,  that  dis 
tance  nor  time  has  been  able  to  efface  it  from  the  pages  of 
memory.  Still  I  do.  not  presume  to  be  able  to  present  before 
my  readers  the  vivid  picture  that  was  presented  tolmv  de 
lighted  imagination  by  the  eloquent  tongue  of  Colonel  David 
Folsom,  who  both  saw  and  felt  that  which  of  itself  alone 
could  give  unwearied  wings  to  the  imaginative  mind  and  un- 
-deviating  eloquence  to  the  tongue. 


342  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

Colonel  Folsom  stated  to  Mr.  Cushman,  in  substance., 
as  follows;  and  which  I  will  place  under  the  caption: 

THE    MEETING  OF    FOLSOM  AND  NITTAKACHIH 
—THE  TWO  CHOCTAH  CHIEFS. 

When  the  council,  convened  for  the  adjustment  and 
final  distribution  of  the  annuity,  adjourned  in  such  confus 
ion,  tog-ether  with  the  animosity  manifested  and  openly  ex 
pressed  by  both  contending-  parties  the  one  toward  the  other, 
(a  similar  scene  never  before  witnessed  in  a  Choctaw  coun 
cil)  I  feared  the  consequences  that  I  was  apprehensive  would 
follow;  but  hoped  that  the  conflicting-  opinions  then  agitating 
my  people  would  be  harmonized  upon  calm  reflection  and  the 
adoption  of  wise  and  judicious  measures.  But  when  I  ascer 
tained  that  Nittakachih  and  Amosholihubih  were  truly  assem 
bling  their  warriors,  I  beg-an  to  view  the  matter  in  its  true 
and  proper  light.  I  knew  those  two  chiefs  too  well  to  longer 
doubt  the  full  interpretations  of  their  designs  as  set  forth  in 
their  actions;  for  they  both  were  men  who  indulg-ed  not  in 
meaningless  parade,  or  delighted  in  empty  display.  Inevi 
table  war — kindred  against  kindred  and  brother  against 
brother — with  all  its  horrors  and  irreparable  consequences 
now  seemed  to  stare  me  in  the  face,  with  no  alternative 
but  to  speedily  prepare  to  meet  it;  therefore  Le  Flore  and 
myself,  after  due  deliberation,  resolved,  if  we  must  fight,  to 
confine  the  fighting  as  much  as  possible  within  Amosholihu- 
bih's  and  Nittakachih 's  own  districts.  W^e  at  once  took  up 
our  line  of  march  south  toward  Demopolis  which  was  in  the 
district  of  Amosholihubih,  and  Where  .they  had  assembled 
their  warriors. 

At  the  termination  of  our  second  days  march,  we  ascer 
tained  through  our  scouts,  that  Amosholihubih  and  Nittaka 
chih  were  also  advancing  with  their  warriors  to  meet  us. 
In  vain  I  still  sought  for  some  pacific  measures  that  might  be 
advanced  to  stop  further  demonstrations  of  war.  To  send  a 
flag  of  truce,  requesting  a  conference  with  the  two  disaf 
fected  chiefs,  would,  I  felt,  prove  unavailing,  as  it  would  be 
attributed  to  fear  on  the  part  of  myself  and  LeFlore,  and 
but  render  them  the  more  obstinate  and  unyielding.  '  On  the 
morning  of  the  third  day  we  were  informed  by  our  scouts 
that  they  were  only  a  few  miles  distant,  slowly  but  boldly 
advancing.  In  a  few  hours  marching,  I  looked  ahead  and 
-dimly  saw  the  outlines  of  the  front  warriors  here  and  there 
visible  among  the  trees,  and  then  the  whole  army  appeared 
in  full  view  about  half^a  mile  distant,  all  in  full  war  dress 
and  armed  complete,  advancing  slowly  and  in  good  order. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.      „  343 

Even  up  to  this  moment  I  had  cherished  the'  fond  hope  that 
matters  would  not  be  carried  to  the  extreme;  but  now  hope 
fled,  and  the  speedy  destruction  of  my  people  and  country 
seemed  inevitable.  In  vain  I  endeavored  to  think  of  some 
plan  that  might  yet  avail  and  prevent  bloodshed.  A  few 
moments  more  and  it  would  be  too  late  for  reflection,  as  each 
army  with  stern  brows,  firm  steps  and  resolute  hearts,  were 
slowly  but  fearlessly  shortening-  the  distance  between. 
But  now  the  time  for  futile  reflection  had^  passed,  and  stern 
determination  claimed  the  hour. 

Nearer  and  nearer  the  fearless  warriors  were  steadily 
approaching1  each  other.  Not  a  word  had  been  spoken,  nor  a 
sound  of  defiance  uttered  by  either  the  one  or  the  other  of 
the  still  advancing  parties;  and  thus  in  profound  silence  each 
continued  to  advance,  the  one  toward  the  other,  until  not  ex 
ceeding-  two  hundred  yards  intervened,  when  Nittakachih 
gave  the  signal  for  his  warriors  to  halt,  which  they  instantly 
obeyed.  LeFlore  and  myself  instantly  ga.ve  the  same  to 
our  men,  which  was  as  quickly  obeyed.  For  several  minutes 
the  armies  stood  and  gazed  upon  each  other  in  profound 
silence.  To  me  what  minutes  of  indescribable  suspense!  I 
speak  not  boastinglv  when  I  affirm  that  my  own  safety  had 
not  the  weight  of  the  sixteenth  part  of  a  poor  scruple  in  my 
reflections.  The  terrible  consequences  that  would  follow 
the  firing  of  a  single  gun  absorbed  my  every  thought;  and 
how  soon  that  might  be  done  by  some  inconsiderate  and 
reckless  one,  no  one  knew.  I  still  clung  to  a  feeble  and 
lingering  hope  that  the  unfortunate  affair  might  yet  be  ami 
cably  adjusted;  but  what  step  to  take  that  could  lead  to  that 
desirable  and  happy  result,  at  that  advanced  stage  of  affairs, 
I  WAS  utterly  at  a  loss. 

At  this  juncture  of  alternate  hope  and  despair  my  aston 
ishment  was  unbounded  when  I  saw  Nittakachih  leave  his  men 
where  they  were  standing  and  alone  advance  toward  us  with 
slow  and  measured  steps,  looking  with  a  calm  and  steady 
gaze  upon  us.  Every  eye  was  upon  him  in  a  moment,  as  with 
firm  and  dignified  steps  he  continued  to  advance  until  he  had 
reached  a  point  half  way  between  the  now  wondering,  but 
still  silent,  warriors  ;  then  stopped  and,  slowly  raising  his 
arms,  he  gently  folded  them  across  his  breast  and,  in  calm 
and  dignified  silence,  looked  with  fearless  eyes  upon  me,  Le 
Flore,  and  our  astonished  men.  Truly,  what  a  scene  !  What 
a  picture  !  There  he  stood  in  his  shining  war-dress  midway 
between  the  gazing  and  admiring  warriors,  the  personifica 
tion  of  calm  courage  and  heroic  daring;  his  dark  eyes  flash 
ing,  and  his  proud  lips  curling  seemingly  in  fearless  defi 
ance,  and  presenting  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  a  North 


344  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

American  Indian  warrior  conceivable.  No  figure  of  bronze 
could  have  been  more  rigid  than  that  of  Nittakachih,  as  he 
there  stood  erect  and  in  calm  sil'ence  ;  truly  a  more  striking- 
subject  for  a  picture  was  never  exhibited  than  was  presen 
ted  in  Nittakachih  in  that  attitude.  What  a  theme  was  he  to 
whom  fear  was  a  stranger! 

But  what  his  motive  in  thus  presenting  himself — delib 
erate  as  it  was  strange — none  could  comprehend,  or  even  ad 
vance  a'  reniote  conjecture.  Yet,  all  could  read  that  what 
ever  it  might  be,  he  meant  it ;  for  no  one  did  him  the  injus 
tice  by  even  supposing  that  the  situation  was  contrived  for 
dramatic  effect.  Ah  !  it  is  comparatively  an  easy  matter  to 
unravel  those  characters  which  appear  before  us  in  butter 
fly  colors,  whose  easy  dispositions  and  familiarities  of  man 
ner  preclude  the  possibility  of  deception;  but  to  understand 
the  secret  and  hidden  workings  of  that  mind  which  lies  con 
tinually  wrapped  up  in  its  own  solitude — to  trace  the  secret 
springs  and  solitary  windings  of  the  mysterious  power 
within,  and  read  the  intents  of  the  heart  as  they  are  made 
manifest,  in  the  attitude,  the  look,  the  silence,  the  act,  re 
quires  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  human  soul  which  but 
few;  if  any,  possess,  and  which  nothing  but  long  experience 
can  ever  secure. 

To  all,  it  seemed  a  fearful  scene,  terrific  in  its  conse 
quences,  was  about  to  be  enacted.  In  vain  I  sought  for 
some  token,  some  sign  expressive  of  his  wish  ;  but  his  silent 
and  motionless  form,  indexing  a  determined  soul,  was  all 
that  seemed  animate.  Like  a  statue  he  still  stood,  calm,  sil 
ent  and  motionless,  presenting  a  picture  grand  and  beautiful 
even  to  sublimity,  while  silence  profound  seemed  to  brood 
over  everything  animate.  Even  the  gentle  breezes  seemed  to 
have  sung  themselves  to  rest;and  a  solemn  hush  prevailed,  as 
though  all  nature  in  pitying  suspense  had  made  a  pause,  to 
stay  the  death  dealing  struggle  that  seemed  about  to  ensue 
between  kindred  and  friends.  It  was  a  bright  October  morn 
ing,  clear,  sunny  and  cool,  with  the  bluest  of  blue  skies  over 
head,  dotted  he're  and  there  with  little  white  clouds  that 
floated  about  like  sails  upon  an  ocean,  while  the  sunlight 
filtered  down  between  the  branches  of  the  trees  and  fell  in 
bright  flecks  upon  the  ground.  The  melancholy  haze  of 
Indian  Summer  wrapped  every  distant  object  in  the  soft, 
purple  veil;  the  dim  vistas  of  the  surrounding  forests  ended 
in  misty  depths;  through  the  openings  the  majestic  trees  of 
endless  variety  and  gigantic  size  were  dropping  their  dying 
leaves,  and  here  and  there  along  a  ravine,  crimson  maples 
gleamed  against  the  back-ground  of  dark  green  sweet-gums. 
In  all  directions,  the  forest  foliage  painted  with  autumnal 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  345 

hectic,  were  strewing  the  bier  of  the  departing"  year,  casting* 
over  all  a  melancholy,  dreamy,  appearance  that  approximated 
to  the  sublime;  and  which,  under  other  circumstances, 
would  have  awakened  the  harp  of  memory  to  the  sweetest 
tones,  carrying-  the  thoughts  back  to  the  haunts  of  the  olden 
time,  under  the  magic  melody  of  boyhood's  by -gone  joys;  but 
then  all  was  wrapped  in  that  mysterious  silence  which  pro 
duced  sensations  not  unsimilar  to  that  experienced  by  the 
birds  beneath  the  basilisk  glare  of  the  serpent.  What 
emotions  thrilled  my  soul!  emotions  which  seemed  to  isolate 
my  whole  being  from  all  surrounding  objects,  but  that  silent 
and  motionless  form  before  me,  wrapt  in  the  impenetrable 
silence  of  his  own  heart. 

Again  I  loooked  around  for  some  one  from  whom  I  might 
receive  even  a  conjecture  as  to  the  interpretation  of  the  in 
comprehensible  enigma,  that  so  mysteriously  and  unexpec 
tedly  had  presented  itself  before  us,  but  none  ventured  to 
break  the  stillness  by  a  word. 

I  then  resolved  to  go  to  him  alone,  be  the  consequences 
what  they  might ;  and  a  ray  of  hope  illuminated  theTlarkness 
of  my  despairing  soul,  as  I  thought  a  word  to  him  might, 
perhaps,  be  as  oil  upon  the  troubled  waters,  and  the  threat 
ening-  storm  of  war  yet  be  hushed  to  peace.  With  emotions 
known  only  to  myself,  yet  with  a  calm  exterior,  I  started  to 
ward  him  with  a  slow  but  firm  step,  and  had  walked  but  a 
few  paces  when  I  observed  Nittikachih's  warriors  silently,' 
but  steadily  raising  their  rifles  to  their  shoulders  and  bring 
ing  them  to  bear  directly  upon  me;  and  at  the  same  instant 
heard  behind  me  the  ominous  click  of  {the  rifle-locks  of  my 
own  men — the  signification  of  which  I  well  understood. 
With  deadly  aim  Nittakachih's  warriors  held  their  rifles  up 
on  me,  as  I  drew  nearer  and  nearer  tb  their  adored  chieftain 
who  still  stood  silent  and  motionless,  but  with  his  black,  pen 
etrating  eyes  upon  me  as  if  he  would  read  the  very  thoughts 
of  my  heart ;  yet  without  a  visible  sign  of  emotion,  and  ut 
terly  unheeding  the  thousand  rifles  that  also  rested  upon 
him,  with  as  many  clear  and«resolute  eyes  glancing  along  their 
dark  barrels.  'The  silence  was  still  profound,  Not  a  word, 
not  even  the  chirping  of  a  bird  or  rustling  of  a  leaf  broke 
the  fearful  stillness.  I  well  knew  everything  was  suspended 
at  this  juncture  upon  a  pivot  which  the  slightest  breath 
might  turn  the  equally  poised  scale  for  the  worst,  and  give  a 
signal  for  several  thousand  rifles  to  begin  their  work  of 
death,  and  Nittakachih  and  myself  would  be  the  first  to  fall 
riddled  with  bullets,  and  our  position  but  made  it  doubly 
sure. 

With  a  secret  bracing  of  my  nerves  I  continued  to  stead- 


346  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

ily  advance,  and  when  within  a  few  paces  of  him  I  met  his 
eyes  fixed  upon  mine  with  that  baffling-  expression,  which,  I 
must  confess,  caused  me  to  feel  an  inward  alarm,  as  if  some 
thing-  vaguely  dangerous  had  suddenly  reared  himself  in  my 
path,  which  by  its  very  charm  instinctively  bade  me  be\yare. 
But  I  as  quickly  subdued  my  apprehensions,  by  thinking1, 
with  a  certain  haughty  pride  which  I  fear  will  never  be  elimi 
nated  from  my  nature,  of  the  dang-ers  I  had  already  met  and 
overcome  in  my  brief  but  troubled  life,  and  meeting-  his 
calm  and  steady  gaze  with  a  smile  which  I  knew  to  contain  a 
spice  of  audacity,  stopped  immediately  before  and  near  himr 
and  calmly  said,  as  I  noticed  the  strife  of  expression  be 
tween  his*  eye  and  lip;  the  one  hard,  cold  and  unyielding;  the 
other  deprecating  in  its  half  smile  and  falsely  gentle,  as  if 
the  mind  that  controlled  it  was  even  then  divided  between  its 
wish  to  subdue  and  the  necessity  it  felt  to  win:  Nittakach- 
ih,  it  would  be  only  folly  for  me  to  speak  as  if  nothing  had 
occurred  to  justify  your  present  attitude.  It  would  be  do 
ing  your  good  sense  and  sound  judgment  but  little  honor; 
and  putting  myself,  or  rather,  ourselves,  for  we,  as  chiefs, 
should  be  one  in  the  matter  of  our  country's  interests,  in  a 
position  which  would  make  any  after  explanations  exceed 
ingly  difficult.  For  explanations  can  be  given,  and  in  a  word, 
for  what  has  doubtless  appeared  to  you  as  strange  and  un 
warrantable  on  our  part,  explanations  which  I  am  sure  you 
will  cheerfully  accept,  as  it  is  not  natural  for  you  to  nurse 
suspicions  contrary  to  your  own  candid  and  noble  nature. 
I  calmly  waited  for  the  words  I  felt  to  be  hovering  upon  his 
lips,  but  they  were  scarcely  the  ones  I  expected.  He  replied 
that  he  was  satisfied  with  my  proffered  words  of  reconcilia 
tion,  and,  as  he  spoke  his  voice  assumed  its  confident  tone, 
whatever  might  have  been  the  'disturbance  communicated  to 
his  inward  nature.  Then  looking  with  his  dark  and  pierc 
ing  eyes  into  mine,  as  if  to  read  the  secret  thoughts  of  mv 
heart,  and  see  if  perchance  treachery  lurked  not  beneath 
the  smile  of  friendship:  finding  none,  the  dark  cloud  of  defi 
ance  that  greeted  my  approach  instantly  gave  place  to  the 
sun-lit  rays  of  confidence,  and  he  continued:  "I  feel  that  I 
can  and  will  again  give  you  the  title  of  friend.  Will  you  ac 
cept  it  from  me,  and  with  it  my  past  confidence  and  esteem?" 
I  responded,  I  will  in  behalf  of  the  common  interests  of  our 
people;  and  then  extended  my  hand  to  him,  but  in  a  steady 
mechanical  way  that  I  felt  committed  me  to  nothing,  for  I 
was  fully  alive  to  the  possible  consequences  of  my  every  act. 
He  took  it,  though  the  slight  unmistakable  pressure  he  re 
turned  seemed  to  show  that  he  accepted  it  for  a  true  sign  of 
restored  friendship,  if  not  of  absolute  surrender.  "You 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  347" 

have  removed  a  great  weight  from  my  heart,"  he  ag-ain  re 
marked.  "Had  you  been  one  of  the  common  place  type  of 
men,  you  might  have  made  this  a  serious  matter  for  us." 

What  have  I  said  and  done,  I  replied,  though  not  so  bit- 
terfy,  or  with  as  much  irony  as  I  might  have  done,  had  that 
desire  to  understand  the  full  motive  of  a  condescension  I 
could  but  feel  was  unprecedented  in  his  arrogant  nature,  been< 
less  keen  than  it  was,  to  influence  you  to  suppose  that  I  will 
not  yet  do  so?  "Your  glance  and  your  honest  hand  are  your 
surety,"  he  answered;  then  with  a  real  smile,  though  it  was 
not  the  reassuring  and  attractive  one  he  doubtless  meant  it 
to  be,  we  both  turned  our  face's  toward  our  anxious  and 
waiting  warriors,  and  each  gave  the  signal  of.  peace  and 
friendship  restored.  Instantly  every  rifle  was  lowered,  and 
the  two  armies  slowly  marched  in  perfect  order  to  where  we 
stood,  and  there  all  shook  hands.  A  council  was  v  then  and  • 
there  convened;  satisfactory  explanations  made  and  accepted; 
peace  and  friendship  restored,  and  a  terrific  civil  war 
averted.  And  then,  as  the  party  turned  their  faces  home 
ward,  all  fired  off  their  guns  as  an  acknowledgment  that  not 
a  particle  of  animosity  lingered  in  the  heart  of  a  single  one 
of  either  party,  but  that  entire  confidence  and  friendship 
was  restored. 

In  more  ancient  times,  when  difficulties  between  two 
clans  of  parties  had  been  settled  they  stacked  their  arms  to 
gether,  and  as  an  evidence  that  entire  confidence,  friend 
ship  and  good  will  was  restored;  which  ceremony  was  called 
"Tanapoh  Aiyummih,"  signifying  guns  mixed. 

Such  was  the  narrative  (in  substance)  related  to  Mr.  Cal 
vin  Cushman  by  Colonel  David  Folsom  sixty  years  ago,  por 
traying  a  scene  in  actual  life  that  stands  unequaled  in  the 
annals  of  historic  warfare;  while  also  displaying  a  self-sac 
rificing  and  patriotic  heroism  (especially  in  Colonel  David 
Folsom)  that  should  put  to  shame  and  confusion  of  tongue 
those  ignorant  and  senseless  babblers  who  deny  to  the 
Indian  race  the  possession  of  a  single  virtue. 

Nittakachih  moved  west -with  his  people;  remained  a 
few  years,  and  then  returned  to  the  home  of  his  nativity  in 
Mississippi  to  attend  to  some  unfinished  business,  and  while 
there  was  taken  sick  and  died;  and  thus  secured  for  himself 
the  gratification  of  dying  in  his  native  land,  and  having  his 
body  laid  away  in  peaceful  rest  among  the  graves  of  his  an 
cestors — a  privilege  so  much  coveted  by  the  North  American 
Indian. 

Had  Nittakachih  possessed  the  advantages  of  a  thorough 
education,  he  would  have  placed  his  name  high  on  the  roll  of 
fame  among  earth's  illustrious  great  as  a  brave,  patriot  and 


348  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

honest  statesman;  yet,  without  any  of  those  advantages  what 
ever;  few,  if  any,  among-  the  whites  could  equal  him  in  point 
of  true  native  eloquence,  genuine  patriotism,  self-comma"nd, 
and  moral  courage,  under  any  and  all  circumstances.  It  wa$ 
my  fortune  to  be  personally  acquainted  with  him,  and  never 
have  I  seen,  nor  do  I  ever  expect  to  see,  a  finer  specimen  of 
nature's  true  man,  than  was  exhibited  in  Nittakachih.  He 
left  one  son,  who  was  known  as  Captain  Jackson  Nittakachih, 
and  also  one  son-in-law  named  Tunapoh  Humma,  (Red  Gum). 
He  was  chief  at  one  time  of  the  Kunsha-ache  Iksa,  which 
lived  on  the  creek  then  called  Lussah  Hocheto,  (Big  Swamp), 
now  known  as  Big  Black.  They  both  moved  with  their  peo 
ple  to  their  present  place  of  abode,  and  died  soon  after  the 
death  of  their  noble  father  and  father-in-law. 

Colonel  David  Folsom,  the  first  chief  of  the  Choctaws, 
elected  by  ballot,  was  a  man  whose  generosity  of  nature  was 
conspicuous,  not  merely  in  the  ordinary  acceptance  of  that 
term,  but  in  its  fullest  and  broadest  sense  ;  and  I  hazard 
nothing  in  saying  if  posterity  shall  do  justice  to  his  memory, 
history  will  accord  to  David  Folsom  a  high  rank  as  a  just  and 
honest  ruler,  a  noble  patriot  and  an  exemplary  Christian;  and 
it  is  no  doubtful  proof  of  the  distinguished  talents  of  this  il 
lustrious  Choctaw,  that  he  administered  the  national  affairs 
of  his  people  for  thirty  years,  during  a  period  the  most  crit 
ical  and  perilous  in  the  annals  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,,  con 
jointly  with  other  kindred  spirits  venerable  for  their  age, 
prudence  and  integrity  and  of  which  their  nation  seemed  re 
markably  prolific,  and  whose  names  and  eulogy  might  fill  a 
volume.  Colonel  David  Folsom  was  a  good  man  in  the  full 
sense  of  that  word.  Continually  filling  offices  of  greater  or 
less  importance  in  his  country,  still  he  ever  carried  the  traits 
of  honesty,  faithfulness,  zeal  and  energy  into  every  position. 
He  was  truly  one  of  those  characters  that  naturally  come  to 
the  front  in  all  matters,  and  possessed  many  of  the  charac 
teristics  of  a  leader  of  men.  It  was  natural  that  such  a  man 
should  sometimes  encounter  antagonism  and  be  misunder 
stood,  but  his  noble  heart  and  generous  nature  could  not 
carry  malice  or  harbor  revenge.  No  man  was  more  ready 
for  reconciliation  and  forgiveness,  whether  the  cause  of  mis 
understanding  was  just  or  unjust.  Of  his  worth  as  a  citi 
zen,  public  or  private,  and  his  Christian  faith  and  life,  his 
people  know  full  well  and  justly  appreciate. 

He  was  elevated  to  the  chieftaincy  at  a  time  when  his 
country  was  agitated  by  many  conflicting  emotions;  his 
people  were  just  emerging  from  (the  state  of  nature  to  that 
of  Christianity  and  civilization;  and  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep  of  their  hearts  were  being  broken  up  by  the  new  order 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  349 

of  things  that  were  being- established  among-  them  in  govern 
ment  and  in  morals;  and  in  connection  with  this,  the  ex 
change  of  their  homes  and  country  for  others  remote  in  the 
distant  and  unknown  west,  by  a  process  of  coercion,  fraud 
and  tyranny  unsurpassed  in  the  annals  of  man,  but  justly 
aroused  their  fears  to  the  highest  pitch,  and  filled  every 
heart  with  misgivings  and  the  deepest  gloom.  I  witnessed 
their  indescribable  agitation,  and  heard  their  wail  of  woe. 
Yet.  amid  the  raging  storm  of  conflicting  emotions  that 
everywhere  prevailed,  Colonel  David  Folsom  stood  pre-emi 
nent;  the  prudent,  wise  and  wholsome  counsels  he  then  gave 
upon  all  questions  to  the  subordinate  chiefs  and  his  agitated 
people;  his  calm  and  noble  bearing  amid  the  all  pervading 
confusion;  the  firm  and  undaunted  rebuke  which  his  en 
lightened  and  enlarged  philanthrophy  administered  to  the 
wrong  policy  of  the  uninformed  and  inconsiderate,  were  as 
oil  upon  the  troubled  waters  and  conspired  to  make  him  the 
chief  influence  for  good'. 

But  in  his  home  life  Colonel  Folsom 's  virtues  shone  in 
all  their  unvarnished  beauty.  This  was  his  chosen  sphere; 
here  he  delighted  to  receive  and  entertain  the  friends  who 
were  privileged  with  his  intimate  acquaintance,  official  or 
private,  rich  or  poor,  high  or  low;  and  for  warmth  of  affec 
tion  to  his  people,  kindred  and  cherished  friends;  for  singu 
lar  unselfishness,  he  had  few  equals  and  no  superiors  any 
where.  His  sympathies  were  as  prompt  and  as  tender  as  a 
child's,  and  it  was  natural  and  became  habitual  for  his  peo 
ple  to  go  to  him  when  in  trouble,  to  seek  council  and  sympa 
thy  which  they  never  sought  in  vain;  nor  did  he  wait  to  be 
sought.  He  loved  outward  nature  too  as  the  source  of  con 
scious  pleasurable  emotions.  He  would  say,  "It  rests  me  to 
look  upon  its  varied  and  lovely  scenes,  landscapes  which  are 
really  a  means  of  education  to  the  susceptible  mind,  and 
which  so  often  have  been  invested  with  the  charms  of  poetry 
and  romance. " 

During  a  visit  to  the  Choctaw  Nation,  in  1884,  I  unex 
pectedly  came  upon  a  cemetery  in  my  devious  wanderings 
wherein  I  found  the  graves  of  many  Choctaws.  Conspicu 
ous  among  many  monuments,  stood  that  of  Colonel  David 
Folsom,  whom  I  had  known  from  youth's  early  morn.  Thus 
reads  the  epitaph: 

"To  the  memory  of  Colonel  David  Folsom,  the  first  Re 
publican  Chief  of  the  Chahtah  Nation,  the  promoter  of  indus 
try,  education,  religion,  arid  morality;  was  born  January 
25th,  1791,  and  departed  this  life,  September  24th,  1847, 
aged  56  years  and  eight  months. 

"He  being  dead  yet  speaketh." 


350  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

His  son,  then  my  companion,  and  old  friend  from  early 
youth,  informed  me' that  the  above  appropriate  epitaph  was 
dictated  by  Rev.  Cyrus  Byington,  the  long-  known  and  faith 
ful  friend  of  Colonel  David  Folsom  and  his  people.  To  all, 
Colonel  Folsom  seemed  to  have  died  in  the  very  mids.t  of  his 
great  usefulness  and  the  brightest  glory  of  his  days;  but 
those  years  and  the  responsibilities  that  had  attended  them, 
had  already  added  dignity  to  his  firm,  bold  brow,  with  its 
strongly  marked  eyebrows  above  black  penetrating  eyes. 
For  many  years  he  had  been  the  ruling  spirit  among  his 
people,  and  this  sense  of  mastery  had  given  him  some  touch 
of  kingliness  to  his  general  appearance,  his  tone  aild  manners 
something  of  that  loo*k  and  demeanor  which  is  seen  in  re 
nowned  statesmen  and  famous  warriors. 

In  strolling  o'er  that  silent  and  lonely  habitation  of  the 
dead,  I  found  the  graves  of  many  of  my  old  Choctaw  and 
Chickasaw  friends  of  the  long-ago;  and  in  reading  their 
names  carved  upon  the  hard,  white  stone,  how  beautifully 
those  cherished  friends  of  other  days  seemed  to  rise  up 
again  in  the  perspective  of  memory,  calm  and  serene,  as  an 
gels  of  life  from  the  paradise  of  the  past. 

Close  by  that  of  Colonel  David  Folsom 's  was  the  grave 
of  Joel  H.  Nail,  a  brother-in-law  to  Colonel  Folsom,  and 
grandfather  of  Joel  H.  Nail,  now  living  in  Caddo,  Indian 
Territory.  He  was  another  true  and  noble  specimen  of  a 
Choctaw  Christian  man.  A  beautiful  marble  monument  also 
marked  his  place  of  rest,  and  the  following  told  the  curious 
and  inquisitive  passer-by  who  was  the  Occupant: 

"Sacred  to  the  memory  of  J.  H.  Nail,  of  tjie  Chahtah 
Nation,  who  died  at  his  residence  near  Fort  Tawson,  Au 
gust  24th,  1846,  in  the  52nd  year  of  his  age. 

"Reader  prepare  to  meet  thy  God." 

The  present  Nail  family  of  the  Choctaws  are  the  de 
scendants  of  Henry  Nail,  a  white  man,  who  came  among  the 
Choctaws  abo^Lit  the  time  Nathaniel  Folsom,  John  Pitchlynn 
and  Lewis  Le  Flore  came  ;  and  as  they,  so  did  he,  marry 
among  them,  was  adopted  and  thus  became  identified  among' 
that  people.  He  rose  to  the  position  of  child  and  exerted,  as 
did  the  other  three  above  mentioned,  a  moral  influence  among 
that  noble  and  appreciative  people  with  whom  he  had  cast  his 
lot.  He  had  four  sons — Joel,  Robert,  Morris  and  Joseph  ; 
Joel  Nail  had  seven  daughters— Harriet,  Delilah,  Selina, 
Catharine,  Isabelle,  Melvina  and  Emma  ;  and  three  sons — 
Jonathan  (father  of  the  present  J.  H.  Nail),  Adam  and  Ed 
win.  Robert  Nail  had  one  son — the  only  chief — named  Ed 
win,  who  was  drowned  in  Blue  river ;  and  Jonathan  had 
only  one  son,  the  present  Joel  H.  Nail,  as  above  stated,  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  351 

who  is  a  worthy  scion  of  the  old  stock  and  still  living- ;  he  is 
a  quiet  and  good  man  ;  noble  and  good  in  his  integrity  of 
character;  attractive  in  the  benevolence  of  his  life;  great 
and  good  in  his  benefaction  and  charity  to  his  fellow-man; 
with  a  life  full  of  gentleness,  always  ready,  he  lives  as  one 
whom  only  those  can  understand  who  knew  him  and  enjoyed 
the  benefits  of  his  virtues.  ^ 

Near  to  this  this  stood  another  emblem  of  frail  mortality, 
which  told  of  one  who  had  lived  and  died,  and  upon  whose 
smooth  face  I  read  love's  tribute  of  affection.  "Sacred  to  the 
memory  of  Major  Pitman  Colbert, .  who  departed  this  life 
February,  26th,  1853,  aged  56  years.  He  lived  an  exemplary 
life.  Ever  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  his  people  (the  Chicka- 
saws),  and  died  respected  by  all  \vho  knew  him." 

Of  Major  Colbert  it  may  justly  belaid:  He  was  emin- 
•ently  a  Christian  reformer.  His  sympathy  for  his  people 
was  intense.  He  sought  to  create  love  and  harmony  among 
them;  and  to  show  them  that  purity  of  life,  generosity, 
honor,  truth ,  are  blossoms  that  spring-  even  from  stagnant  pools, 
"which  to  know  may  be  found,  not  faultless,  but  still  true  and 
lovable,  and  learn  that  mercy  and  charity  are  needed  as 
well  as  justice  to  see  what  is  beautiful  in  any  life.  His 
hearty  contempt  for  cant  and  snobbery  in  any  form  found  a 
ringing-  echo  in  his  noble  nature.  He  was  a  true  disciple  in 
the  temple  of  knowledge;  ever  devoting  his  time  and  labors 
to  those  useful  pursuits,  wrhich  alone  adorn  and  embellish 
the  mind,  fitting  it  for  the  abode  of  truth.  To  the  light  of 
nature  and  reason  he  added  the  light  of  the  Bible  and  Revela- 
lion;  and  prompted  by  a  higher  and  nobler  motive,  moved 
-and  instigated  by  a  Divine  impulse,  by  that  Spirit  that  comes 
from  above,  he  spent  the  morn,  noon.and  evening  of  his  life 
:in  trying  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  others;  to  lift  the 
fallen,  support  the  weak,  confirm  the  good,  elevate  tbe  scale 
of  excellence  among  his  people,  and  with  the  laudable  pur 
pose  of  making  them  the  bettejr  by  his  having  lived;  and  who, 
in  his  devotion  to  the  grea^  principles  of  morality  and  vir 
tue,  lived  a  life  of  pleasant  toil,  supporting  and  elevating  his 
race  wherever  fallen,  curbing  the  vices  of  the  vicious,  cor 
recting  the  waywardness  of  the  dissolute,  sustaining  the 
right  and  condemning  the  wrong-. 

But  what  visions  of  the  long  past  awoke  to  memory  as  I 
stopped  before  a  monument,  whose  beautiful  symmetry  of 
form  had  attracted  me  and  read;  4tln  memory  of  Louis 
Garland;  died  Agust  14th,  1853,  aged  33  years.  Generous, 
upright  and  virtuous,  he  lived  an  example  for  all  who  seek 
the  favor  of  the  good." 

More  appropriate  and  truthful  words  never 'adorned  the 


352  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

tombstone  of  man.  We  were  fellow  students  during  the 
years  1839-40-41  and  1842  at  Marietta  College,  Ohio-/  and 
both  professors  and  students  who  may  now  be  living,  could 
they  read  the  epitaph  that  records  Lewis  Garland's  place  of 
rest,  would  attest  to  its  truth  without  a  dissenting  voice;  and 
I  too,  though  years  have  intervened  with  their  varied  vicis 
situdes,  would  here  offer  some  tribute,  though  feeble  yet 
sincere,  to  this  my  Choctaw  friend,  though  an  Indian,  yet 
loved  none  the  less.  I  was  born  among  his  people  and 
thus  was  early  initiated  into  the  "mysteries  of  the  Indian 
character;"  and  a  friendship  and  love  for  them,  of  which  I 
am  not  ashamed,  but  justly  proud,  was  formed;  not  only  for 
them  but  their  entire  race,  which  time  nor  distance  has  been 
able  to  weaken;  and  even  to-day,  in  these  my  declining  years, 
my  heart  oft  turns  to  these  true  children  of  the  Great  Spirit, 
known  during  the  long  period  of  life,  and  among  whom  I 
have  yet  to  find  my  first  false  friend;  and  though  during  my 
sojourn  and  travels  among  them,  I  could  but  feel  that 

We  met  like  ships  upon  the  sea, 
Who  hold  an  hour's  converse- 
One  little  hour!  and  then  speed  away, 
On  diverging  paths— to  meet  no  more— 

and  my  heart  still  goes  out  in  fond  affection  to  all  those  old 
Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  friends  of  my  youth;  in  whose 
honest  hearts  I  have  ever  found  a  friendship  that  never  be 
trayed  and  a  constancy  that  never  wearied. 

"  Continuing  my  walk  through  the  cemetery,  I  discovered 
a  grave  that  had  no  marble  token  to  tell  of  its  silent  occu 
pant.  Upon  inquiring  of  my  Choctaw  companion,  he  in 
formed  me  that  it  was  the  grave  of  his  brother,  Cornelius  ; 
another  fellow-student  of  boyhood's  merry  time.  We  were 
chums  for  two  years  in  college  life,  and  there  and  then  be 
came  sincere  friends,  linked  to  the  recollections  of  life's 
early  morn,  ere  sorrow's  dark  pall  had  fallen  athwart  our 
pathway;  but  hope  with  rosy  finger  still  pointed  to  the  flat 
tering  possibilities  of  the  promising  future.  But  alas!  Con 
sumption  claimed  him  as  its  own,  and  he  returned  to  his 
southernihome  but  to  fall  into  a  premature  grave.  In  college 
he  was  a  diligent  student,  and  stood  high  in  his  classes.  The 
high  elements  of  his  noble  nature  were  so  fully  developed 
that  he  commanded  the  respect  and  admiration  of  both  pro 
fessors  and  students.  He  was  consistant  in  all  things,  and 
his  moral  character  was  blameless;  and  the  highest  testi 
mony  to  this  was  the  respect  which  all  classes  of  students 
manifested  toward  him.  But  here,  dear  Cornelius,  old 
chum,  loved  friend  and  companion  of  school-boy  days,  I  let 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  353 

the  curtain  drop  over  thy  blameless  life,  closed  by  a  calm  and 
peaceful  death  and  blessing's  well  bestowed.  Thou  went 
loved  and  honored  while  living-,  and  thy  early  death  deeply 
mourned  by  all  thy  friends  both  red  and  white  ;  and  friend 
ship  without  alloy  still  drops  a  tear  o'er  thy  early  grave, 
while  thy  name  and  virtues  are  engraved  on«still  loving*  hearts 
that  need  no  voiced  urn  or  marble  inscription  to  perpetuate 
thy  memory. 

But  adieu,  old  friends  of  the  past.  After  life's  fitful 
fever,  there  you  sleep.  No  persecution  and  oppression  dis 
turb  you  now.  The  tall  forest  oaks  stand  like  sentinals 
around  your  graves  as  if  keeping  watch  over  this  bivouac  of 
the  noble  dead,  which  I  visited  with  deep  emotion,  and  left 
with  reflections  sad.  Why  should  not  history  preserve  their 
names?  But  all  unnoticed  by  the  bus}r  world,  they  lived  and 
died,  because  they  were  Indians.  That  tells  tale. 

As  a  sample  of  Colonel  David  Folsom's  ability  as  a  letter 
writer,  I  will  insert  a  few  of  his  letters  written  to  Rev.  Elias 
Cornelius  and  others,  copied  from  the  original  without  altera 
tion;  and  when  it  is  taken  into  consideration  that  he  neATer 
v\£nt  to  school  but  six  months,  .they  may  justly  cause  the 
blush  of  .shame  (if  such  a  thing  be  within  the  line  of  a  possi 
bility)  to  appear  upon  the  cheeks  of  thousands  of  white  men, 
who.  have  gone  as  many  years,  and  yet  cannot  do  half  as 
well. 

To  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius:— 

CHOCTAW  NATION,  PIGEON  ROOST.  July  16,  181& 
My  Dear  Sir: — 

Your  letter  dated  Knoxville,  June  2nd  has  come  duly  to 
hand,  safe  this  morning,  which  I  am  rejoice  to  learn  that Vou 
and  brother  McKee  and  three  other  boys  are  all  well  and 
happy.  I  did  learn  from  you  and  McKee,  when  you  wrote 
from  Cherokee  Nation  to  me  by  Mr.  Kingsbury,  and  did 
write  you  and  direct  the  letter  to  City  Washington,  agree 
able  to  your  direction  to  me.  Rev.  Mr.  Kingsbury  was  here 
few  days  ago  from  Yellobusher;  and  he  requested  that  he 
wanted  my  brother  Israel  under  his  care,  and  that  he  was 
much  in  need  for  company  in  traveling  about  the  nation  and 
which  his  request  was  very  certainly  most  pleasing  talk  to 
me  and  Israel.  He  is  under  Mr.  Kingsbury 's  care  and  as  he 
is  very  industrious  boy  I  make  no  dou-bt  but  he  will  be  use 
ful  to  Mr.  K,  by  the  first  opportunity  that  K.  may  have  he 
will  send  Israel  on  to  you.  My  dear  friend,  I "  have  no 
means  to  inform  you  at  present  in  the  regard  of  my  nation  , 
as  we  have  had  no  council  since  you  left  here.  But  I  know 
and  all  I  can  sa*y  for  my  nation  they  are  a  people  much  in 


354  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

need  for  help  and  instruction,  and  we  look  up  to  the  govern 
ment  of  the  U.  S.  for  instruction,  and  which  I  do  know  the 
establishment  of  this  school  will  be  the  means  of  the  great 
est  good  ever  been  done  for  this  nation.  Our  hunting-  are 
done  for  these  many  years  back  and  for  wanting  good  Father 
and  good  Council  that  the  general  run  of  peoples  at  the  Na 
tion  have  still  hunted  for  game  an  they  have  in  many  become 
in  want.  But  I  know  that  your  wish  is  pure  and  love  and 
good  for  this  nation,  and  therefore  I  have  been  talking  to  my 
peoples  and  have  advice  them  for  the  best  during  their  inten 
tion  to  industrys  and  farming,  and  lay  our  hunting  aside,  and 
here  is  one  point  of  great  work  is  just  come  to  hand  before 
us  which  is  the  establishment  of  a  school,  and  the  Choctaws 
are  appear  to  be  well  pleased.  I  thank  you  for  the  good  and 
love  you  have,  and  what  have  already  done  for  my  nation. 
Not  long  since  I  have  heard  from  Rev  and  Mrs.  Williams. 
They  are  all  well.  I  have  not  seen  them  yet.  I  wish  you 
happiness. 

I  am  your  true  friend  till  death, 

DAVID  FOLSOM. 

N.  B.  You  will  excuse  my  bad  writing,  as  I  did  inform 
you  that  I  had  only  but  six  months  schooling. 

CHAHTAH  NATION,  PIGEON  ROOST,  Nov.  3,  1818. 
To   Rev.    Elias  Cornelius: 

My  dear  sir: — I  have  just  returned  from  the  Chahtah 
Treaty,  and  I  inform  you  that  Chahtah  did  not  sell  or  ex 
change  lands  with  the  United  States  the  Chahtah  said  that 
it  is  but  two  years  ago  when  the  Nation  sold  a  large  track  of 
country  to  the  United  States  and  therefore  they  said  that 
they  had  no  more  lands  to  sell,  which  they  cannot  think  to 
sell  the  land  which  we  are  living  on  it  and  raising  our 
children  on  it.  And  I  inform  you  also  that  the  nation  a  great 
of  friendships  to  the  United  States  Com.  '  The  Nation  talk 
of  in  Council  and  mention  that  it  was  great  benefit  for  us 
Chahtah  to  have  school  in  our  Nation,  and  appear  to  be  well 
please  and  rejoiced  to  have  such  aids  in  our  Nation.  The 
chiefs  wrote  a  letter  to  the  president  of  the  United  States 
a  most  friendly  talk  and  I  must  inform  you  in  one  part  of 
the  letter  to  the  president,  our  chief  said,  Father  we  are 
most  thankful  for  your  kindly  favor  that  you  aided  the 
Society  School  in  our  nation.  The  chiefs  are  I  believe  in 
notion  of  visiting  the  father,  the  president.  Give  my  warm 
love  to  my  brother  McKee  and  Israel  when  you  shall  see 
them,  and  tell  them  we  are  all  well. 

I    remain  your  most  dutiful  friend  till  death, 

DAVID  FOLSOM. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  355 

CHAHTAH  NATION,  PIGEON  ROOST,  July  6th,  1822. 
My  Dear  Friend  Rev.  Byington: 

I  was  rejoiced  to  learn  from  Rev.  King-sbury  good  news 
from  Elliott,  and  that  health  of  family  was  much  better.  It 
is  indeed  good  news  to  me  to  hear  that  Mr.  Ward  has 
brought  the  large  boys  under  his  Government  once  more. 
After  all  our  fuss  and  talk  and  grumbling  and  dissatisfaction 
on  the  part  of  we  Chahtahs,  I  hope  good  will  result 'from  it. 
I  did  feel  sorry  when  I  was  there  to  witness  some  bad  con 
duct  of  the  scholars  there.  But  I  hope  good  may  overrule  for 
the  best — this  is  my  sincere  wish.  Some  days  since  I  was 
at  Mayhew  and  staid  there  few  days,  and  I  am  happy  to  say 
to  you  that  family  were  well,  and  the  scholars  are  doing  well, 
and  all  in  good  health.  The  children  go  out  to  work  cheer 
fully,  and  •  come  in  the  school  cheerfully,  and  mine  their 
teacher  cheerfully,  and  on  the  hole  I  think  they  improve 
most  handsomely — and  the  missionary  spirit  at  Mayhew  I 
think  it  is  good — they  all  appear  to  do  what  they  can.  We 
shall  have  a  council  18th  inst.  at  Mayhew — with  the  chiefs  and 
warriors  of  this  District.  I  shall  want  Mr.  Kingsbury  to 
give  them  a  straight  talk.  I  have  no  news  to  inform  you  at 
present  that  is  worth  your  notice.  Give  me  some  news  if 
you  have  any.  .  Present  my  best  wishes  to  the  Mission  fam 
ily.  I  am — Dear  Sir— your  friend, 

DAVID  FOLSOM. 
Rev.  C.  Byington. 

January  7th,  1829. 
My  Dear  Friend  Rev.  C.  Byington: — 

I  am  informed  you  have  gone  to  Columbus,  and  I  do  not 
know  it  is  best  that  you  were  there  with  the  lame  hand  you 
had.  I  did  not  like  the  look  of  your  hand  other  day.  I  think 
it  would  be.  well  for  you  to  be  very  careful  hereafter  and  en 
deavor  to  get  your  hand  well.  As  to  our  appoint  at  Aiikhuna 
(a  school  or  place  of  learning),  you  need  not  feel  any  disap 
pointment.  I  shall  try  to  go  over  agreeable  to  promise,  it 
was  made  to  the  people,  if  I  should  be  permitted  to  go  by  the 
almighty  hand..  I  shall  try  to  go  and  see  the  people — if  I  only 
just  go  there  and  shake  hands  and  see  the  people.  Mr. 
Williams  will  be  there,  and  he  can  preach  to  the  people  if  it 
be  necessary  to  do  so.  I  trust,  if  I  am  not  deceived,  the 
Lord  has  done  great  things  for  my  soul.  Pray  for  me 
brother. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  your  friend, 
Aiikhuna.  D.   FOLSOM. 

I  have  copied  the  above  four  letters  of  Colonel  David 
Folsom  from  the  original  without  any  alteration  whatever. 


--  r:-  .  —  • 

356  .     \.       HISTORY    OF    THE 

Though  there  are  defects,  yet,  when  we  consider  the  limited 
opportunity  offered  in  six  months  tuition— and  only  six 
months — and  the  writer  beginning-  at  the  alphabet  of  a  lan 
guage  foreign  to  his  native  tongue,  and  of  which  he  compar^ 
atively  knew  nothing,  are  they  not  remarkable  productions, 
especially  in  that  of  their  orthography?  And  when  we  also 
take  into  consideration  that  Colonel  David  Folsom  is  but  one 
of  hundreds  of  Choctaws,  as  well  as  of  other  North  American 
Indians  all  over  the  continent,  as  will  be  successfully  estab 
lished,  do  not  the  united  voices  of  truth  and  justice  proclaim 
the  falsity  of  the  assertion,  "The  Indian  could  never  be  ed 
ucated  from  his  savagery."  Here  I  will  introduce  to  the 
reader  the  Rev.  Israel  Folsom,  a  younger  brother  of  the 
great  and  good  Colonel  David  Folsom,  either  of  whom  to 
know  was  to  love,  yet  true  Choctaw  Indians.  But  Rev.  Israel 
Folsom 's  name  belongs  alone  to  the  religious  history  of  his 
country  and  people,  by  whom  such  a  man  cannot  be  forgot 
ten.  The  cause  for  which  he  so  prodigally  spent  himself  is 
his  people;  but  I  honor  his  name.  What 'Christian  can  J>e 
dead  to  the-  lesson  of  self-sacrifice,  and  life-long  devotion, 
which  his  noble  career  so  eminently  exemplified?  Who  of 
those  who  knew  him  can  doubt  that  after  life's  journey  he 
entered  into  that  everlasting  rest  which,  while  on  earth,  he 
so  wistfully  contemplated,  and  so  interestingly  discoursed 
upon? 

His  conversion  to  the  Christian  religion  was  somewhat 
peculiar.  After  he  had  become  the  head  of  a  family,  he  came 
in  possession  of  some  deistical  books  handed  to  him  by  some 
of  that  class  of  whites  who  would  not  only  degrade  the  In 
dian  upon  earth  but  also  damn  his  soul  in  eternity.  But  the 
God  of  pity  and  love  thwarted  the  designs  of  the  white,  mis 
creant  by  interposing  in  behalf  of  his  untutored,  inexperi 
enced  and  unsophisticated  child  of  nature,  as  the  sequel  will 
prove.  For  several  years  he  carefully  and  diligently  read 
the  deistical  works,  to  the  gradual  neglect  of  the  religious 
books,  especially  the  Bible,  all  of  which,  had  been  furnished 
him  by  those  devoted  missionaries,  with  their  frequent 
prayers  for  God's  blessing  to  accompany  them.  Those 
prayers  of  faith  followed  the  Choctaw  student  from  his  home 
east  of  the  Mississippi  river  to  his  new  home  in  the  west; 
when  he  still  read  his  deistical  books,  and  devoted  much 
thought  and-calm  reflection  upon  their  teachings  while  en 
gaged  in  the  duties  of  his  extensive  farm  and  stock  ranch. 
One  beautiful  spring  morning,  having  ridden  out  upon  the 
prairie  to  look  after  his  cattle,  and  while  reflecting  upon 
what  he  had  read  the  night  before,  which  denied  the  exist 
ence  of  a  First  Great  Cause,  he  asked  himself:  "Then 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  357 

whence  came  the  green  grass  that  now  covers  this  vast 
prairie  as  with  a  carpet,  that  stretches  away  before  me  on 
every  side?  Whence-came  the  innumerable  flowers  of  varie- 
;gated  colors  that  so  delight  my  eye?  Whence  came  the  cattle, 
the  horses,  the  birds,  and  all  other  animals?  Ah!  Whence 
came  I,  myself?  There  must  be  a  God.  There  is  a  God!" 
Then  and  there  he  sprang  from  his  horse,  fell  upon  his 
knees,  and  in  earnest  prayer  sought  light  from  Him,  who 
hath  said,  "In  the  day  that  ye  seek  me  with  all  thy  heart, 
I  will  be  found  of  thee,"  and  arose  a  changed  man!  He  at 
once  turned  his  steps  homeward,  entered  his  house,  and- 
without  speaking  a  word  gathered  every  deistical  and  in 
fidel  book  that  had  so  long  contaminated  and  polluted  his 
house  and  led  him  astray,  and  in  one  pile  threw  them  into 
the  lire;  then  went  out  of  the  house,  took  his  stand  where 
he  could  see  the  top  of  the  chimney,  and,  as  the  black  smoke, 
made  blacker  by  the  consuming  falsehoods  of  their  infamous 
^contents,  ascended  in  dark  rolls  to  the  sky,  shouted  as  he 
waved  his  hand  to  its  final  adieu,  "Beholcl  infidelity"!  and 
from  that  moment  gave  his  life  to  the  ministry,  and  in  that 
capacity  filled  a  large ,sphere  of  usefulness,  and  sat  upon  the 
throne  of  a  wide  public  esteem. 

By  precept  and  example,  he  endeavored  to  lead  the 
minds  of  his  people  into  the  paths  of  virtue  and  truth.  His 
great  effort  was  to  train  them  morally  by  impressing  upon 
.them  the  value  of  Christian  truth,  as  the  basis  of  Christian 
character  and  life.  In  his  nature  he  was  modest  and  retir 
ing,  but  his  social  qualities  were  of  the  highest  order;  and 
as  husband,  father,  citizen1,  friend  and  preacher  of  the  Gos 
pel,  he  illustrated  in  his  daily  life  all  those  noble  attributes 
which  make  up  and  form  the  highest  type  of  true  manhood. 
His  fine  sensibility  fitted  itself  to  every  demand  that  could 
be  made  upon  it  in  his  family  and  social  relations.  He  was 
happy  in  making  others  happy,  tender,  true  and  devoted; 
and  his  ways  were  truly  the  ways  of  simplicity  and  gentle 
ness.  Thus  lived  and  died  this  great  man — great,  not  in 
the  present  acceptation  of  the  word  in  this  age  of  folly  and 
.sin,  but  in  that  of  truth,  an  ornament  to  the  truth,  and  a 
gem  in  the  diadem  of  his  Redeemer.  Truly,  so  grand  a 
specimen  of  the  old  school  of  Presbyterianism  should  not  be 
lost  from  the  view  of  succeeding  generations;  who,  in 
.strength  of  faith,  ardor  of  hope,  and  zealous  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  man's  Redeemer,  and  unwearied  labor  for  the  sal 
vation  of  souls,  had  few  equals  in  any  age  of  that  glorious1 
-church  of  Christ. 

One  has   spoken  of  him   as   "one  of  the  saintliest  men 
'•with  whom  he  had  ever  been  acquainted";  and  all  those  who 


358  HISTORY   OF   THE  INDIANS. 

knew  him  will  fully  acquiesce  in  the  truth  of  that  statement. 
He  was  indeed  a  most  sincere  Christian;  a  man  of  great 
spirituality;  in  which  there  was  nothing"  morbid  or  senti 
mental,  nor  yet  bustling  and  obtrusive;  but  unaffected  and 
genuine,  and  at  the  same  time  most  active  and  efficient.  The 
elements  of  character  which  contributed  to  his  success 
were  his  simplicity,  solidity  and  godly  sincerity.  He  was 
one  who  believed  what  he  preached,  and  practiced  what  he 
taught.  He  united  gentleness  with  decision  of  character, 
and  was  firm  in  his  convictions,  yet  free  of  obstinacy;  and 
when  convinced  of  his  errors,  he  at  once  retracted.  No  one 
ever  knew  him  to  knowingly  sacrifice  a  right  principle,  frus 
trate  a  worthy  purpose,  shrink  from  a  known  duty,  betray  a 
sacred  trust,  speak  evil  of  his  fellowman,  forsake  a  friend 
or  injure  an  enemy.  Insincerity  was  a  stranger  in  his 
breast,  and  to  say  or  do  anything-  for  effect  never  entered  his 
honest  mind.  Though  not  what  the  world  would  call  a  bril 
liant  preacher,  yet  he  possessed"  what  many  brilliant  preach 
ers  lack — good,  common  sense;  for  extravagances  or  eccen 
tricities  never  marred  his  own  labors,  nor  were  the  legiti 
mate  effect  of  his  pulpit  works  cancelled  by  his  erratelife. 

Rev.  Israel  Folsom  always  gave  one  tenth  of  his  annual 
income  to  the  church;  and  in  his  will,  left  one  tenth  of  his 
property  to  the  church  to  which  he  was  attached  ;  and 
though  time  seemed  to  have  prematurely  whitened  his  locks, 
yet  it  also  seemed  to  have  gently  touched  his  stalwart  frame, 
and  his  manly  features  indicated  to  the  last  a  character  that 
had  met  life's  vicissitudes  as  a  man  should  meet  them.  His 
native  strength  and  force  still  seemed  like  the  beautiful 
country  in  which  he  lived — once  wild  and  rugged  indeed,  but 
now  softened  and  humanized  by  years  of  culture.  It  was 
evident  that  he  looked  at  the  world,  as  mirrored  before  him, 
not  with  cynicism  nor  mere  curiosity,  but  with  a  heart  in 
sympathy  with  all  the  influences  that  were  making  it  better. 
He  died  April  24,  1870,  and  was  buried  at  Old  Boggy  Depot, 
Choctaw  Nation,  Indian  Territory,  aged  67  years,  11  months 
and  22  days.  Such  was  Rev.  Israel  Folsom,  of  whom  it  may 
be  said:  He  was  a  remarkable  illustration  of  the  power  of 
Christianity — a  great  mind,  once  entangled  in  the  meshes  of 
error,  but  broke  away,  grasped  the  truth  and  yielded  not 
with  his  expiring  breath.  His  was  a  religion  that  endured  ; 
a  bright  and  shining  light  to  all  his  people;  a  morning  star 
that  had  arisen,  casting  its  wild  light  over  the  dark  cloud 
which,  for  untold  centuries,  had  hung  its  dark  and  gloomy 
pall  over  his  nation;  and  though  it  seemed  to  se,t  prema 
turely,  yet  it  cast  back  a  light  that  illuminated  the  path  of 
truth.  But  the  veil  of  silence  has  been  drawn  over  as  true 


HISTORY   OF   THE  INDIANS.  359 

and  unselfish  a  life  as  was  ever  laid  at  the  Master's  feet; 
yet  his  grand  Christian  life  will  remain  a  bright,  shining* 
light,  animating  and  encouraging  his  loved  ones  left  behind, 
while  memory  endures. 

I  will  here  give  the  following  of  the  Choctaw  people, 
from  the  pen  of  their  great  and  good  countryman,  Rev. 
Israel  Folsom,  which  I  have  copied  from  the  original  without 
alteration  whatever,  furnished  me  by  his  daughter  Czarena, 
now  Mrs.  Rabb,  and  never  before  published: 

"The  history  of  the  aborigines  of  America  has  been  one 
of  the  most  prominent  and  interesting  subjects  of  inquiry 
and  research  of  the  present  age.  The,  manners,  habits, 
customs  and  peculiarities  of  the  different  Indian  tribes,  have, 
for  many  years,  formed  a  theme  of  deep  interest  and  praise 
worthy  investigation  to  the  philanthropic  and  scientific 
world.  While  their  traditions  are  worthy  of  being  pre 
served,  on  account  of  their  similarity  to  some  of  the  won 
drous  and  attractive  events  recorded  in  the  Old  Testament, 
various  and  unsatisfactory  are  the  conjectures  set  forth  re 
garding  their  parent  root  or  origin.  Some;  with  a  good  show 
of  plausibility,  have  attempted  to  prove  that  they  are  of- Jew 
ish  extraction  and  constitute  a  remnant  of  the  lost  ten  tribes 
of  Israel;  Jthers  as  earnestly  agree,  that  they  are  but  a 
branch  or  off-shoot  from  the  Tartar,  Sclavonic  or  JTyrus 
race;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  a  class  of  speculative  his 
torians  make  bold  to  assert  that  they  are  not  of  Asiatic  line 
age,  and  do  not,  therefore,  owe  in  common  with^mankind 
their  descent  from  Adam.  The  first  view  is  supported  by 
the  Indians  themselves,  but  gives  little  strength  or  addition 
al  force  to  the  argument.  Whatever  value,  or  otherwise, 
may  be  attached  to  one  or  all  of  these  theories,  which  to  a 
large  extent  they  onlv  are,  one  thing  is  clear  and  beyond 
contradiction,  that  the  white  people  in  general  have,  com 
paratively  speaking,  but  a  very  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 
Indian  race. 

"During  the  earlier  period  of  the  history  of  America,  and 
shortly  after  its  discovery,  the  monarchs  of  Europe,  fired 
with  the  lust  of  conquest  and  spoil,  attempted,  but  in  vain, 
to  subjugate  the  Indians  and  rivet  the  shackles  of  slavery 
upon  them.  They  however,  carried  this  purpose  so  far  into 
execution,  as  cruelly  to  tear  them  away  from  their  peaceful 
homes  and  endeared  families,  and  transported  them  by 
thousands  into  various  parts  of  the  world.  These  unjust 
proceedings,  instead  of  quenching  the  indomitable  love  of 
liberty,  which  so  strongly  and  brightly  burned  in  their 
breasts,  served  only  to  arouse  the  full  power  of  resistance 


360  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

against  their  oppressors,  which   ultimately  had   the  effect  of 
freeing-  them  from  such  bondage. 

'Tliey  may  bury  the  steel  in  the   Indian's  Breast; 
Thev  may  lay  him  low  with  his  sires  to  rest, 
His  scattered  race  from  their  heritage  push, 
But  his  dauntless  spirit  they  cannot  break.' 

"From  that  period  up  to  the  present  time,  the  Indians 
have  been  and  are  still  receiving  everything  but  justice.  In 
fact  ever  since  the  Christian  world  gained  a  foot-hold  upon 
the  American  continent  and  erected  the  cross  on  its  shores 
they  have  had  no  rest,  but  have  been  defrauded,  trodden 
down,  oppressed,  scattered,  and  weakened.  Their  condi 
tion  has  -'been  one  of  constant  suffering  and  injustice. 
Avarice,  the  demon  of  civilized  man,  has  worked  heavily 
upon  them,  the  result  of  which  is,  that  only  a  sad  and  melan 
choly  history  c-an  be  written  in  regard  to  their  past  and 
present  conditions.  Yet  a  people  possessed  of  such  rare 
and  remarkable  traits,  should  not  be  permitted  to  pass  away 
without  some  notice  and  record  of  their  history. 

"But  how  true,  wheii  nature  is  wounded  through  all  her 
dearest  ties,  she  must  and  will  turn  on  the  hand  that  stabs 
and  endeavor  to  wrest  the  poniard  from  the  grasp  that 
aims  at  the  life,  pulse  of  her  breast!  And  this  she  will  do  in 
obedience  to  that  immutable  law,  which  blends  the  instinct 
of  self-preservation  with  every  atom  of  human  existence. 
And  for  this,  in  less  felicitous  times,  when  oppression  and 
war  succeeded  alternately  to  each  other,  was  the  name 
Indian  blended  with  the  epithet  'cruel,'  therefore,  when  they 
(the  whites)  talk  or  write  about  the  Indians'  wild,  savage, 
and  irreclaimable  nature,  they  speak  not  nor  write  as  they 
know  or  feel,  but  as  they  hear,  by  which  and  through  which 
they  have  been  educated  to  regard  the  Indian  race  as  beings 
forming  a  lower  link  than  humanity  in  the  chain  of  nature, 
and  -finding-  only  a  place  for  them  in  the  ranks  of  ferocious 
beasts  of  prey;  but  this,  with  other  innumerable  errors  of 
both  excusable  ignorance,  but  in  most  cases,  that  of  inex 
cusable  ignorance  and  great  want  of  principle,  is  shamefully 
unjust;  since  the  Indians'  cruelty  to  the  White  Race  as  a 
whole,  has  not  been  greater  than  that  practiced  upon  them 
by  the  White  Race,  proving  that  they  possess  as  humane 
dispositions  as  any  nation  of  people  under  the  same 
circumstances  and  in  the  same  state  of  moral  and  intellectual 
culture. 

"As  comprising  an  important  chapter  of  this  great  sub 
ject,  I  will  now  proceed  to  give  a  brief  narrative  of  the  Choc- 
taw  tribe  of  red  people — their  traditions,  government,  relig"- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  361 

ious  belief,  customs  and  manners,  anterior  to  the  introduc 
tion  of  the  gospel  among-  them.  To  guard  against  any 
misconception,  however,  I  deem  it  proper  to  state  that  their 
traditions  and  history  are  so  much  commingled,  it  is  difficult 
to  separate  them  without  destroying,  in  a  great  measure,  the 
interest  of  the  subject,  and  I  have,  therefore,  to  some  ex 
tent,  interwoven  them. 

NAME  AND  MIGRATION  FROM  THE  WEST. — THE  PRO 
PHET  WARRIOR,  AND  THE  ENCHANTED  POLE.  —  "  The 
name  Choctaw,  or  Chahtah  is,  derived  from  a  pro-- 
phet  warrior  who  flourished  at  a  time  too  remote  for  fixing 
any  date, as  it  is  only  handed  down  by  tradition  from  one  gen 
eration  to  another. 

"Headed  by  him,  tradition  informs  us,  the  people  in  one 
grand  division  migrated  to  the  East  from  a  country  far  to 
ward  the  setting  sun,  following  the  Cherokees  and  Musco- 
gees,  who  had  moved  on,  four  years  previous,  in  search  of  a 
suitable  spot  for  a  permanent  location.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  possessed  of  all  the  characteristics  essential  to  the  car 
rying  out  of  such  an  enterprise  to  a  successful  termination. 
His  benevolence  and  many  other  virtues  are  still  cherished 
and  held  in  sacred  remembrance  by  his  people.  The  coun 
try  whence  they  migrated,  or  the  causes  which  induced  them 
to  seek  another  place  of  habitation,  is  wrapt  in  mysterious 
oblivion,  as  their  tradition  begins  abruptly  with  the  epoch  of 
migratfon.  In  moving  from  place  to  place,  Chahtah  is  said 
to  have  carried  a  high  staff  or  pole  which,  on  encamping,  was 
immediately  placed  in  front  of  his  wigwam,  where  it  re 
mained  until  they  broke  up  encampment.  His  wigwam  is 
represented  to  have  been  placed  in  the  van  of  all  the  tribe. 
When  the  pole  inclined  forward — a  power  which  it  was  be 
lieved  to  possess — the  people  prepared  to  march.  This  is 
somewhat  analogous  to  the  cloud  by  day  and  pillar  of  fire  by 
night,  by  which  the  Lord,  through  His  beloved  servant, 
guided  the  children  of  Israel  from  Egypt.  After  many 
years  of  wanderings,  during  which  "they,  in  common  'with 
Ihose  who  have  ever  engaged  in  similar  enterprises,  suffered 
many  trials  and  privations,  they  at  .length-  arrived  at  a  cer 
tain  place,  where  the  staff  stood  still  and,  instead  of  bending 
forward,  inclined  backward,  which  was  regarded  as  a  sign 
they  were  at  their  journey's  end.  To  this  place  where  the 
staff  stood  still,  Chahtah  gave  the  name  of  Nun-nih  Wai-ya. 
The  exact  period  of  the  termination  of  their  wanderings  is 
unknown.  So  soon  as  they  got  in  some  degree  settled,  Chah 
tah  called  the  warriors  together  for  the  purpose  of  organiz 
ing  a  code  of  laws  for  their  government.  At  this  place  of 
rest,  JSTunnih  Waiya,  the^  built  strong  fortifications  in  order 


362  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

to  protect  themselves  from  any  foe  who  might  conceive  hos 
tile  intentions  against  them.  Whether  or  not  they  were  ever 
assailed  sre  unknown.  The  remains  of  the  fortress,  how 
ever,  is  still  to  be  seen  in  Mississippi.  A  long  time  did  not 
elapse  before  their  newly  acquired  territory  was  found  to  be 
too  limited  to  hold  their  rapidly  increasing  numbers,  and 
they  were  in  consequence  compelled  to  spread  themselves 
over  the  adjacent  country,  and  form  themselves  in  villages. 
It  is  a  well  authenticated  fact  that  from  this  out-pouring  or 
scattering,  sprung  the  Indians  called  Shukchi,  Hummas  and 
Yazoos. 

DOMESTIC  GOVERNMENT. — "In  the  domestic  government 
the  oldest  brother  or  uncle  was  the  head;  the  parents  being 
required  merely  to  assist  in  the  exercise  of  this  duty  by 
their  advice  and  example.  This  was  similar  in  a  great  de 
gree  to  the  Patriarchal  government  in  vogue  among  the 
Jews. 

TRIBAL  GOVERNMENT. — ''The  tribal  or  national  govern 
ment  was  vested  in  the  royal  family.  Their  criminal  code 
was  simple  in  the  extreme — life  for  life.  For  minor  offenses 
they  inflicted  punishments  or  imposed  fines  suited  to  the 
nature  of  the  case.  They  were  under  the  government  of 
custom  or  common  law  of  the  Nation.  All  their  matters  of 
dispute  or  difficulty  were  settled  in  open  council.  They 
had  no  such  officers  as  constables  or  sheriffs,  but  the  chief 
had  power  at  any  time  to  order  out  any  number  of  warriors 
to > bring  offenders  to  justice.  The  chief's  office  was  one 
merely  of  supremacy  or  leadership,  and  consequently  there 
was  no  pay  attached  to  it  as  at  present. 

IDOLS — SPIRITS — SACRED  FIRES. — They  never  worshiped 
idols,  or  any  works  of  their  own  hands,  as  other  savage 
nations.  They  believed  in  the  existence  of  a  Great  Spirit, 
and  that  He  possessed  super-natural  power,  and  was  omni 
present,  but  they  did  not  deem  that  He  expected  or  required 
any  form  of  worship  of  them.  They  had  110  idea  of  God  as 
taught  by  revealed  religion — no  conception  of  His  manifold 
mercies,  or  the  atonement  made  for  sin.  All  they  felt  was  a 
dread  of  His  attributes  and  character,  made  (manifest  to 
them  by  the  phenomena  of  the  heavens.  But  in  common 
writh  the  believers  of  the  Scriptures,  they  held  the  doctrine 
of  future  rewards  and  punishments.  They  differed  from 
them,  however,  as  to  the  location  of  heaven  and  their  views 
of  happiness- and  misery.  Heaven,  or  the  happy  hunting 
grounds,  in  their  imagination,  was  similar  to  the  Elysian 
fields  of  the  heathen  mythology.  There  the  spirit  of  those 
who  had  been  virtuous,  honest  and  truthful,  while  on  earth,, 
enjoyed,  in  common  with  youthful  angels,  all  manner  of 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  363 

games  and  voluptuous  pleasures,  with  no  care,  no  sorrow, 
nothing-  but  one  eternal  round  of  enjoyment.  They  be 
lieved  that  angels  or  spirits  seldom  visited  the  earth,  and 
cared  but  very  little  about  doing  so,  as  being  supplied  in 
heaven  with  everything  suitable  to -their  wants,  nothing  was 
required  from  the  earth.  According  to  their  notion,  heaven 
was  located  in  the  southwestern  horizon,  and  spirits,  instead 
of  ascending,  according  to  the  Christian  idea,  sped  their 
last  journey  in  a  line  directly  above  the  surface  of  the  earth 
in  the  direction  of  the  southwest  horizon.  Previous  to  a 
spirit's  admission  into  the  happv  hunting  ground,  it  was  ex 
amined  by  the  attendant  angel  at  the  gate,  who  consigned  i.t 
to  heaven  or  hell  according  to  its  deeds  on  earth.  Their  hell, 
or  place  of  punishment,  as  they  termed  it,  was  the  reverse 
of  the  happy  hunting  ground — a  land  full  of  briers,  thorns, 
and  every  description  of  prickly  plants,  which  could  inflict 
deep  cuts,  causing  intense  pain  from  which  there  was  no 
escape;  onward  they  must  go — no  healing  oil  for  their 
wounds — nothing  but  an  eternity  of  pain — no  games — no 
voluptuous  pleasures — nothing  save  an  illimitable  land  of 
blasted  foliage. 

They  also  believed  in  the  existence  of  a  devil,  whom  they 
designated  Na-lusa-chi-to,  a  great  black  being,  or  soul  eater, 
who  found  full  occupation  in  terrifying  and  doing  all  manner 
of  harm  to  people.  He  accords  well  with  the  one  described 
in  the  Scriptures;  "who  goeth  about  like  a  roaring  lion  seek 
ing  whom  he  may  devour."  Previous  to  a  spirit  winging  its 
flight  to  the  happv  hunting  ground,  or  the  land  of  briers'  and 
blasted  foliage,  it  was  supposed  to  hover  around  the  place 
where  its  tabernacle  lay  for  several  days — four  at  least. 
They  believed  that  the  happy  hunting  ground  was  at  a  dis 
tance  of  many  days  journey.  When  a  person  died,  provis 
ion  was  prepared  for  the  journey  under  the  supposition  that 
the  departed  spirit  still  possessed  hunger.  Upon  the  death 
of  a  man,  his  dog  was  killed,  that  its  spirit  might  accompany 
that  of  its  master.  Ponies,  after  they  were  introduced,  were 
also  killed,  that  the  spirit  might  ride.  They  believed  that 
all  animals  had  spirits.  During  four  days  a  fire  was  kept 
kindled  a  few  steps  in  front  of  the  wigwam  of  the  deceased,* 
whether  the  weather  was  cold  or  hot.  They  imagined,  that 
if  the  spirit  found  no  fire  kindled  in  that  manner  for  his 
benefit,  it  would  become  exceedingly  distressed  and  angry, 
especially  when  the  night  was  cold,  dark  and  stormy.  A 
bereaved  mother,  on  the  loss  of  her  child,  would  kindle  up  a 
fire  and  sit  by  it  all  night.  The  wife  on  the  loss  of  a  husband 
performed  the  same  vigil.  In  either  case  a  rest  in  sleep  was 
denied.  For  six  months  or  more,  in  case  of  the  death  of  a 


364  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

chief,  the  sorrowing  and  mourning  relations  indicated  their 
grief  in  many  ways.  The  men,  in  the  early  part  of  their- 
time  of  mourning,  remained  silent  and  subdued,  ate  very 
sparingly,  and  abstained  from  all  kinds  of  amusements,  and 
from  decking  themselves  out  in  their  usual  manner;  the 
women  did  the  same,  with  this  difference,  that  they  remained 
at  home  prostrated  with  grief — their  hair  streaming  over 
their  shoulders,  unoiled  and  undressed,  being  seated  on 
skins  close  to  the  place  of  burial  or  sacred  fire.  They  not 
unfrequently  broke  the  silence  of  sadness  by  heart  piercing 
exclamations  expressive  of  their  grief.  For  a  long'  time  they 
would  continue  to  visit  the  grave  regularly  morning  and  even 
ing  to  mourn  and  weep. 

MODE  OF  BURIAL — BONE-PICKERS. — ORIGIN  OF  THE  MIS 
SISSIPPI  MOUNDS. — l'The  mode  of  burial  practiced  by  the 
Choctaws  consisted  in  placing  the  corpse  five  or  six  feet 
from  the  ground  upon  a  platform  of  rough  timber  made  for 
that  purpose,  covered  with  a  rough  kind  of  cloth  of  their 
own  making,  or  skins  of  wild  animals  and  bark  of  trees. 
After  remaining  in  that  condition  until  the  flesh  had  very 
nearly  or  altogether  decayed,  the  bones  were  then  taken 
down  by  the  bone-pickers  (persons  appointed  for  that  duty) 
and  carefully  put  in  wooden  boxes  made  for  that  purpose, 
which  were  placed  in  a  house  built  and  set  apart  for  them. 
These  were  called  bone-houses;-  whenever  they  became  full, 
the  bones  were  all  taken  out  and  carefully  arranged  to  a  con 
siderable  height  somewhat  in  the  form  of  a  pyramid  or  cone, 
and  a  layer  of  earth  put  over  them.  This  custom,  which 
prevailed  among  many  different  tribes,  is,  no  doubt,  the  or 
igin  of  the  Indian  mounds,  as  they  are  generally  called, 
which  are  found  in  various  parts  of  the  country, -particularly 
in  the  States  of  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  formerly  the  home 
of  the  Choctaws.  When  the  custom  of  placing  the  dead 
upon  platforms  was  abandoned,  which  met  with  strong  op 
position,  they  buried  their  dead  in  a  sitting  posture  in  the 
grave ;  around  the  grave  they  set  half  a  dozen  red  poles  about 
eight  feet  high,  ancf  one  about  fifteen  feet  high,  at  the  top  of 
which  a  white  flag  was  fastened.  The  occupation  of  the 
bone-pickers  having  been  abolished,  it  then  became  their 
business  to  make  and  set  up  red  poles  around  the  graves, 
and  afterwards  to  remove  them  at  the  expiration  of  the  time' 
of  mourning,  and  hence  they  were  called  pole-pullers.  They 
were  respected  by  the  people,  and  for  less  labor  being  im 
posed  upon  them,  they  were  pleased  with  the  change  in  the 
burial  of  the  dead.  At  the  pole-pullings,  which  as  stated, 
was  at  the  expiration  of  the  time  of  mourning,  a  vast  collec 
tion  of  people  would  assemble  to  join  in  a  general  mourning. 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  365 

After  much  food  had  been  consumed  they  would  disperse  to 
their  respective  homes,  and  the.  mourning-  relations  w^puld  oil 
their  hair  and  dress  up  as  usual. 

•  TRADITION  OF  THE  FLOOD. — The  tradition,  as  related  by 
wise  men  of  the  Nation,  about  the  flood,  is  as  follows:  A 
long-  continued  night  came  upon  the  land,  which  created  no 
small  degree  of  fear  and  uneasiness  among  the  people. 
Their  fears  were  increased  at  seeing  the  terrible  buffaloes, 
and  the  fleet  deer  making  their  appearance,  and  after  them 
the  bears  and  panthers,  wolves,  and  others  approaching  their 
habitations;  suspicious  at  first  of  their  intentions,  they 
thought  of  placing  themselves  beyond  the  reach  of  the  more 
dangerous  animals,  but  instead  of  exhibiting  any  disposition 
of  ferocity,  they  seemed  rather  to  claim  protection  at  their 
hands.  This  presented  an  opportunity  of  having  a  jubilee 
of  feasting,  and  they  therefore  indulged  themselves  to  the 
fullest  bent  of  their  propensity  and  inclinations  by  an  indis 
criminate  massacre  of  the  animals.  Having  thus  feasted  for 
some  time,  they  at  last  saw  daylight  appearing.  But  what 
surprised  them  much,  was,  they  saw  it  coming  from  the 
north.  They  were  at  a  loss  what  to  think  of  it.  They, 
however,  supposed  that  the  sun  must  have  missed  his  path, 
and  was  coming  up  from  another  direction,  which  caused 
the  unusual  long  night,  or  perhaps  he  had  purposely  changed 
his  course,  to  rise  hereafter  in  the  north  instead  of  the  east. 
While  such  conjectures  were  making,  some  fast  runners 
arrived  as  messengers  coming  from  the  direction  of  the  sup 
posed  day  light,  and  announced  to  them  that  the  light  which 
they  saw  was  not  the  day  light,  but  that  it  was  a  flood  slowly 
approaching,  dro\vning  and  destroying  everything.  Upon 
this  report  the  people  fled  to  the  mountains,  and  began  to 
construct  rafts  of  sassafras  wood,  binding  them  together 
with  vines,  believing  this  expedient  would  save  them  from  a 
watery  grave.  But  alas,  delusive  hope!  fed*  the  bears  were 
swimming  around  in  countless  numbers,  being  very  fond  of 
vine  twigs  gnawed  them  through,  thereby  setting  loose  the 
materials  of  the  raft,  and  bringing  the  people  under  dark 
waters.  Their  cries,  wailing  and  agony,  were  unheard  and 
unseen.  But  there  was  one  man  who  prepared  and  launched 
a  strong  peni  or  boat,  into  which  he  placed  his  family  and 
provisions  and  thus  floated  upon  the  deep  waters.  For 
days  the  Penikbi  (boat  builder)  strained  his  eyes  looking  all 
around  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  the  existence  of 
some  animal  life,  and  a  place  at  which  to  anchor  his  vessel. 

"Nothing  met  his  sight  save  the  cheerlees  waste  of 
waters.  The  hawks,  eagles  and  other  birds  of  the  same 
class,  had  all,  'when  they  found  that  the  tops  of  the  moun- 


366  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

tains  could  not  render  them  a  lighting-  place  from  the  flood, 
flown  to  the  sky  and  clung-  on  to  it  with  their  talons,  and  re 
mained  until  the  flood  abated,  when  they  returned  to  their 
old  haunts  and  resumed  their  natural  propensities  and 
habits.  An  indication  of  the  disappearing-  of  the  flood  thus 
manifested  itself.  A  crow  made  its  appearance  and  so  much 
delig-hted  to  see  the  boat,  that  it  flew  around  and  around  it. 
The  Penikbi,  overjoyed  beyond  measure,  addressed  the 
sable  bird,  wishing-  to  elicit  some  information  from  it  as  to 
whereabouts,  and  whether  or  not  the  flood  was  subsiding 
any,  but  it  heeded  him  not,  seeming  to  be  determined  to  con 
sult  its  own  safety  before  that  of  any  One  else;  but  scarcely 
had  the  crow  winged  away  from  the  peni  before  a  dove  was 
described  flying  towards  it,  and  011  reaching  it,  the  Penikbi 
with  joy  perceived  a  leaf  in  its  bill.  It  flew  several  times 
around  but  did  not  alight;  after  doing  so  took  its  course 
slowly  flying  toward  the  west,  but  seemingly  anxious  that 
Penikbi  would  steer  in  the  direction  it  flew,  which  he  did 
faithfully  following  the  course.  In  this  way  many  a  weary 
mile  was  traveled,  before  seeing  a  place  to  land.  At  length 
a  mountain  became  visible,  and  never  did  a  benighted  ma 
riner  hail  the  sight  of  land  as  Penikbi  did,  when  its  sum 
mit  became  visible.  When  he  had  safely  landed,  the  dove 
flew  away  to  return  no  more.  Though  this  diluvial  story  is 
in  some  respects  absurd,  still,  the  intelligible  portions  of 
it  concide  with  those  evidences  which  are  embalmed  in  the 
convictions  and  understanding  of  the  Christian  world,  in 
the  authenticity  of  the  inspired  Word.  It  is  strange  that 
the  Choctaws  should  have  been  in  possession  of  those  par 
ticulars  long  before  the  white  man  spread  before  them  the 
pages  of  life." 

Ancient  Choctaw  tradition  affirms  that  a  drouth  followed 
by  a  famine  in  corn,  peas,  beans,  etc.,  prevailed  throughout 
their  country  far  back  in  the  days  of  their  forefathers,  which 
continued  over  three  years;  that  all  the  tributaries  of  the 
Tanapoh  Ikbi  (Gun  Maker),  now  known  as  the  Tombigbee 
river,  together  with  all  the  lakes  and  jionds,  were  completely 
dried  up;  that  the  river  ceased  to  run,  the  water  standing 
only  in  holes  here  and  there,  that  all  the  larger  game  left 
the  country,  going  west;  that  the  buffalo,  then  inhabit 
ing  their  country,  never  returned.  Does  this  tradition  point 
back  to  those  remote  ages  in  which  the  Prophet  of  God  and 
king  Ahab  figured?  This  t/aditioiial  drouth  of  the  Choctaws 
continued  over  three  years,  that  of  the  Prophet  three  and  a 
half  years.  Did  it  extend  to  the  western  continent,  or  did 
the  tradition  refer  back  prior  to  their  ancestors'  migration 


HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS  367 

from  the  eastern  to  the  western  continent,  the  Tanapoh  Ikbi 
and  the  buffalo  being-  additions  of  a  future  generation? 

IKSA: — "The  Choctaws  were  divided  into  various  clans 
called  Iksa,  established  and  regulated  upon  principles  of 
unity,  fiidelity  and  charity.  They  held  this  to  be  a  neces 
sary  and  important  custom  to  be  sacredly  kept  and  inviola 
bly  observed  by  them  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstan 
ces,  and  never  to  be  forgotten.  If  one  should  be  found 
in  a  strange  place  far  from  home,  and  should  be  placed 
in  a  situation  to  need  assistance,  all  he  had  to  do  was 
to  give  the  necessary  intimation  of  his  membership  of  one 
of  those  Iksas,  and  upon  the  mention  of  the  name  of  that  clan 
he  would  never  fail  to  meet  one  or  more,  who  would  immedi 
ately  extend  to  him  the  hand  of  friendship.  Should  he  be 
sick,  in  want  or  in  distress,  relief  would  be  immediately 
administered.  The  marriage  of  persons  belonging-  to  the 
same  Iksa  was  forbidden  by  the  common  law  of  the  tribe. 
The  brotherly  love,  so  strongly  inculcated  and  highly  recom, 
mended  in  the  Inspired  Volume,  was  to  a  great  extent  prac 
ticed  under  this  sort  of  arrangement.  It  was  considered 
that  the  Nation  could  not  exist  without  the  Iksa.  One  Iksa 
piled  the  bones,  and  buried  the  dead  of  another.  No  Iksa 
performed  these  last  offices  to  any  of  its  own  Iksa.  Each 
had  their  bone-pickers — old  men  being  usually  chosenf  or  that 
purpose  and  were  held  in  high  esteem  on  account  of  their 
age  and  office. 

DOCTORS: — "I  believe  it  is  an  acknowledged  fact,  there  is 
no  nation  in  existence,  or  has  ever  existed,  but  has  had  doc 
tors.  This  shows  the  importance  of  the  profession.  The 
Choctaws  also  were  not  without  them.  But  perhaps  with  the 
advantage  over  all  others,  of  having  as  many  of  the  female  as 
of  the  male  sex,  who  were  quite  as  successful  in  their  prac 
tice  as  the  latter.  The  doctors  made  use  of  herbs  and  roots 
in  various  forms,  applied  and  given  in  different  modes — for 
emetics,  cathartics,  sweats,  wounds  and  sores ;  they  also 
made  use  of  cold  baths,  scarification,  cupping  and  blistered 
by  means  of  burning  punk,  and  practiced  suction  to  draw 
out  pain;  some  used  enchantment,  while  others  practiced  by 
magic,  pretending  to  have  learned  the  art  of  healing,  Mor 
mon-like,  by  special  revelation,  communicated  to  them  in 
some  retired  and  unfrequented  forest.  It  was  in  this  way, 
also,  it  was  said,  that  the  war-prophets  were  raised  up  to 
lead  the  people  to  battle.  At  a  high  price  and  much  expense 
the  doctors  of  both  sexes  learned  the  mode  and  manner  of 
the  use  of  herbs  and  roots.  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  remark, 
that  even  now  many  of  them  are  in  possession  of  some  use 
ful  and  important  means  of  cure.  They  have,  among  other 


368  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

thing's,  an  effectual  remedy  for  the  bite  of  the  rattle-snake, 
or  of  any  other  venomous  reptile,  the  bite  of  which  they 
consider  very  easy  of  cure. 

MESMERISM. — "Mesmerism  was  known  among  them, 
though  they  regarded  it  with  wonder  and  dread, 
and  it  was  looked  upon  as  injurious  and 
hurtful  in  its  results;  while  those  who  prac 
ticed  this  curious  art  had  often  to  pay  very  dearly  for  it, 
for  they  were  frequently  put  to  death.  Ventriloquism  has 
also  been  found  among  them,  and  used  solely  for  vain,  self 
ish  and  evil  designs,  but  to  the  great  danger  of  the  life  of  the 
person  practicing  it,  for  the  Choctaws  believe  that  whatever 
appears  supernatural,  is  suspicious  and  likely  at  any  time 
to  be  turned  to  evil  purposes. 

ECLIPSES. — BLACK  SQUIRRELS  EATING  UP  THE  SUN. — "Be 
fore  correctly  understanding  the  true  causes  of  the  eclipses 
of  the  sun,  all  heathen  nations  have  had  their  superstitious 
belief  in  regard  to  them.  It  was  so  with  the  Choctaws. 
Their  notions  were  strange  indeed.  When  t]ie  sun  began  to 
get  less  in  his  brightness,  and  g'row  dark  ancT  obscure,  they 
believed  that  some  thereal  black  squirrels  of  large  size, 
driven  by  hunger,  had  commenced  eating  him  and  were  going 
to  devour  him.  With  this  belief  they  thought  it  was  their 
duty  to  make  every  exertion  they  could  to  save  the  great 
luminary  of  day  from  being  consumed  by  them.  Therefore 
every  -person,  both  men,  women  and  children,  wrho  could 
make  a  noise,  were  called  upon  to  join  in  the  effort  to  drive 
the  squirrels  away.  To  do  this  they  would  begin  in  the 
same  manne^  as  persons  generallv  do  in  trying  to  start  a 
squirrel  off  from  a  tree.  Some  would  throw  sticks  towards 
the  declining  sun,  whooping  and  yelling,  at  the  same  time 
shooting  arrows  toward  the  supposed  black  squirrels. 

DANCES. — "They  had  various  kinds  of  dances  as  well  as 
other  people,  many  of  which  were,  however,  insignificant 
and  do  not  deserve  a  notice  here;  but  there  were  others 
which  were -considered  important  and  national,  such  as  the 
ball-play  dance,  the  war-dance,  eagle-dance,  and  scalp-dance, 
all  of  which  seem  to  have  been  the  result  of  rude  and  savage 
ideas.  The  training  of  their  young  men  consisted  princi 
pally  in  three  things;  viz.:  War,  hunting;,  and  ball-playjng. 
The  last  was  a  national  play  with  ball-sticks,  in  which  they 
all  took  much  pride.  In  that  for  war,  the  young  men  were 
required  to  pass  through  many  hard  exercises  of  the  body 
in  order  to  inure  them  to  hardships  and  suffering.  They 
were  required  to  receive  inflictions  of  tortures  on  their 
naked  bodies,  once  a  year,  and  also  to  plunge  into  deep  water 
and  dive  four  times  in  about  one  minute,  during  one  of  the 


'   HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  369 

cold  and  frosty  morning's.  Lectures  on  the  subject  of 
bravery  and  sincerity,  truth  and  justice,  towards  their 
friends,  were  often  given  them  by  some  of  the  bravest  of 
their  head-men.  In  fact,  no  other,  person  was  allowed  to  ad 
dress  the  young,  or  the  people  at  any  time,  but  those  only 
whose  bravery  had  been  long  known  and  acknowledged 
among-  them.  They  were  also  carefully  drilled  in  the  use  of 
the  bow,  with  which  they  were  expert  and  perfect.  They 
would  hardly  ever  miss  a  deer  or  turkey  at  the  distance  of 
fifty  yards. 

"The  girls  were  trained  up  to  perform  various  kinds  of 
domestic  employments,  as  well  as  to  work  in  the  field,  which 
was  but  little  at  that  time.  They  took  no  small  degree  of 
pride  in  the  latter,  viewing  it  as  a  proper  sphere  for  their  ex 
ertions.  The  women  would  ridicule  and  laugh  at  the  inen 
who  would  dare  to  undertake  that  kind  of  labor,  which  was 
considered  a.s  properly  belonging  to  the  women.  Their 
maxim  was — men  for  war  and  hunting;  while  home  is  the 
place  for  women,  and  theirs  the  duty  to  work. 

ANCIENT  CHOCTAW  COURTSHIP: — "When  the  young  Choc- 
taw  beau  went  the  first  time  to  see  his  'Fair  Oiie,'  after 
having  resolved  upon  matrimony,  he  tested  his  own  standing 
in  the  estimation  of  his  anticipated  bride  by  indifferently 
walking  into  the  room  where  she  is  seated 'with  the  rest  of 
the  family,  and,  during  the  general  conversation,  he  sought 
and  soon  found  an  opportunity  to  shoot,  slyly  and  unobserv 
ed,  a  little  stick  or  small  pebble  at  her.  She  soon  ascertained 
the  source  whence  they  came,  and  fully  comprehended  the 
signification  of  those  little  messengers  of  love.  If  approved, 
she  returned  them  as  slyly  and  silently  as  they  came.  If 
not,  she  suddenly  sprang  from  her  seat,  "turned  a  frowning 
face  of  disapproval  upon  him  and  silently  left  the  room. 
That  ended  the  matter,  though  not  a  word  had  been  spoken 
between  them.  But  when  the  little  tell-tales  skipped  back 
to  him  from  her  fingers,  followed  by  a  pair  of  black  eyes 
peeping  out  from  under  their  Ipng,  silken  eye-lashes,  he  joy 
fully  comprehended  the  import  and,  in. a  few  minutes,  arose 
and,  as  he  started  toward  the  door,  he  repeated  his  informal 
'Eali'  (I  go),  upon  which  a  response  of  assent  was'given  by 
the  father  or  mother  in  the  equally  informal  'Omih'  (very 
well). 

He  returned  in  two  or  three  days,  however,  with  a  few 
presents  for  the  parents,  and  to  secure  their  approval. 
Which  being  obtained,  a  day  was  appointed  for  the  marriage 
—a  feast  prepared  and  friends  invited.  When  all  had  assem 
bled,  the  groom  was  placed  in  one  room  and  the  bride  in 
another  and  the  doors  closed.  A  distance  of  two  or  three 


370  HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  * 

hundred  yards  was  then  measured  off,  and  at  the  farther  end 
a  little  pole,  neat  and  straight  was  set  up.  Then,  at  a  given 
signal,  the  door  of  the  bride's  room  was  thrown  open,  and 
at  once  she  spring's  out  and  starts  for  the  pole  with  the 
lightness  and  swiftness  of  an  antelope.  As  soon  as  she  has 
gotten  a  few  rods  the  start,  enough  for  her  to  keep  him  from 
overtaking-  her  if  she  was  so  inclined,  the  door  of  his  room 
was  thrown  open,  and  away  he  runs  with  seemingly  super 
human  speed,  much  to  the  amusement  of  the  spectators. 
Often,  as  if  to  try  the  sincerity  of  his  affection,  she  did  not 
let  him  overtake  her  until  within  a  few  feet  of  the  pole;  and 
sometimes,  when  she  had  changed  her  *mind  in  regard  to 
marrying-  him,  she  did  not  let  him  overtake  her,  which  was 
public  acknowledgement  of  the  tact,  and  the  groom  made  the 
race  but  to  be  grievously  disappointed — but  such  a  result 
seldom  happened.  As  soon  as  he  caught  her,  after  an  ex 
change  of  a  word  or  two,  he  gently  led  her  back  by  the  hand, 
and  were  met  about  half  way  by  the  lady  friends  of  the 
bride,  who  took  her  from  the  hands  of  the  groom  yielding 
to  their  demands  with  seeming  reluctance,  and  led  her  back 
into  the  yard  to  a  place  in  front  of  the  house  previously  pre 
pared  for  her,  and  seated  her  upon  a  blanket  spread  upon  the 
ground.  A  circle  of  women  immediately  formed  around  her. 
each  holding  in  their  hands  the  various  kinds  of  presents 
£hey  intended  to  bestow  upon  her  as  a  bridal  gift.  Then 
one  after  another  in  short  intervals  began  to  cast  her  presents 
on  the  head  of  the  seated  bride,  at  which  momenta  first-class 
grab-game  was  introduced.  For  the  moment  a  present  fell 
upon  her  waiting  head  it  was  snatched  therefrom  by  some 
one  of  the  party — a  dozen  or  more  making  a  grab  for  it  at  the 
same  instant — regardless  of  the  suffering1  bride,  who  was  often 
pulled  hither  and  thither  by  the  snatchers'  eager  fingers  be 
coming  entangled  in  her  long,  black  ringlets.  When  the 
presents  had  all  been  thus  disposed  of,  the  bride  not  receiv 
ing  a  single  article,  the  twain  were  pronounced  one — man 
and  \yife;  then  the  feast  was  served,  after  which  all  returned 
•to  their  respective  homes  with  merry  and  happy  hearts." 

As  the  land  was  free  to  all,  the  happy  groom,  a  few 
days  aftar  his  nuptials,  erected  with  the  assistance  of  his 
friends,  a  neat  little  cabin  in  some  picturesque  grove  by  the 
side  of  some  bubbling  spring  or  on  the  banks  of  some  rip 
pling  brook.  A  small  iron  kettle  in  which  to  boil  their  veni 
son,  and  a.  wooden  bowl  in  which  to  put  it  when  cooked, 
were  sufficient  culinary  utensils  for  the  young  house-keep 
ers.  They  needed  no  mahogany  tables  or  carved  chairs,  for, 
they  sat,  as  the  Orientals,  upon  the  ground.  The  bowl  with 
its  contents  was  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  cabin  and  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  371 

husband  and  wife  sat  around  it,  and  with  the  wooden  or  horn 
spoon,  helped  themselves  one  after  the  other.  If  they  had 
guests  the  same  rule  of  etiquette  was  observed — each  one 
being*  free  to  make  a  dip  with  the  spoon  into  the  contents 
of  the  bowl,  thence  to  the  mouth,  in  regular  turn. 

Ta-ful-a,  (Tomfuller),  was  their  favorite  and  hence 
standing  dish,  and  is  to  this  day.  It  consists  of  corn,  pound 
ed  in  a  wooden  mortar  with  a  wooden  pestle  to  take  off  the 
husks,  then  thoroughly  boiled;  sometimes  peas  or  beans  are 
mixed  and  cooked  with  it,  then  it  is  called  Tafula  tabi  ibu- 
Ihto. 

Thenv  again,  hickory  or  walnut  kernels  or  meats  are 
mixed  and  cooked  with  it;  it  is  then  called  Tafula  oksak  nip- 
ibulhto;  if  walnut  kernels,  then  it  is  called  Tafula  ok-sak- 
hahe  (walnut)  nipi  ibulhto. 

They  used  a  very  pleasant  beverage  of  acidulated  fo-i 
(honey)  and  o-ka,  (water);  also  they  made  a  very  palatable 
jelly  from  the  pounded  roots  of  the  China  brier,  strained 
through  baskets,  and  mixing  the  dried  farina  with  honey. 
They  pounded  hickory  and  walnuts  together,  and  having  pass 
ed  them  through  boiling  water,  and  then  through  strainers  of 
fine  basket  work,  it  produced  an  inspissated  liquor,  the  color 
and  consistency  of  cream,  and  richer  and  of  finer  flavor. 

LAWS — Of  the  Choctaws  regulating  the  marriage  of 
white  men  to  the  Choctaw  women: 

Whereas,  the  Choctaw  Nation  is  being  filled  up  with 
white  persons  of  worthless  characters  by  so-called  marriages 
to  the  great  injury  of  the  Choctaw  people. 

Section  1st. — Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Council  of  the 
Choctaw  Nation  assembled:  That  the  peace  and  prosperity 
of  the  Choctaw  people  require  that  any  white  man  or  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  foreign  government,  desiring 
to  marry  a  Choctaw  woman,  citizen  of  the  Choctaw  Nation, 
shall  be  and  is  hereby  required  to  obtain  a  license  for  the 
same,  from  any  of  the  Circuit  Clerks  or  Judges  of  a  Court 
of  Record,  and  make  oath,  or  satisfactory  showing  to  such 
Clerk  or  Judge,  that  he  has  not  a  surviving  wife  from 
whom  he  has  not  been  lawfully  divorced,  and  unless  such 
information  be  freely  furnished  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
Clerk  or  Judge  no  license  shall  issue. 

Section  2nd. — Be  it  further  enacted:  That  every  white 
man  or  person  applying  for  a  license  as  provided  in  pre 
ceding  section  of  this  act,  shall  before  obtaining  the  same, 
be  required  to  present  to  the  said  Clerk  or  Judge  a  certifi 
cate  of  good  moral  character,  signed  by  at  least  ten  respect 
able  Choctaw  citizens  by  blood,  who  shall  have  been  ac- 


372  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

quainted  with  him  at  least  twelve  months   immediately   pre 
ceding-  the  signing-  of  such  certificate. 

3rd.  Be  it  further  enacted,  before  any  license  as  herein 
provided  shall  be  issued;  the  person  applying  shall  be,  and  is 
hereby  required  to  pay  to  the  Clerk  or  Judge,  the  sum  of 
twenty-fi\Le  dollars,  and  be  also  required  to  take  the  following- 
oath  :  I  do  solemnly  swear  that  I  will  honor,  defend  and  sub 
mit  to  the  Constitution  and  Laws  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  and 
will  neither  claim  nor  seek  from  the  United  States  Govern 
ment,  or  from  the  Judicial  Tribunals  thereof  any  protection, 
privilege  or  redress  incompatible  with  the  same,  as  guaran 
teed  to  the  Choctaw  Nation  by  the  treaty  stipulations  enter 
ed  between  them,  so  help  me  God. 

Sec.  4th.  Marriages  contracted  under  the  provisions  of 
this  act,  shall  be  solemnized  as  provided  by  the  laws  of  this 
Nation  or  otherwise  null  and  void. 

Sec.  5th.  No  marriages  between  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  or  any  foreign  Nation,  and  a  female  citizen  of  this 
Nation,  entered  into  within  the  limits  of  this  Nation,  except 
hereinbefore  authorized  and  provided,  shall  be  legal,  and 
ever}7  person  who  shall  engag-e  and  assist  in  solemnizing 
such  marriage,  shall  upon  conviction  before  the  Circuit 
Court  of  the  District  of  this  Nation,  be  fined  fifty  dollars, 
and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  prosecuting  attorney  of  the 
District  in  which  said"  person  resides  to  prosecute  such  per 
son  before  the  Circuit  Court,  and  one-half  of  all  fines  arising 
under  this  act,  shall  be  equally  divided  between^  the  sheriff 
and  prosecuting  attorney. 

Sec.  6th.  Every  person  performing  the  marriage  cere 
mony  under  the  authority  of  a  license  provided  for  herein, 
shall  be  required  to  attach  a  certificate  to  the  back  of  the 
license  and  return  it  to  the  person  in  whose  behalf  it  was  is 
sued,  who  shall  within  thirty  days  therefrom  place  the  same 
in  the  hands  of  the  Circuit  Clerk,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to 
record  the  same,  and  return  it  to  the  owner. 

Section  7th. — Be  it  further  enacted:  that  should  any  man 
or  woman,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  foreign 
country,  become  a  citizen  of  the  Choctaw  Nation  by  inter 
marriage  and  be  left  a  widow  or  widower,  shall  continue  to 
enjoy  the  rights  of  citizenship,  unless  he  or  she  shall  marry 
a  white  man  or  white  woman,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
or  of  any  foreign  government,  as  the  case  may  be,  having-  no 
rights  of  Choctaw  citizenship  by  blood;  in  that  case,  all  his 
or  her  rights  acquired  under  the  provision  of  this  act  shall 
cease. 

Section  8th. — Every  person  who  shall  lawfully  marry 
under  the  provision  of  this  act,  and  after  abandon  his  wife, 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  373 

shall  forfeit  every  right  of  citizenship  and  shall  be  considered 
intruders  and  removed  from  this  Nation  by  order  of  the 
principal  Chief. 

Sectioiv'9th. — Be  it  further  enacted;  that  this  act  take 
effect  and  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  passage. 

Proposed  by  Ishain  Walker. 

Passed  the  House,  November  6,  1875,  J.  White,  speaker. 

Passed  the  Senate,  November  9,  1875,  J.  B.  Moore,  Pres 
ident  Senate. 

Approved,  November  9,  1875,  Cole  man  Cole,  P.  C.,  Choc- 
taw  Nation. 

I  hereby  certify  that  the  foregoing  act  in  relation  to 
white  men  marrying  an  Indian  woman,  or  white  woman 
marrying-,  e'c  ,  is  a  true  and  correct  copy  from  the  Original 
Bill  now  on  file  in  my  office.  In  testimony  whereof  I  have 
hereunto  set  my  hand  and  and  affixed  the  seal  of  the  Choc- 
taw  Nation. 

This  the  9th  day  of  October,  1884. 

THOMPSON  McKiNNEY, 
National  Secretary  Choctaw  Nation. 

It  no  doubt  would  have  been  better  for  the  Choctaws,  if 
they  had  strictly  adhered  to  a  resolution  drawn  up  and 
adopted  in  an  ancient  council  of  their  tribe.  A  white  man 
at  an  early  day,  came  into  their  country,  and  in  the  course 
of  time  married  a  Choctaw  girl  and  as  a  natural  result,  a 
child  was  born.  Soon  after  the  arrival  of  the  little  stranger, 
(the  first  of  its  type  among  them),  a  council  was  called  to 
consider  the  propriety  of  permitting  white  men  to  marry 
the  women  of  the  Choctaws.  If  it  was  permitted,  they 
argued,  the  whites  would  become  more  numerous  and  event 
ually  destroy  their  national  characteristics.  Therefore  it 
was  determined  to  stop  all  future  marriages  between  the 
Choctaws  and  the  White  Race,  and  at  once,  ordered  the 
white  man  to  leave  their  country,  and  the  child  killed.  A 
committee  wras  appointed  to  carry  the  decision  into  execu 
tion,  yet  felt  reluctant  to  kill  the  child.  In  the  meantime, 
the  mother,  hearing  of  the  resolution  passed  by  the  council, 
hid  the  child,  and  when  the  committee  arrived  they  failed  to 
find  it,  and  willingly  reported  that  the  Great  Spirit  had  taken 
it  away.  The  mother  kept  it  concealed  for  several  weeks, 
and  then  secretly  brought  it  back  one  night,  and  told  her 
friends  the  next  morning  that  the  Great  Spirit  had  returned 
during  the  night  with  her  child  and  placed  it  by  her  side  as 
she  slept.  The  committee  had  previously,  decided,-  how 
ever,  that  if  ever  the  child  returned  it  might  live;  but  if  it 
never  came  back,  they  then  would  know  that  the  Great 
Spirit  had  taken  it.  The  boy  was  ever  afterwards  regarded 


374  HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS. 

as  being-  under  the  special  care  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  be 
came  a  chief  of  their  Nation.  The  law  was  repealed;  the 
father  re-called  and  adopted  as  one  of  the  tribe;  and  thus 
the  custom  of  adopting-  the  white  man  originated  and  has  so 
continued  from  that  day  to  this — so  affirms  one  of  their 
ancient  traditions,  those  Indian  caskets  filled  with  documents 
from  the  remote  past,  but  which  have  long  since  passed  into 
the  region  of  accepted  fables. 

As  proof  that  the  North  American  Indian  has  love  for 
country  and  home,  I  will  here  insert  the  following-  (never  be 
fore  published)  taken  from  the  original  MS.,  written  by  Rev. 
Israel  Folsom,  just  before  his  people  were  driven  from  their 
ancient  possessions  east  of  the  Mississippi  river  to  thef  r 
present  place  of  abode.  Their  lands  had  been  promised  to 
the  Choctaws  uas  long-  as  water  should  run  and  grass  should 
grow." 

THE  INDIAN'S  SONG.— LO!  THE  POOR  INDIAN'S  HOPE. 

"Land  where  brightest  M'aters  flow, 
Land  where  loveliest  forests  grow 
Where  warriors  drew  the  bow- 
Native  land  farewell . 

"He  who  made  yon  stream  and  tree, 
Made  the  White,  the  Red  man  free, 
Gave  the  Indian's  home  to  be 
'Mid  the  forest's  wilds. 

"Have  the  waters  ceased  to  flow? 
Have  the  forests  ceased  to  grow? 
Why  do  our  brothers  bid  us  go 
From  our  native  home? 

"Here  in  infancy  we  played, 

Here  our  happy  wigwams  made, 
'        Here  our  fathers'  bones  are  laid— 
Must  we  leave  them  all  ? 

''White  men  tell  us  of  God  on  high. 
So  pure  and  bright  in  yonder  sky — 
Will  not  then  His  searching  eye 
See  the  Indians'  wrong?" 

The  following-  is  from  the  pen  of  a  missionary  who  has 
long-  labored  among  the  Choctaws  and  knew  of  what  he 
spoke,  ana  is  sufficient  testimony  of  the  moral  worth  of  him 
of  whom  he  wrote : 

"CHOCTAW  NATION,  April  9,  1885. 
"Dear  Brother  Murrow  :— 

UI  write  you  a  sad  letter.  Our  old  Brother  Peter  Folsom 
is  d'ead.  He  was  taken  sick  the  first  day  of  April,  and  has- 


HISTORY   OF    THE   INDIANS.  375 

been  growing  worse  ever  since.  He  died  to-day.  I  am  writ 
ing-  by  his  beloved  body.  His  spirit  is  in  heaven.  I  can  write 
no  more.  Please  publish  his  death  in  the  Champion,  that  all 
friends  may  know. 

"Your  brother  in  Christ, 

"SIMON  HANDCOCK." 

Such  was  the  sad  news  that  reached  me.  I  knew  Bro. 
Folsom  personally  for  twenty-seven  years.  Truly,  'a  great 
man  has  fallen.'  He  was  great — first  and  chief est,  because 
he  was  good.  He  was  good  in  a  moral  and  Christian  sense. 
He  was  the  first  Choctaw  who  united  with  a  Baptist  church. 
This  was  in  the  year  1829.  No  charge  of  unfaithfulness  to 
Christ  has  ever  been  made  against  him  for  over  fifty  years. 
He  was  an  eloquent  and  active  preacher  of  the  Gospel.  He 
established  a  number  of  churches,  and  developed  and  train 
ed  excellent  pastors  for  them  all.  He  might  appropriately 
be  termed  'the  father  of  the  Baptist  mission  work  in  the 
Choctaw  Nation.'  His  piety  was  known  and  read  of  all  men. 
He  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  everybody — red, 
white  and  black.  He  walked  with  God,  and  is  not,  for  God 
has  taken  him. 

Second. — "He  was  'great,'  because  he  was  useful  as  a; 
citizen.  Uncle  Peter  was  a  true  Choctaw.  He  loved  his 
people;  he  sought  their  interests.  For  many  years  he  was 
a  prominent  man  in  the  councils  and  national  affairs.  He 
was  a  safe  and  wise  counselor;  was  never  accused  of  betraying 
a  party  to  any  crookedness  nor  a  member  of  any  ring.  He 
often  represented  his  Nation  at  Washington  City.  While 
there  he  always  maintained  his  moral,  upright  character. 
His  religion  and  purity  were  not  left  at  home. 

"Third — he  was  'great,'  because  he  was  charitable; 
'But  the  greatest  of  these  is  charity,'  or  love.  I  think  Uncle 
Peter  loved  everybody  and  everything  that  was  good .  His 
heart,  his  home,  his  purse  were  always  open.  Indeed,  he 
was,  perhaps,  too  charitable,  for  he  was  often  imposed  upon. 
The  poor,  the  needy,  the  distressed,  whether  red,  white  or 
black,  were  never  turned  from  him  without  help  or  comfort. 
For  many  years  he  enjoyed  a  competency  of  this  world's 
goods,  for  he  was  a  good  manager.  But  the  war  broke  him 
up,  and  he  died  in  poverty.  And  yet  he  held  an  interest  in  a 
large  and  just  claim  against  the  United  States  Government. 
A  claim>  recognized  by  Congress  as  just  and  ordered  paid. 
Technicalities  and  red-tape  delays  hindered  this  payment. 
O  what  a  shame!  A  rich  and  prosperous  Government,  with 
millions  piled  up  in  the  treasury  vault,  owing  money  justly 
to  a  feeble  people  who  need  it,  and  who  die  in  poverty  and 


376  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

suffering-  for  the  want  of  it.  '  But  our  brother  needs  it  not 
now.  He  is  free  from  poverty  and  injustice.  He  is  rich 
and  happy." 

"J.  L.  MURROW." 

Rev.  .Peter  Folsom  had  two  sons — Jerry  and.  William. 
He  had  also  three  daughters — Susan  Francis,  Sophia  and 
Kizia — all  of  the  daughters  are  deceased. 

Judge  Loring-  Folsom,  now  the  only  surviving-  child  of 
Colonel  David  Folsom  and  his  first  wife,  Rhoda  Nail,  was 
long  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  but  re 
tired  from  the  political  arena  several  years  ago,  and  has  ever 
since  been  living  in  peace  and  quiet  on  his  farm  one  and  a 
half  miles  south  of  the  town  of  Caddo,  which  took  its'name 
from  a  tribe  of  Indians  whom  the  Choctaws  defeated  in  bat 
tle  on  a  group  of  high  hills  at  the  base  of  which  Judge  Loring 
Folsom  now  lives.  This  was  the  last  battle  in  which  the  Choc- 
taws  were  ever  engaged  as  a  Nation.  In  this  the  sun  of 
their  military  glory  went  down  to  be  followed  by  no  return 
ing  morn. 

But  no  study  is  needed  to  ascertain  that  Judge  Loring 
Folsom  is  also  a  genuine  man;  a  man  from  all  dissimulation 
free — a  characteristic  so  notable  of  the  Choctaws — and  ever 
wearing  a  ch'eerful  face,  so  indicative  of  the  warm  feelings 
of  a  kind  and  generous  friend.  His  natural  disposition  is 
remarkably  amiable,  being  endowed  with  a  gentleness  of 
manner  and  delicacy  of  feeling,  which  to  the  casual  observer 
would  not  at  first  indicate  that  inflexible  firmness  which 
he  always  manifests  in  determining  questions  of  duty. 

He  filled  the  high  and  responsible  position  of  Circuit 
Judge  in  his  district  for  nearly  twenty  years,  with  credit 
and  honor;  though  retired  to  private  life,  like  his  amiable 
father, .he  possesses  a  strong,  clear  mind,  which  he  has  cul 
tivated  with  assiduous  success,  in  consequence  of  which  he 
has  obtained  a  large  amount  of  general  information,  by  ex 
tensive  reading,  close  observation  and  mature  reflection. 
He  is  well  posted  in  all  the  political  affairs  of  his  own  na 
tion,  and  also  of  the  United  States.  His  whole  public  life,  in 
all  the  different  and  responsible  fields  in  which  he  has  been 
called  by  his  people  to  labor,  attest  the  purity  and  loftiness 
of  its  tone  and  purpose.  He  is  a  man  of  distinct  individual 
ity,  yet  in  all  his  conduct,  he  is  ever  animated  by  the  purest 
motives  arid  an  inflexible  love  of  truth  and  justice,  tha£  would 
be.  of  great  advantage  to  all  to  put  into  practice  the  noble 
principles  that  animate  the  breast  and  govern  the  actions  of 
Judge  Loring  Folsom. 

THE    Two     FRIENDS — THE    RED    AND    THE    WHITE. — 


HISTORY   OF    THE   INDIANS  377 

During*  my  travels  in  the  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  Nations  in 
1884,  I  arrived  one  evening-  the  19th  of  June,  at  the  quiet  and 
unostentatious  village  of  Doaksville — one  among-  the  first 
towns  located  in  their  present  country  when  arriving  from 
their  ancient  domains  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  in  the 
year  1832.  It  soon  became«a  place  of  considerable  trade; 
but  ultimately  proving-  to  be  very  sickly  it  was  nearly  aban 
doned;  and,  at  the  time  I  visited  it,  was  but  a  relic  of  the 
past  wTith  Ichabod  as  an  appropriate  epitaph — having-  only 
one  small  dry  goods  store  and  eig-ht  or  ten  resident  houses. 
My  object  in  visiting-  it  was  to  find  a  Choctaw  friend,  one 
among-  the  few  then  living-  and  known  as  friend  in-  the 
broadest  sense  of  the  word,  in  days  of  the  long  ago.  On 
entering  the  little  place  I  found  many  Choctaws  there  of 
both  sexes  and  of  all  ages,  the  store  full  within  and  its  im 
mediate  environments  covered  with  diversified  groups  of 
men,  women  and  children  sitting  and  standing.  I  asked  a 
Choctaw  man  standing  near,  if  he  knew  Henry  Folsorn,  and 
if  he  was  in  the  town?  Looking  around  a  mornent  he  pointed 
to  a  group  of  men  a  short  distance  away  and  said:  "Yum- 
mun-o  (that  one)  chish-no  (you)  pisah  (see)  pil-lah  (yonder). 
Dismounting  I  slowly  walked  towards  the  group  with  fixed 
eyes  upon  him  who,  I  had  just  been  told,  was  the  object  .of 
my  search.  As  I  approached,  all  eyes  of  the  little  group 
turned  upon  me  with  inquisitive  gaze;  but,  by  my  steady 
look  at  him  alone,  he  seemed  intuitively  to  know  that  he  was 
the  one  I  sought;  acting  accordingly,  he  quietly  arose  and 
advanced,  with  measured  steps,  to  meet  me  looking  straight 
into  my  face.  As  each  approached  the  other,  I  recognized 
the  features  and  knew  'twas  he — the  long  lost  friend  of  the 
far  distant  past — though  now  in  the  dignity  and  the  sadness 
of  his  reclining  years;  once  more,  after  so  many  years,  I 
looked  upon  him,  whom  of  all  others,  aside  from  kindred  ties, 
I  loved  as  one  among  the  best  of  earthly  friends,  and  knew 
I  was  thus  to  him;  and  again  felt  the  strange  magnetic  charm 
of  his  noble  soul,  so  well  known  in  days  of  yore  and  remem 
bered  still;  for  he  had  stood  to  me  during  all  the  vears  for 
all  that  was  good,  a  perfect  type  of  friendship  "true,  and 
honor  without  alloy.  As  we  drew  nearer,  I  saw  also,  that 
o'er  him  hung  the  shadows  of  fragile  health,  and  thought 
'tis  but  the  old  type  of  receding  years.  , 

We  met,  he  paused  a  moment,  Surprised  and  uncertain. 
Ah!  that  long  past  time  was  now  so  dim  to  him,  and  many 
remembrances  had  been  so  merged  in  the  vicissitudes  and 
misfortunes  that  it  was  difficult  to  call  them  up.  Alas,  I 
saw  too  that  his  eyes,  so  victorious  in  youth,  so  unsparing 
in  their  attraction,  now  gazed  into  mine  with  painful  desola- 


378  HISTORY  OF  TftE  INDIANS. 

tion.  Truly,  weary  and  time-worn  was  he;  while  in  his 
hands  seemed  an  hour-glass  whence  the  last  sands  of  Hfe 
were  slowly  but  surely  falling1.  I  looked  upon  his  wrinkled 
brow  as  memories  uncalled  rushed  upon  me,  and  with  ex 
tended  hand,  said:  Henry,  friend  of  my  youth,  have  you 
forgotten  me?  Grasping  my  offered  hand  he  replied:  "For 
gotten  my  earliest  friend  !  never  !  Wrong  me  not  thus! 
Much  of  my  life  now  seems  a  blank  to  me,  and  our  re-union 
in  this  our  decline  of  life  gives  me  joy."  Reader,  there  are 
no  words  for  such  a  re-union.  Yet,  this  much  I  can  and  will 
unfold.  We  met — the  red  and  the  white — as  ardent  friends 
— only  can  and  do  meet — enough  for  thee  to  know. 

Henry,  how  many  joyous  reminiscences  as  well  as 
blighted  hopes  do  thy  name  and  face  now  arouse  from  their 
long  sleep  amid  the  scenes  and  events  experienced  together 
in  the  years  now  so  far  behind  ! 

"Cush,  I  rejoice  for  what  I  bestowed  and  regret  what  I 
took  away.  But  are  not  what  you  call  blighted  hopes  oft 
changed  into  fruits  of  good  ?  " 

Even  so,  Henry.  But  the  years,  how  swiftly  have  they 
seemed  to  speed  away  since  we  drifted  apart ! 

"True,    and  much  older  are  we  now." 

Yet  Henry!  how  the  forms  and  faces  of  loved  one,  long- 
since  recorded  among  the  dead,  seem  to  rise  up  before  me 
now  as  they  have  not  done  for  years  before. 

"Yes,  friend  Cush,  like  sprigs  cast  upon  the  waters  of 
a  turbid  stream  they  have  been  swept  apart  to  meet  on  earth 
no  more.  But  how  is  it  that  wre've  never  met  upon  the 
high-ways  of  life,  until  in  this  my  home  of  retirement  and 
solitude?" 

Oft  I've  heard  of  you  and  thus  kept  upon  your  trail; 
have  suffered  with  you  and  your  race  in  the  bitterness  of 
your  wrongs;  have  gloried  in  your  patient  endurance,  though 
distant  away.  Yet,  you  and  your  people  seem  to  have  made 
a  noble  use  of  your  adversity. 

"Ah,  old  friend  of  better  days,  I'm  heart-sick  of  the 
eternal  babbling  of  the  white  people  about  my  race  and  its 
so-called  worthlessness.  It  is  your  race  (no  reflections  upon 
you)  who  blinded  us  but  to  deceive;  yours,  who  was  never 
satisfied  until  it  had  won  our  confidence  only  to  violate  it; 
yours,  who  curse  us,  in  right  and  in  wrrong;  yours,  who,  if 
you  see  us  at  peace,  imagine  your  lives  are  endangered  and 
drive  peace  away;  yours,  who  eternally  rants  at  us  as 
savages,  yet  little  know  and  less  care,  that  their  mockery 
destroys  more  lives  than  it  has  ever  saved." 

He  thus  spoke  in  passionate  yet  sad  and  mournful  tones. 
I  made  no  reply.  How  could  I  when  feeling  the  truth  of  his 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  379 

words  so  deeply?  Yet,  with  the  thoughts  of  other  days 
which  my  presence  had  called  up  so  unexpectedly,  there 
seemed  as  suddenly  to  steal  on  him  one  fresh,  soft  and  lov 
ing-  memory — that  of  our  joyous  boyhood's  days.  "Friend 
of  my  youth,"  in  calm  and  gentle  tones  he  said;  "Pardon 
me!  I  did  not  wish  to  speak  of  those  thing's,  but  they  came 
up  uncalled.  In  the  bliss  of  my  early  life,  and  in  which  you, 
old  friend,  was  a  large  sharer,  Llooked  upon  the  W.hite  Race 
with  a  wonder,  in  which  mingled  much  of  admiration,  but 
more  of  veneration,  when  first  presented  to  me  in  its  repre 
sentative,  the  noble  self-sacrificing  white  missionary.  But 
I  learned,  as  I  grew  on  to  manhood,  that  th,er^e  were  few, 
very  few  white  missionaries  among  the  White  Race;  but  that 
the  animal  lusts  and  the  evil  leaven,  venality,  lay  concealed 
seemingly-  in  the  purest  forms  of  its  nature  ready  to  rouse 
and  glut  its  insatiate  appetite  in  the  destruction  of  my  race. 
But  because  the  White  Race  has  destroyed  my  own,  I  would 
not  stoop  so  low  as  to  deny  the  power  of  its  cultivated  intel 
lect.  It  is  worthy  of  its  fame;  but  not,  that  I  acknowledge 
its  superiority  over  that  of  the  red,  only  in  the  cultivation. 
But  regard  me  none  the  better,  friend  Cush,  that  I  thus 
speak;  for  there  are  still  times  in  hours  of  reflection,  if  a 
reckoning  could  come  between  my  race  and  thine,  in  which  I 
could  resort  to  deadly  weapons,  I,  with  my  race  entire,  would, 
though  few  and  feeble,  deal  with  the  common  destrover  hand 
to  hand  and  blow  for  blow." 

,  But,  friend  Henry,  has  not  the  United  States  Govern 
ment  manifested  much  lenity  towards  your  race?  Instantly 
he  replied  in  an  excited  and  high  tone  of  voice.  "Lenity! 
lenity!  did  you  say:  Alas!  we  are  but  the  miserable  wards 
of  a  tyrannical  government." 

There  was  the  vibration  of  deep  and  intense  feeling  in 
his  words,  as  he  thus  continued:  "Have  not  the  misguiding 
influences  of  the  whites  hurled  down  to  ruin  the  manhood  of 
my  race,  by  the  mighty  arm  of  superior  numbers  and  imple 
ments  of  war;  and  then  by  the  taunts,  mockery,  injury,  hate 
and  cruelty  with  which  it  has  always  been  requited  for  nobly 
resisting  aggression,  oppression,  outrage  and  extermination? 
Surely,  it  would  be  super-human  if,  through  the  countless 
years  of  unmerited  wrong,  and  the  constant  banishments 
from  all  it  once  owned  arid  loved,  it  had  not  despaired,  long 
since,  of  all  hope  or  belief  in  truth  and  justice  earthly  or 
divine;  wiping  out  in  their  "helpless  victims  all  higher  in 
stincts,  all  appearance  of  honor,  all  purity  of  conscience; 
that  if  possible,  even  at  the  end,  their  hopes  might  be  re 
warded  in  fruition;  that,  under  the  weight  of  accumulated 
wrongs,  long-chained  passions  and  long-strained  endurance 


330,  HISTORY   OF   THE  INDIANS.  :.;/£"' 

might  give  way,  and  find  their  fall  in  dealing  in  retribution, 
though  it  be  in  the  justice  of  some  avenging  wrong. ".  ur..; 

I  freely,  but  not  without  shame,  confess,  Henry,  that  all 
you  have  stated  is  but  truth  and  only  truth.  Yet,  I  rejoice 
in  also  knowing  the  truth,  that  all  the  wrongs  and  suiferings 
of  .your  race  have  not  been  able  to  wrench  from  it  its  better 
and  nobler  nature.  An  involuntary  sigh  escaped  him,  as  he 
replied:  "That  is  idle  talk.  My  race  is  no  better  nor  worse 
than  any  other  race  of  mankind;  nor  are  we  demi-gods,  to 
rise  above  all  natural  passions, and  unmoved  see  evil  triumph. 
.Robbed  us,  you  say?  'Tis  true!  yet,  wisely  kept  to  wind 
ward  of  your/ law,  Might  is  Right,  and  took  our  heritance  by 
forcing  us  to  disinherit  ourselves,  and  in  lieu  thereof  be 
queathed  , us  a' mess  of  pottage — a  combination  of  whiskey, 
poverty,  degradation,  suffering,  death — and  called  it  "Pur 
chase."  But  those  who  sin  easily  as  easily  -llnd  an  apology  for 
their  crime;  therefore,  few  know  the  Indians'  wrongs 
as-'they  have  been,  are  still  to-day,  and  ITILIV  be  through  all 
future  to  come." 

Thus  he  swept  on,  while  thoughts  seemed  to  rush  upon 
him  with  such  sudden  and  passionate  force  that  it  was  an 
impossibility  to  frame  them  into  words;  yet  they  came  with 
an  irresistible  power;  wholly  absorbed  I  listened  to  his  ex 
pressed  thoughts  which  moved  him  and  seemed  to  stir 
depths  of  his  soul  that  time  had  long  sealed.  :I  knew  that 
he  had  striven  to  live  only  the  life  of  a  reader  and  thinker; 
and  to  leave  behind  him  all  weight  of  regret  and  the  useless 
indulgence  of  vain  hopes  But  now  looking  backward  to 
multiplied  remembrances,  the  events  of  those  days  rose  up 
and  forced  themselves  upon  him;  and  many  things  returned 
to  his  mind  and  knocked  for  admittance  which,  until  now, 
had  passed  unheeded  by;  for  he  had  long  striven  to  hurl 
from  memory  the  remembrance  of  his  and  his  people's 
wrongs  and  losses — the  former  beyond  avenging-,  the  latter 
beyond  redemption.  But  as  they  look  back  to  all  they  have 
endured,  all  they  have  lost,  by  ttie  merciless  hands  of  arbi 
trary  power  whose  shout  is  "Might  is  Right,"  could  they 
but  feel  the  fierce  blood  of  retributive  instinct — latent  in  all 
human  hearts — rise  and  burn  in  them?  They  could  not  be 
^humaii  and  feel  otherwise. 

"But  how  came  you,  friend  Gush?" 

I  but  pointed  to  my  horse. 

"  'Tis  well !  Go  "get  him.*  Yonder's  my  home,  amid 
those  trees  on  the  ridge,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away.  Let  us 
seek  its  quiet." 

We  reached  his  house.  He  paused  at  the  yard  gate  and 
said:  "What  think  you,  old  friend,  of  this  ;my  home?" 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  381 

It  has  the  appearance  of  quietness,  peacefulness,  and 
happiness  unalloyed,  and  surely  must  constitute  much 'of 
pleasure  to  your  declining1  years.  "Truly  have  you 
spoken."  It  was  indeed  a  quiet  place  bordering-  even  on  the 
romantic.  But  alas,  how  still!  howlonelv!  Surely,  thought 
I,  one  in  search  of  utter  exile  from  the  din  and  noisy  strife 
of  a  contending-  world,  might  here  safely  hide  and  find  that 
"solitude"  of  which  the  seemingly  disconsolate  poet  sang-  in 
days  of  yore.  We  entered  the  open  door,  and  then  he  said: 
"Friend  of  my  youth!  feel  at  home  under  this  my  humble 
roof.  You  have  been  lost  to  me  for  many,  many  years. 
Is  thy  heart  still  unchanged?"  In  silence  I  extended  my  hand. 
In  silence  he  clasped  it. 

Our  eyes  met  in  unison  of  emotion,  and  the  two  long 
separated  friends  were  one  ag-ain,  even  as  in  .the  days  of 
youth  and  hope;  endeared  the  one  to  the  other  not  only  by 
the  ties  of  boyhood  and  early  manhood's  association,  but  by 
the  ties  of  sincere  friendship  between  the  Red  and  the 
White. 

"Much,"  he  continued,  "of  my  life  you  know  not,  'tis 
with  the  dead.  To-night  we'll  talk  till  wearied  nature  de 
mands  a  halt  to  seek  repose.  My  domestic  affairs  attention 
need.  Excuse  a  moment's  absence.  I'll  soon  return." 
He  then  left  me  to  muse  alone.  Night  had  already  begun  to 
glide  along  the  woods  shutting-  out  the  wilderness  of  forests 
that  stretched  away  on  every  side,  whose  deep  silence 
seemed  never  to  have  been  broken  by  the  din  of  human  life. 
But  after  many  years  have  flown,  we  dear  Henry,  have  met 
ag-ain;  met  as  only  ardent  friends  long  lost  can  and  do  meet, 
enough  for  us  to  know 

Reader,  no  gilded  ornaments  adorned  this  my  Choctaw 
friend's  humble  home;  no  luxurious  furnishings  attracted 
the  eye  as  you  entered  its  portals,  but  a  piano  and  violin, 
whose  appearance  bespoke  the  vicissitudes  of  many  years, 
yet,  his  sweet  solaces  in  hours  of  despondency  and  gloom — 
undeviating-  adjuncts  decreed  to  man;  but  here  his  house 
stands  far  back  amid  broad-armed  oaks  of  centuries'  growth, 
whose  leafy  crowns  were  never  defaced  by  the  ax  wielded 
by  the  topping- hand  of  art,  and  where  the  way-worn  and 
weary  traveler  and  long  absent  friend  found  indeed  a  place 
of  rest.  Haughty  pride  and  folly  would  look  down  upon  it, 
with  scorn,  and  even  ask  in  sneering-  tones,  "What  is  its 
object  there"?  Yet,  it  still  remains  with  its  inmates  (father 
and  son  and  a  few  negro  servants,  slaves  of  former  days) 
in  that  same  quiet  spot  with  open  doors  to  all.  Yet  no 
blazoned  insignia  were  needed  to  attract  attention  to  this 


382  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

abode  of  peace,  nor  gilded  monument  necessary  to  perpetu 
ate  its  memory.  , 

Dr.  Folsom  lost  his  wife  (daughter  of  the  great  and  good 
Chickasaw,  John  Colbert)  and  daughter  many  years  ago  by 
the  ruthless  hand  of  man's  common  foe  ;  but  true  to  his 
early  love,  he  had  remained  a  widower,  living  alone  with  his 
unmarried  son,  the  solace  of  his  father's  declining  years. 
God  be  gracious  to  you  and  yours,  my  noble  Henry!  Though 
advanced  in  years,  even  as  I,  thou  still  art  that  cheery  com 
rade  and  trusty  friend  as  in  days  of  yore;  and  though  thy 
merry  heart  is  mellowed  by  the  fine  sympathy  born  of  care 
and  thoughtfulness,  yet  thy  nature  is  still  beautified  by  that 
dash  of  spirit,  like  to  the  spell  of  enchantment  the  moonlight 
throws  over  the  hills  and  forests  of  thy  country  and  home. 
With  what  glowing  fascination  did  the  full  orbed  moon,  in 
that  silent  and  sacred  hour  of  thought,  flood,  with  its  dreamy 
light,  those 'ancient  oaks  that  adorned  his  home!  The  birds 
too  knew  their  value  and  rejoiced  in  their  beauty,  and  came 
into  their  wide  embrace  seemingly  as  children  to  the  extend 
ed  arms  of  a  doting  parent,  making  the  morn  and  eve  reso 
nant  with  their  joyous  twitterings.  That  hour  alone  I  can 
never  forget;  as  twilight  slowly  gave  place  to  night,  so  rich 
with  her  crown  of  stars  and  seemingly  sceptered  for  domin 
ion  o'er  a  world  hushed  to  quiet,  while  earth  seemed  to 
thoughtfully  lay  beneath  my  feet.  Ah,  the  stars  and  full  or 
bed  moon  then  seemed,  more  than  ever  before,  as  a  -seraph- 
choir  thrilling  all  Nature  with  their  minstrelsy,  till  she  was 
moved  to  bliss  ineffable,  yea,  as  spirits  that  have  passed 
through  sin  and  death  without  a  stain,  and  now  wear  crowns 
of  fadeless  glory  above. 

His  domestic  duties  done,  my  old  friend  returned  and 
aroused  me  from  my  reverie  as  he  exclaimed  :  "Upon  what 
dwelt  your  thoughts?"  I  pointed  to  the  full  orbed  moon 
that  lighted  up  the  eastern  sky  ;  then  to  the  earth  beneath 
and  sky  above  blushing  in  wild  and  romantic  beauty;  then, 
to  the  giant  oaks  that  stood  around  in  silent  majesty  as  they 
received  a  soft  glow  from  the  fleecy  clouds  which  softly  re 
flected  upon  them  the  gentle  light  of  departing  day  and  ad 
vancing  night.  He  then  said  in  a  low  tone  of  voice:  "I  too 
love  them  all." 

Reader,  'twas  amid  such  a  scene,  and  at  that  lovely  hour, 
when  the  sweet  songs  of  nature  seem  to  whisper  of  peace 
and  joy,  we  sat,  a  groupof  three, on  the  moonlighted  piazza  in 
exchange  of  thoughts;  and  there 'lingered  (loth  to  part)  till 
the  stars  climbed  to  the  zenith,  and  all  around  lay  sleeping 
In  the  silence  of  a  moonlit  summer  night.  To  me  his  con 
versation  was  fascinating — full  of  grace  and  originality; 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  383 

brilliant  I  will  not  call  it,  for  it  was  too  mellow  and  restful  to 
be  thus  characterized.  But  upon  his  face  rested  the  mystic 
sign  which  constitutes  the  bond  of  union  among-  all  congenial 
souls,  and  1  felt  that  the  emotions  of  his  heart  were  in 
strict  unison  with  my  own,  and  each  responded  in  perfect 
harmony  the  one  to  the  other.  Ah!  then  and  there, 

We  spoke  of  many  a  vanished  scene, 
Of  what  we  once  had  thought  and  said, 
Of  what  had  been,  and  might  have  been. 
And  who  was  changed,  and  who  was  dead; 
And  all  that  fllls  the  hearts  of  friends, 
When  first  they  feel  with  secret  pain, 
Their!  lives  thenceforth  have  separate  ends, 
And  can  never  be  one  again. 

He  also  spoke  of  our  youth's  bright  and  promising  morn— 
"God's  days,"  as  he  expressed  it;  the  days  of  childhood's 
innocence — when  life  was  new  and  hope  was  bright.  Now, 
with  folded  hands  and  drooping  head,  he  sat  in  silence  long, 
as  memories  of  other  days  around  him  rush;  but  each  un 
derstood  the  other's  sigh,  for  each  had  experienced  life's, 
vicissitudes — had  long-  since  bade  adieu  to  scenes  of  early* 
youth  and  happy  days,  which,  by  a  sttange  and  unknown 
law  of  association,  stood  out  before  us  again  as  vividly  as  if 
but  yesterday  intervened;  and  felt  as  if  left  behind  in  the 
race  of  life,  and  sadly  v  toiling  on  alone,  while  new  proofs 
poured  upon  us  where'er  we  turned.  You  may  not  under 
stand  the  tie  that  then  bound'  the  red  and  the  white.  Nor 
can  you.  Firm  in  his  attachments,  the  Indian  never  forgets 
a  friend;  let  this  suffice  for  thee  to  know,  if  thou  hast  never 
had  an  Indian  friend. 

Then  he  spoke  of  the  silent  stealing  on  of  man's  days  and 
years,  the  unseen  and  unfelt  progress  of  his  life  from  youth 
to  age;  and  which,  as  we  look  back  upon  that  flowing  water, 
now  a  dry  channel  overgrown  with  leaves,  we  see  few  marks 
along  its  course  by  which  we  can  remenber  how  it  ran. 
Could  I  listen  but  with  emotionable  delight?  Now  he  speaks 
of  his  people,  of  their  vicissitudes  and  sorrows,  their  past 
history,  their  present  condition,  their  future  hopes  and  pros 
pects;  then  he  spoke  of  those  heart  memories  that  never 
die,  and  which  the  rough  usages  of  the  world  can  never  des 
troy,  nor  time  nor  distance  weaken,  those  memories  'of  his 
early  home  east  of  the  Mississippi,  of  boyhood's  morn  with 
its  gay  and  hopeful  dreams,  sunny  hours  and  illusive  visions 
of  bliss  all  gone,  but  which  time  nor  change,  sorrow  nor  age, 
can  blot  from  the  heart,  but  which,  though  on  the  verge  of 
the  grave,  reproduce  the  freshness  of  emotion  with  which 
life  began. 


384  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

He  talked  too  of  art,  literature  and  modern  science,  but 
in  the  quiet,  unconscious  way  of  one  with  whom  knowledge 
flows  as  a  full  stream,  and  to  whom  knowledge  a^nd  research 
(for  he  was  a  man  of  fine  erudition  and  scientific  attainments 
attained  at  school,  and  had  also  mingled  freely  during  a  long 
life  with  men  of  learning  and  culture)  have  taught  that  deep 
yet  saddening  truth — the  limitation  of  human  knowledge. 
He  was  indeed  a  pleasant  companion;  interesting  and  instruc 
tive  in  conversation,  which  was  enriched  by  experience  and 
and  observation.  Picturesque  too  was  he;  and  though  nearly 
three  score  and  fifteen  years  had  been  his  earthly  pilgrimage, 
yet  he  walked  with  elastic  steps,  and  his  form  still  was  finely 
expressive  of  sinewy  energy,  but  bore  the  record  of  his  years 
and  their  garnered  cares;  while  his  face  held  a  full  chronicle 
of  bitter  experience  that  had  mingled  with  the  sweet;  for 
he  too  had  tasted  the  cup  of  affliction  in  more  than  one 
form;  he  too  had  seen  the  happiness  of  life  decay,  and  also 
felt  that  there  is  an  unseen  and  mysterious  power  which 
operates  upon  man's  destiny,  controlling  events  over  which 
^he  possesses  no  control. 

But  his  regular,  clear  cut  features  and  dark,  piercing 
eyes  still  possessed  a  touch  of  melancholy  in  their  depths, 
indicating  his  slig'htly  mixed  blood— the  quick  intelligence  of 
the  white  man  with  the  in  ing-led  sadness  of  the  Red, a  sadness 
impressed  as  a  heritage  by  long  years  of  oppression  and 
wrong.  I  observed  it  also  in  the  broken  but  still  majestic 
warriors  of  his  race,  as  I  mingled  among  them — a  buried  yet 
still  living  resentment — a  touch  of  defiance  in  the  prevailing 
coldness  of  their  mien,  and  a  gleam  of  suspicion  in  the  forced 
smile  they  still  alike  bestow  on  all  strange-  white  men,  the 
authors  of  all  their  misfortunes  and  woes. 

"  A  hundred  long  years!  what  visions  rise 

Of  dynasties  risen  and  set, 

Of  powers  that  melted  from  earth  away 

When  the  wroue  and  the  right  clashed  and  met — 

Alas!  the  old  died  hard  to  make  way  for  the  now." 

But  ah!  how  soon  does  sorrow N  tread  upon  the  heels  of 
joy!  A  few  short  weeks  after  I  had  left  him  in  perfect 
health,  and  turned  to  other  duties  forgetting  him  for  the 
moment,  believing  him  to  be  as  we  parted,  a  letter  from  a 
Choctaw  friend  informed  me  of  his  death.  Then  and  there 
I  felt  I  had  lost  a  friend  of  a  life  time — a  friend  of  unconquer 
able  integrity,  true  and  faithful  in  all  things;  one  whose 
heart  was  warm;  intelligence  strong,  and  whose  devotion 
to  his  convictions  and  his  obligations  immovable.  Truly, 
to  lose  such  a  friend  from  among  the  living  seems  an  irre 
parable  misfortune,  and  I  numbered  him  with  the  dead  in 


HISTORY    OP   THE  INDIANS.  3S& 

sorrow  earnest  and  deep.  What  though,  old  friend  of  the 
past,  I  have  no  picture  of  thee — the  work  of  art!  'Tis  well;- 
for  no  artist  could  paint  thee;  and  surely  it  would  mar  my 
joy  to  look  upon  a  blank,  expressionless  and  fading-  toy,  and1 
call  it  by  thy  name;  but  there  is  a  picture  hung-  in  the  death 
less  halls  of  memory,  framed  in  the  rarest  wood  which  time 
can  never  dim.  But  I  will  not  chide  the  outbursts  of  sor 
row,  though  it  is  not  well  to  be  betrayed  by  passion  into- 
wild  forgetfulness  of  reason,  since  time's  busy  fingers  are 
never  at  rest,  and  ere  another  summer  comes  and  goes  what 
changes  may  be  wrought,  who  can  tell?  Ah!  "The  future's- 
great  veil  our  breath  fitfully  flaps,  and  behind  it  broods 
ever  the  mighty  perhaps." 

He  lived  beyond  the  allotted  years  of  manhood's  three 
score  years  and  ten  of  the  Psalmist,  yet  his  busy  brain  and 
untiring  hand  wrought  on,  as  if  in  the  vigor  of  a  changeless 
youth.  Adieu,  thou  pattern  of  fidelity  that  never  betrayed 
and  constancy  that  never  wearied. 

I  found  a  few  others,  here  and  there,  in  my  travels  over" 
the  country,  that  were   familiar  figures  in  mv  boyhood  and 
manhood  days,   and  of  whom  I  now  may  say  :     One  glance  at: 
their   keen,    black   eyes   and  I  still  loved  them  ;  one  look  at 
the  honest,  good-humored,   kind    expression  of  their  faces, 
and  intuitively  I  yet  loved  them— those  unchanged,    old   and 
dear  comrades  of  the  long  ago;  and  again,  as  oft  before,..  T. 
listened  with  delignt  to  their  ancient  legends  as  facts  asso 
ciated  with   their  history  in  the  days  of  yore,  known  but  to 
themselves.     How  I  again  reveled  in  those  tales  of  ancient 
days  as  their  aged  eyes  brightened  and  sparkled  at  the  most 
improbable    passage  of  the  narative,   but  which   I 'assumed 
not  to  doubt  for  fear  of  wounding  their  sensitive  hearts  ;  yet 
fascinating  to  me, since  truth  and  fancy  were  so  intermingled, 
that  they  rivaled  the   most  extravagant  fairy  tale  that  ever 
imagination  wove  in  the  recess  of  a  subtle  brain;  and  who, 
when  their  heroes'  stars  had  set,  turned  their   faces   away 
from  their  ancient  domains  and  here  in  their  present  hornet 
carved  out  their  own  fortunes  and  handed  down  their  hon 
ored  names  to  posterity;  and  though  their  legends  again  re 
hearsed  as  before  in  the  days  of  the  long  past  were  only  as  a 
memory  to  me,  yet  I  treasure  them  as  beautiful  and  inter 
esting  eulogies  pronounced  upon  their  heroes  of  ages  past., 
[well  knew  that,  because  of  their  chivalrous  patriotism  and" 
high  sense  of  honor,  they   ranked    among   the    greatest  of 
their   race;  and  I  gloried*  in  the  thought  that  their  of t  re 
peated  legends  and  tales  found  in  me  not  only  a  ready  and; 
an  intensely   sympathetic  listener,   but  making  me  admire 
and  love  the  red  race  more  than  ever,   because   of    the   all— 


386  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

absorbing1  devotion  that  made  them  lose  their  own  identity  in 
that  of  their  ancient  great.  Nearly  all  of  those  Indian  friends 
of  my  youth  and  manhood  days  have  gone  down  to  the  silent 
and  cheerless  habitation  of  the  dead,  yet  their  memory  still 
survives  in  many  a  picture  of  the  years  that  have  been. 

I  will  here  present  to  the  reader  the  memoirs  of -Nath 
aniel  Folsom^  the  oldest  of  the  three  brothers  who  cast  their 
lot  in  their  morning"  of  life  among"  the  Choctaws,  and  became 
the  fathers  of  the  Folsom  House  in  the  Choctaw  Nation,  as 
related  by  himself  to  the  missionary,  Rev.  C}-rus  Byington, 
June,  1823,  and  furnished  me  by  his  grand-daughter  Czarena 
Folsom,  now  Mrs.  Rabb. 

"I  -was  born  in  North  Carolina,  Rowan  County,  May 
17th,  1756.  My  father  was  born  in  Massachusetts  or  Con 
necticut.  My  mother  was  born  in  New  Jersey.  My  parents 
moved  to  Georgia,  and  there  my  father  sent  me  to  school 
about  six  months,  during  which  time  I  learned  to  read  and 
write.  My  mother  taught  me  to  read  and  spell  at  home. 
My  father  had  a  great  desire  to  go  to  Mississippi  to  get 
money;  they  said  money  grew  on  bushes!  We  got  off  and 
came  into  the  Choctaw  Nation.  The  whole  family  came;  we 
hired  an  Indian  pilot  who  led  us  through  the  Nation  to  Pearl 
river,  where  we  met  three  of  our  neighbors  who  were  re 
turning  on  account  of  sickness.  This  alarmed  my  father, 
who  then  determined  to  return  to  North  Carolina.  We  came 
back  into  the  Nation  to  Mr.  Welch's,  on  Bok  Tuklo  (Two 
Preeks),  the  father  of  Mr.  Nail.  At  this  time  I  was  about  19 
•yxjars  of  age.  At  that  place  we  parted.  My  father  knocked 
"me  .down".  I  arose  and  told  him  I  would  quit  him,  and  did  so 
by  walking  straight  off  before  his  face.  I  do  not  remember 
-what  I  did,  but  I  always  thought  I  was  not  in  fault.  My 
.parents  then  moved  into  the  Chickasaw  Nation.  .  I  entered 
into  partnership  with  Mr.  Welch,  and  could  do  many  things 
for  him.  In  the  Chickasaw  Nation  my  brother  Israel  ran 
away  from  my  father  and  came  to  me.  He  died  at  the  age 
of  18  near  where  Mr.  Juzon  now  lives.  He  was  a  good  young 
man.  My  parents  moved  again  to  Fort  St.  Stephens.  My 
brother  Ebenezer  visited  me  several  times;  he  also  sent  me 
word  to  come  and  move  him  up  into  the  Nation.  I  did  so. 
He  lived  with  me  two  years.  Still  he  wanted  to  go  to  Mis 
sissippi,  and  wished  I  would  raise  a  guard  and  send  him 
there.  I  did  so.  Brother  Edmond  and^  two  sisters  went 
with  him,  and  there  my  father  died,  on  Cole's  creek,  Missis 
sippi.  I  really  believe  my  mother  was  a  pious  woman.  I 
traded  a  long  time  in  the  Nation,  sometimes  taking  up  three 
pr  four  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  goods.  I  followed  trading 
about  thirty  years.  I  lived  principally  at  Bok  Tuklo,  fifteen 


HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS  387 

miles  this  side  of  Juzon's  (i.  e.  north).  There  was  a  great 
town  of  about  four  hundred  Indians.  The  French  King- 
lived  there.  (This  great  French  King-  was,  no  doubt,  Bien- 
ville,  or  some  one  of  his  officers).  I  learned  the  Choctaw  lan 
guage  very  slow.  I  was  never  perfect  in  the  language.  But 
after  ten  years  I  could  do  any  business  with  the  Choctaws. 
I  bought  a  Bible  of  Robert  Black  about  twelve  years  ago. 
This  is  the  first  Bible  I  ever  owned.  Before  that  I  cared  noth 
ing  about  the  Bible.  I  first  heard  a  sermon  by  Mr.  Bell  at 
the  Pigeon  Roost  about  twelve  years  ago.  I  heard  Lorenzo 
Dow  pray  once.  About  this  time  I  began  to  have  serious 
thoughts.  Before  this  I  had  none.  My  mind  was  affected  by 
what  the  missionaries  said,  who  came  from  the  North.  Soon 
after  my  son  Edmond  died.  One  Sabbath  I  had  a  great  con 
flict  in  me.  I  heard  a  sermon  at  the  Pigeon  Roost.  My 
friends  thought  I  felt  bad  because  my  son  died.  But  it  was 
something  else.  At  that  time  there  was  a  great  change  in 
me,  which  has  remained  ever  since.  This  was  in  August, 
1824.  I  joined  the  church  at  Mayhew,  October,  1827,  in  my 
72nd  year.  I  have  been  the  father  or  twenty-four  children, 
fourteeen  of  whom  are  living.  „  I  have  lived  to  see  six  of  them 
join  the  church,  and  three  others  sit  on  the  anxious  seat." 
According  to' an  entry  in  the  church  record  of  Mountain  Fork 
church,  Nathaniel  F"olsom  died  October  9th.  1833,  in  his  78th 
year. 

Mr.  Rufus  Folsom,  great  grandson  of  Nathaniel  Folsom, 
also  kindly  furnished  me  with  a  sketch  of  his  great  grand 
father,  which  was  nearly  the  same  as  the  above — closing, 
however,  with  the  following:  "In  September,  1830,  the 
government  of  the  United  States  made  a  treaty  with  the 
Choctaws  for  their  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and 
in  October,  1832,  our  old  great  grand-father,  afflicted  with  a 
palsy  of  the  limbs  for  many  years,  started  from  the  old 
Nation  to  come  to  this.  He  reached  Mountain  Fork,  and 
there  resided  till  the  9th  of  October,  1833,  when  he  died, 
aged  77  years,  four  months,  and  twenty-seven  days." 
Signed,  RUFUS  FOLSOM, 

Folsom  Station,  Indian  Territory. 

Nathaniel  Folsom  married  Aiahnichih  Ohoyoh  (A 
woman  to  prefer  above  all  others.)  She  was  a  niece  of  Miko 
Pusktish,  (Infant  Chief,)  who  was  the  father  of  Amosholih- 
ubih.  She  descended  from  a  long  and  ancient  line  of  chiefs, 
and  belonged  to  the  ancient  Iksa  Hattakiholihta,  one  of  the 
of  the  two  great  families,  the  other  being  Tashapaokla  (Part 
of  a  People);  the  laws  of  which  forbid  any  person,  male  or 
female,  to  marry  any  one  of  the  same  Iksa.  Though  Mr. 
Nathaniel  Folsom  had  acquired  but  a  limited  education,  yet 


\ 

388  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

he  was  a  moral  man,  and  the  good  'example  he  set  before  the 
people  of  his  adoption  and  with  whom  he  had  cast  his  lot, 
won  Itheir  respect,  confidence  and  love,  which  he  fully  recipro 
cated  to  the  day  of  his  death.  According-  to  th«  ancient  cus 
tom  of  the  Choctaws,  he  had  two  wives  at  the  same  time, 
Aiahnichih  Ohoyoh  and  her  sister,  whose  name  has  not  been 
preserved.  Colonel  David  Folsom  and  Rev.  Israel  Folsom 
were  sons  of  Aiahnichih  Ohoyoh;  and  Captain  Robert  Folsom 
and  Isaac  Folsom  were  sons  of  her  sister;  with  all  the  four  I 
was  personally  acquainted.  Robert  and  Isaac  lived  near 
Hebron,  and  were  prominent  members  in  the  church  at  that 
mission.  I  will  here  insert  an  eAtract  from  a  letter  now 
before  me,  written  by  Mr.  Nathaniel  Folsom  to  Rev.  Cyrus 
Byington  on  the  death  of  his  daughter  and  Lewis  Folsom,  his 
grandson,  dated  March,  1830,  which  truly  manifests  the 
humble  and  pious  heart  of  the  father  and  grandfather.  I 
copy  it  from  the  original  with  no  alteration  whatever. 

Dear  friend  Mr.  Byington:  I  desire  to  let  you  know  my 
felings  at  this  presenttime.  I  feel  satisfied  it  is  the  Lord's 
will.  God  give  her  to  me  and  he  has  taken  her  away  and  his 
will  is  rig'ht  and  good  in  all  things  that  befalls  us  wicked 
mortals  here  upon  earth.  I  bfess  God  for  it  all  things  that 
befalls  me  it  is  the  holy  will  of  the  blessed  God  it  is  rite  an 
good.  I  hope  her  soul  at  rest  with  the  blessed  Savior  of  the 
world  I  believe  she  has  gone  to  Him  forever  this  turble  thing 
of  my  grand  son  at  Mayhew  thar  is  no  hope.  O  childen  take 
\vareng  by  this  I  say  turn  O  childen  and  remember  your 
Creator  God  on  you  all  will  die  but  wat  wil  becum  of  your 
little  souls  if  you  repent  on  earth  you  all  ar  lost  ever  I  say 
my  dear  childun  quit  your  bad  ways' an  turn  to  Lord  with 
all  your  heart  an  Christ  wil  reseve  you  for  he  loves  little 
children  if  you  obev  his  commandments  my  dear  friend  you 
no  my  felings  about  children  that  blessed  Book  the  Bible  is 
the  gide  to  larn  us  all  to  fit  us  to  the  worlds  to  come  the  Lord 
bless  you  all."  N.  FOLSOM. 

The  deatli  of  his  grand  son,  Lewis  Folsom,  to  which 
the  good  old  man  so  pathetically  alludes,  was  indeed  a  sad 
affair.  I  was  acquainted  with  Lewis,  his  grand-son,  whose 
father  was  Capt.  Robert  Folsom.  Lewis  and  Joel  Nail,  his 
cousin  and  son  of  Henry  Nail,  were  driving  four  horses  at 
tached  to  the  end  of  the  two  levers  of  a  mill,  two  horses  at 
the  end1  of  each.  The  two  boys  got  into  a  play  in  which 
they  soon  began  to  throw  corn  cobs  at  each  other,  while 
riding  around  on  the  levers  and  driving  the  horses.  Un 
fortunately  Lewis  jumped  upon  the  big  cog  wheel  and 
was  instantly  killed. 

I  was  personally  acquainted  with  his  father's  entire  fam- 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  389 

ily.  His  youngest  sister,  Else,  now  Mrs.  Perkins,  is  still 
living-.  His  father,  at  the  time  of  the  sad  occurrence,  was 
in  their  present  territory,  being-  sent  with  others  by  their 
Nation,  to  look  after  the  country  preparatory  to  the  exchange 
which  was  afterwards  made  with  the  Unifed  States  Govern 
ment  in  1830. 

From  an  old  MS.  left  by  Nathaniel  Folsom  in  his  own 
hand  writing-,  I  here  insert  the  the  following-  extracts  ob 
tained  through  the  kindness  of  his  grand-daughter  Czarina 
Folsom,  now  Mrs.  Rabb,  living-  in  Atoka. 

"The  Choctaws  were  more  numerous  than  now.  Thirty 
years  ag-o  it  is  probable  there  were  nearly  30,000.  Before  I 
came  here  the  smallpox  killed  two-thirds  of  the  people. 
The  measles  also  destroyed  a  great  many.  There  was  one 
town  entirely  destroyed  by  the  measles. 

"They  had  axes  and  hoes,  but  not  a  plough  in  the  Na 
tion.  I  gave  twenty-two  dollars  for  the  first  plough  I  had; 
twenty  dollars  for  a  bushel  of  salt;  ten  dollars  for  a  common 
blanket.  Goods  were  then  brought  from  St.  Augustine, 
Florida,  on  pack-horses.  I  gave  once  twenty  dollars  for  a 
half  bushel  of  salt  in  a  time  of  war  (the  Revolution;. 

"The  woman's  dress  was  a  petticoat  that  came  just  be 
low  the  knees,  and  a  head-gear;  and  in  the  winter  a  tight 
woolen  jacket  with  bright  buttons  in  front.  They  had  an 
abundance  of  blankets  by  sewing  the  feathers  of  turkeys 
together.  They  had  but  few  iron  pots  and  kettles,  the  arti 
cles  were  dear. 

"When  anyone  died  a  scaffold  was  made  in  the  yard  near 
the  house,  put  high  enough  to  be  safe  from  the  dogs.  On 
the  top  of  this  the  body  was  laid  on  its  side;  and  then  a 
blanket  or  bear  skin  was  thrown  over  it;  and  there  it  re 
mained  until  it  perished.  Then  the  bone-pickers  came  and 
picked  the  ilesh  off  and  put  the  bones  in  a  box.  The  head 
was  adorned  and  put  away  in  a  box,  and  then  the  boxes  were 
put  away  in  a  bone-house — a  house  set  apart  to  receive  them, 
and  placed  at  the  edge  of  the  town.  At  this  time  there  was 
a  large  collection  of  people.  The  bone-pickers  had  some 
ceremonies,  but  I  do  not  recollect  them.  Twice  a  year — fall 
and  spring — the  people  assembled,  and  had  a  great  gather 
ing  over  the  bones  of  the  dead.  The  two  families  would 
meet.  One  day  one  family  would  cry;  and  on  the  next  day 
the  other  would  cry,  and  then  the  bones  would  be  brought 
out  in  the  boxes  and  buried.  A  little  present  was  made  to 
the  bone-pickers. 

"Ever  since  about  the  time  of  the  Revolutionary  war  the 
Choctaws  began  to  leave  their  towns  and  settle  in  the  woods, 
.for  the  benefit  of  their  stock.  I  was  the  first  to  settle  on  the 


390  HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS. 

Natchez  trace  at  Pig-eon  Roost,  about  twenty-five  years  since. 
Still,  at  the  time  of  the  exodus  of  the  Choctaws,  in  1832,  they 
had  many  large  and  populous  towns  and  villages  in  their 
Nation  which  I  personally  knew. 

"King's. — Some  inherited  the  office;  others  were  ap 
pointed  by  the  French  and  English.  Amosholihubih  is  the 
old  family  (i.  e.,  the  old  family  of  kings  or  chiefs).  David's 
old  uncle  was  of  the  royal  family. 

"The  Indians  spoke  in  a  different  style  from  what  they 
do  now.  The  doctors  are  great  deceivers.  One  came  to  me 
and  said  he  could  cure  me  of  my  lameness  (palsy  in  the 
limbs.)  I  told  him  if  he  would  cure  me,  I  would  give  him  a 
horse;  if  he  did  not  cure  me,  I'd  give  him  nothing.  The  doc 
tor  inquired  where  the  lameness  commenced.'  I  told  him, 
in  the  sole  of  my  feet.  He  then  examined  them,  got  down, 
spit  on  them  and  sucked  the  place  until  a  long  time,  as 
though  he'd  draw  something  out.  After  awhile  he  got  up 
and  then  made  a  great  effort  to  get  something  out  of  his 
mouth;  at  length  he  took  out  a  small  piece  of  deer  skin,  as 
appeared,  and  said  he  had  drawn  that  out  of  my  foot.  I 
asked  him  where  the  hole  was.  He  said:  'It  never  makes 
a  hole.'  I  took  the  bit  of  leather  and  talked  to  him,  and  told 
him  that  doctors  were  the  greatest  liars  in  the  world.  You 
never  pulled  that  out  of  my  foot.  You  cut  it  off  from  some 
deer  skin  and  put  it  in  your  mouth.  Now  stop  telling  such 
lies,  or  somebody  will  injure  you.  He  looked  very  much 
ashamed  and  walked  off.  Before  the  doctors  begin  to  doctor, 
they  sing  a  long  song,  whisper  a  prayer,  and  then  com 
mence. 

"At  that  time  there  were  several  white  men  among  the 
Choctaws,  all  of  whom  married  Choctaw  wives,  and  thus  be 
came  identified  with  that  people.  The  descendants  of 
nearly  all  of  whom  are  still  among  the  Choctaws  to  this 
day. 

"Hardy  Perry,"  continued  Nathaniel  Folsom,  "brought 
the  first  neat  cattle  sinto  the  Nation." 

The  old  gentleman  evidently  refers  to  the  eastern  part 
of  the  Nation,  where  he  lived;  since  it  was  well  known  that, 
either  about  the  same  time  or  a  short  time  before  Perry's 
drove  were  first  introduced  into  the  eastern  part  of  the 
Nation,  and  the  waters  of  the  Tombigbee  river,  Lewis  and 
Michael  LeFlore  and  Lewis  Durant  introduced  a  small  herd 
into  the  western  part  of  the  Nation,  and  located  it  on  the 
wraters  of  the  Yazoo  river.  But  thus  continues  Mr.  Fol 
som. 

"He  bought  them  of  the  French  at  Mobile,  Twenty- 
five  dollars  for  a  cow  and  calf.  This  was  soon  after  I  came 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  391 

into  the  country.  Benj.  James  then  bought  one.  I  was  the 
third  man.  From  these  the  stocks  of  cattle  have  sprung-. 
There  was  abundance  of  horses.  There  were  many  hogs  in 
the  Nation  when  I  first  came.  I  have  seen  nearly  .thirty 
dogs  at  an  Indian  house.  They-  resembled  the  wolf. 

"David  Folsom  went  to  a  school  on  Elk  river,  Tennes 
see.  Started  off  alone  at  sixteen  years  of  age,  at  least  250 
miles  from  home,  and  was  there  six  months.  That  was  the 
end  of  his  schooling  there.  I  employed  another  man  a 
month  to  teach  him  figures.  That  was  seven  months 
education. 

"About  this  time  (he  seemed  to  forget  to  mention  dates) 
he  was  married  to  Rhoda  Nail.  He  took  her  out  of  the  In 
dian  Territory  to  a  magistrate  and  married  her  lawfully. 
She  is  his  wife,  and  this  is  the  first  instance"  I  know  of, 
where  an  Indian  was  married  according  to  our  laws." 

John  Pitchlynn,  the  name  of  another  white  man  who  at 
an  early  day  cast  his  lot  among  the  Choctaws,  not  to  be  a 
curse  but  a  true  benefactor.  He  was  contemporaneous  with 
the  three  Folsoms,  Nathaniel,  Ebenezer  and  Edmoncl;  the 
three  Nails,  Henry,  Adam  and  Edwin;  the  two  L/e  Flores 
Lewis  and  Mitchel,  and  Lewis  Durant.  John  Pitchh'iin,  as 
the  others,  married  a  Choctaw  girl  and  thus  become  a  bona- 
fide  citizen  of  the  Choctaw  Nation.  He  was  commissioned 
by  Washington,  as  United  States  Interpreter  for  the  Choc- 
taws  in  1786,  in  which  capacity  he  served  them  long  and 
faithfully.  Whether  he  ever  attained  to  the  position  of  chief 
of  the  Choctaws  is  not  now  known.  He,  however,  secured 
and  held  to  the  day  of  his  death  not  only  the  respect,  esteem 
and  confidence  of  the  Choctaws  as  a  moral  and  good  citizen, 
but  also  that  of  the  missionaries  who  regarded  him  as  one 
among  their  best  friends  and  assistants  in  their  arduous 
labors  for  the  moral  and  religious  elevation'of  the  people  of 
his  adoption.  He  married  Sophia  Folsom,  the  daughter  and 
only  child  of  Ebenezer  Folsom.  They  had  five  sons,  Peter 
P.,  James, -Thomas,  Silas  and  Jack,  all  of  wrhom  were  men  of 
fine  talents  and  high  position,  reflecting  credit  on  their  an 
cient  and  honorable  name,  except  Jack,  who  was  led  astray 
and  finally  killed. 

How  many  strange  little  incidents  oft  happen  to  various 
persons  the  cause  of  which  none  can  satisfactorily  explain; 
many  of  which  are  similar  to  the  following  that  Major  John 
Pitchlynn  once  experienced  in  early  life!  He  stated  to  the 
missionaries  that  he,  in  company  with  sixty  Choctaw  war 
riors,  was  once  returning  home  from  a  trading  expedition  to 
Mobile — then  a  small  town  and  trading  point  of  the  Choc 
taws.  One  night  they  all  had  lain  down  upon  their  blankets 


392  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

•side  by  side,  and  all  soon  fell  asleep  but  himself,  who,  by  a 
.strange  and  unusual  restlessness,  was  unable  to  sleep.  For 
c.a  long-  time  he  rolled  this  way  and  that  upon  his  blanket,  but 
:all  to  no  purpose;  he  could  not  sleep.  Finally  he  arose,  took 
up  his  blanket  and  laid  down  on  the  opposite  side.pf  the  fire 
which  had  been  made  for  the  common  benefit  of  the  camp. 
•Scarcely  had  he  adjusted  himself  upon  his  new  bed  when  a 
large  tree  suddenly  fell  to  the  ground  and  exactly  across  the 
bodies  of  his  six  sleeping  comrades,  killing  every  one  of 
them,  and  leaving  him  a  lone  survivor  of  the  camp.  Major 
Pitchlynn  often  afterwards  spoke  of  this  incident  as  a  mani 
festation  of  a  special  Providence;  his  unaccountable  sleep 
lessness  on  that  night,  and  his  getting  up  and  going  to  the 
-other  side  of  the  fire  to  sleep,  as  a  divine  interposition  in  his 
.special  behalf.  Peter  was  born  January  30,  1806,  in  a  little 
village  called  Shik-o-poh  (The  Plume),  which  was  then  in 
what  is  now  Noxubee  County.  In  early  youth  young  Peter 
/manifested  a  disposition  for  intellectual  attainments ;  heat- 
tended  the  great  councils  of  his  Nation  as  an  attentive  hearer 
but  silent  spectator,  and  sought  every  opportunity  to  inform 
himself  of  all  that  was  transpiring  around  him.  As  he  grew 
up  his  desire  to  obtain  an  education  increased,  and  he  was 
finally  sent  to  a  school  in  Tennessee. 

He  returned  home  at  a  time  his  people  were  negotiating 
-a  treaty  with  the  United  States  Government;  when  and 
where  he  made  himself  the  object  of  much  conversation,  in 
the  way  of  reproof  by  some,  and  commendation  by  others, 
in  refusing  to  shake  hands  with  Andrew  Jackson,  the 
negotiator  of  a  treaty,  which,  in  his  youthful  judgment,  he 
regarded  as  an  imposition  (which  Jackson  himself  well 
knew)  upon  his  mis-led  and  deluded  people  and  an  insult  to 
his  Nation;  this  opinion  was  never  changed  to  the  hour  of  his 
death  years  after.  After  remaining1  at  home  awhile,  he  went 
to  school  at  Columbia  Academy,  Tennessee;  thence  to  the 
Nashville  University,  where  he  graduated;  and  afterwards 
became,  as  the  sequel  will  show,  a  great  and  useful  man  to 
his  Nation. 

During  his  scholastic  days  at  the  Nashville  University, 
General  Jackson  visited  there  officially  as  a  trustee,  and  on 
seeing  young  Peter,  at  once  recognized  him  as  the  Choctaw 
boy  who  had  some  years  before  refused  to  receive 
him  as  an  acquaintance,  or  recognize  in  him  a  friend. 
Jackson,  than  whom  few  were  better  judges  of  human 
nature  and  moral  worth,  determined  to  win  the  friendship 
and  confidence  of  the  proud  and  manly  young  Choctaw,  and 
-succeeded  finally  in  changing  the  old  feeling  of  dislike  to  one 
-of  warm  personal  friendship,  which  sacred  ties  were  never 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  393 

broken.  After  he  graduated  he  returned  home  and  settled, 
as  a  farmer,  upon  the  outskirts  of  a  beautiful  prairie  to 
which  his  name  was  given,  and  down  to  the  war  of  1861  it 
still  bore,  and  perhaps  does  yet,  the  name,  "The  Pitchlynri 
Prairie." 

His  remarkably  manly  form  and  bearing-;  his  beautifully 
shaped  head  covered  with  long1,  black,  shining-  hair  and 
possessed  with  as  black,  piercing-  eyes  as  ever  penetrated 
to  the  secret  thoughts  of  the  heart;  his  broad  cheek-bones 
and  brown  complexion  together  with  his  natural  and  unaf 
fected  courteousness,  affability  and  generous  disposition,  all 
served  to  constitute  Peter  P.  Pitchlynn  as  stately  and  com 
plete  a  gentleman  of  Nature's  handy  work  as  I  ever  beheld. 
He  erected  a  comfortable  house  upon  the  spot  selected  for 
his  home,  and  won  the  heart  of  the  youngest  daughter  of 
Nathaniel  Folsom,  (Rhoda)  to  whom  he  was  soon  married  ac 
cording  to  the  usages  of  the  Whites,  by  the  missionary, 
Rev.  Cyrus  Kingsbury. 

In  1824  a  law  was  passed  by  the  council  of  the  Nation 
organizing  a  corps  of  Light-Horse  (a  little  company  of  cav 
alry),  who  were  clothed  with  the  authority  and  also  made  as 
their  imperativevduty  to  close  all  the  dram-shops  that  were 
dealing  in  the  miserable  traffic  in  opposition  to  law  and 
treaty  stipulations.  The  command  of  this  band  was  given 
to  young  Peter  P.  Pitchlynn,  who  united  the  bravery  of 
Leonidas  to  the  incorruptible  virtues  of  Aristides,  and  in  one 
year,  from  the  time  he  undertook  to  erase  the  foul  blotch 
(traffic  in  whiskey)  from  the  face  of  his  country,  he  had  suc 
cessfully  accomplished  it. 

From  his  soon  known  abilities  he  was  early  elected  a 
member  of  the  National  Council,  an  honor  never  before  con 
ferred  upon  one  so  young.  Pitchlynn  at  once  brought  be 
fore  the  council  the  necessity  of  educating  their  children, 
and  argued  the  great  advantages  that  would  accrue  therefrom; 
and,  that  the  students  might  more  readily  become  accus 
tomed  to  the  usages  of  the  wrhites,  he  suggested  the  pro 
priety  of  establishing  a  school  for  Choctaw  youths  in  some 
one  of  the  states.  It  was  decided,  therefore,  by  the  council 
in  accordance  with  his  proposition,  and  a  Choctaw  Academy 
was  established  near  Georgetown,  Kentucky,  sustained  by 
the  funds  of  the  Nation,  and  stood,  until  driven  from  their 
ancient  domains,  a  proud  monument  of  the  Choctaw's  ad 
vancing  civilization  under  the  fostering  care  of  God's  mis 
sionaries  sent  to  them. 

I,; In  the  year  1828  he,  with  another  Choctaw,  -two  Chicka- 
saw  and  two  Muscogee  warriors,  constituted  a  delegation  ap 
pointed  and  sent  by,  and  at  the  expense  of,  the  United  States 


394  HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS. 

Government,  to  go  upon  a  peace-making-  expedition  into  the 
Osage  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  river,  now  the  State 
of  Kansas,  as  the  Osages  and  Choctaws  were  and  had  been 
uncompromising1  enemies  for  years  untold ;  and  if  peace 
could  be  established  between  them,  it  was  believed  that  the 
Choctaws  would  the  more  readily  consent  to  the  exchange  of 
lands,  as  was  afterwards  ma'^e.  The  little  band  of  six,  few 
but  resolute  and  fearless,  with  Pitchlynn  as  their  chief,, 
went  first  to  Memphis,  then  a  little  village;  thence  to  St. 
Louis,  where  they  received  necessary  supplies  from  the  In 
dian  superintendent ;  thence  to  Independence,  consisting 
then  of  only  a  few  log  cabins,  where  they  were  received  and 
hospitably  "entertained  by  a  son  of  the  renowned  Daniel. 
Boone.  At  Independence  they  were  joined  by  an  Indian 
agent;  thence  they  started  and  made  their  first  camp  on  a 
broad  prairie  near  a  Shawnee  village.  The  Shawnees  had 
never  before  seen  a  Choctaw,  Chickasaw  or  Muscogee ;  nor 
had  they  ever  seen  a  Shawnee,  except  in  the  persons  of  Te- 
cumseh'and' his  thirty  warriors,  in  their  memorable  visit  to 
their  three  nations  in  1812,  while  each  knew  of  the  existence 
of  the  other.  On  the  following  morning  Pitchlynn  and  his 
little  band  directed  their  footsteps  toward  the  Shawnee  vil 
lage,  with  the  decorations  of  the  pipe  of  peace  gaily  flutter 
ing  to  the  prairie  breeze  above  their  heads — an  emblem  ever 
respected  and  honore,d  by  the  North  American  Indians  any 
where  and  everywhere.  Upon  seeing  the  peace-pipe  extend 
ed,  the  Shawnees  at  once  came  out  to  meet  them,  and  escor 
ted  them  in  much  pomp  and  ceremony  into  their  village, 
where  a  council  was  soon  convened  to  learn  the  object  of  the 
strangers'  visit;  which  soon  being  explained,  pledges  of 
friendship  were  exchanged  and  speeches  made,  and  the 
strangers  earnestly  solicited  to  remain  the  next  day  to  attend 
a  grand  feast  that  would  be  given  to  them  in  honor  of  their 
visit,  which  was  duly  accepted  ;  and  then  the  little  band 
again  took  up  its  line  of  travel  toward  the  territories  of  the 
Osages.  For  several  days  they  traveled  along  on  the  famous 
Santa  Fe  trail,  then  turned  in  'a  southeast  direction,  travel 
ing  over  beautiful  prairies  skirted  here  and  there  with  tim 
ber. 

One  day,  about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon,  a  few  deer 
were  seen  on  a  prairie  a  half  a  mile  distant,  and  Pitchlynn 
left  his  company  to  continue  their  course,  while  he  would 
try  to  procure  some  venison  for  their  supper.  He  had  ap 
proached  nearly  near  enough  to  risk  a  shot,  when  he  was 
discovered  by  the  deer,  who  scampered  off  across  the  prai 
rie.  At  that  moment  he  discovered  a  small  herd  of  buffalo, 
at  one  of  which  he  tried  to  get  a  shot;  but  they,  too,  discov- 


*'  HISTORY    OF.  THE   INDIANS.  39S 

ered  him  and  took  to  flight.     He  pursued  them  a  mile  or  two, 
but  finding-  he  was  getting 'too  far  away  he  stopped  his  pur 
suit  and  and  turned  to  overtake  his  companions  by  traveling 
at  an  angle  that  would   enable  him  to  overtake  or  strike  their 
trail  several   miles   south  of  where  he  had  left  them.     But 
after   riding  a   few  miles    he    saw   about  half  a   mile    before 
him  a  ridge  of  undulating   prairie,  on   the   opposite   side   of 
which  he  felt  sure  his  little  company  must  have  passed.     As 
the  sun  was   now  hearing-  the  western  horizon,  and  he  knew 
not  how  far  his  companions  were   ahead  of  him,  he  started 
for  the  top  of  the  ridge  in  a  brisk  gallop  until  he  reached  the 
base  of  the  hill,  then  reined  in  his  horse  to  a  steady  walk  as 
he  ascended    the   ridge,    ever   keeping   in   practice  the  safe 
motto,  "Caution  is  the  mother  of  safety."     And  well  he  did, 
for  he  was  then  in  the  country  of  Osages,  who,  not  knowing 
his  mission,  would  have  made   short   work  of  him,  had  they 
have  met  him.     As  he  drew   nearer   the  top  the   slower  ne 
rode,  and  thus  cautiously  moved  until  he  could  see  the  valley 
beyond,  and  there  he  saw  a  company  of  Osage  warriors  but 
a  short  distance  ahead.     Some    were  riding   slowly  along  in 
tently  looking  on   the  ground,  while  others  had  dismounted 
and  were  leading  their  horses,  now  stooping   with  eager  look 
and  then  pushing  the  grass   this  way  and  that,  as  if  to  find 
something  lost.     Pitchlynii  at  once  comprehended  the  whole. 
They  had  found  the  trail  of  his   companions  and  were  using 
their   woods-craft   to   read   the    signs   indicated,    and   learn 
whether  friends  or  foes   had  passed,  and  also  their  number. 
Pitchrynn  at  once  reined  his  horse   backward    until   he 
was  below  the  brow  of  the  hill,  then  turned  and  rode  slowly 
down   until   he   had    reached   its   base  lest  the  sound  of  his 
horse's  feet  should  betray  him;  then  struck  off  at  full  gal 
lop  in  a  south  direction  and  continued  it  until  night  called  a 
halt.     He  then  dismounted,  roped  his  horse  upon  the  grass, 
and  lay  down  to  reflect  upon  his  day's  ventures,  until  sleep 
embraced  him  in  her  arms  and  lulled  him  to  unconsciousness. 
In  the  morning  he  arose  and  was  soon/ again  on  his  dubious 
way,   making  a  wide  circuit  to  avoid  running  again  upon  his 
unwelcome   neighbors.     Again   night   overtook  him   a    lone 
wanderer  in  a  pathless  wilderness,  without  having  made  any 
discoveries   as  to   the  whereabouts   of    his    companions,    or 
his    enemies,    the    Osages.      Again    he    stretched    himself 
upon   the  grass    and   found   forgetfulness  in   sleep.     Again 
he  starte^l  and  was  rejoiced,  after  an  hour'.s  ride,  to  strike 
the   trail   of    his   friends    whom    he    overtook    in  the  even 
ing  of  the  same  day.     Not  knowing  what  had  become  of  him, 
or  where  to  look  for  him  in   that   endless   wilderness,  they 
had  traveled  slowly,  hoping  that  he  would  yet  come  up  ;  but 


.. 

396  '    HISTORY   OF   THE  INDIANS, 


when  .the  second  night  .came  without  ^is  return,  despair 
had  usurped  the  place  of  hope  and  they  had  given  him  up  as 
forever  lost  to  them.  ; 

•  '.The  Osages,  for  unknown  reasons,,  did  not  pursue 
them.  If,  they  had,  there  would  have  been  affinal  separation 
as,  the  Osages  so  outnumbered  them,  that  not  one  of  the  little 
.  company  xwould  have  been  left  to  tell  the  tale  of  their  com- 
-plete  destruction.  The  unexpected  return  of  their  chief 
gave  new  life  to  all,  and  they  pursued  their  journey  with  re 
newed  vigor.  In  a  few  days  they  came  to  .a  large  Osage  vil 
lage-situated  on  a  high  bluff  on  the  Qsage  river,  and  camped 
near  the  same,  where  they  remained  several  days  safe  under 
the  Pipe  of  Peace,  whose  decorations  of  ribbons  fluttered 
above  their  camps;  the  rOsages  refusing,  however,  to  meet 
them  in  council,  since  but  a  short  time  previous  a  war  party 
of  Choctaws  had  invaded  their  country,  and  in  a  battle  had 
slain'several  of  their  warriors.  Still  Pitchlynn  proposed  .a 
treaty  of  peaqe  and  after  much  equivocation  and,  delay  the 
Osages  consented  to  meet  Pitchlynn  and  his  little  band  in 
council;  but  nothing  definite  was  done  on  the  first  day, 
though  Pitchlynn  told  them  that  he  and  his  party,  the  first 
Choctawsxthat  had  ever  proposed  peace  to  the  Osages,  had 
traveled  over  two  thousand  miles  through  the  request  of  the 
United  States  government,  to  propose  a  treaty  of  perpetual 
peace  and  friendship  to  the  Osages.  To  which  an  Osage 
chief  made  a  haughty  and  defiant  reply.  The  next  clay  in 
council  assembled,  Pitchlynn  also  assumed  an  air  more  of 
haughty  defiance  than  that  of  a  suppliant  for  peace,  and  in 
his  speech,  in  reply  to  the  Osage  Chief's  speech  made  the 
day  before,  boldly  said:  "After  what  the  Osage  warrior 
said  to  us  in  his  talk  yesterday,  we  find  it  difficult  to  restrain 
our  old  animosity.  You  tell  us  that  by  your  1  iws  it  is  your 
duty  to  strike  down  all  who  are  not  Osage  Indians.  Th'e 
Choctaws  have.no  such  laws.  But  we  have  a  law  which  tells 
us  that  we  must  always  strike  down  an  Osage  warrior  when 
ever  wre  meet  him.  I  know  not  what  war-paths  you  may 
have  follower!  west  of  the  Great  river,  but  ijinow  very  well 
that  the.  smoke  of  our  council  fires  you  have  never  seen,  as 
w.e  live  on  the  other  side  of  the  Great  River.  Our  soil  has 
never  been  tracked  by  an  Osage,  only  ,when  he  was  a  pris 
oner.  I  will.  not,  as  you  have  done,  boast  of  the  many  war 
path's  we  have  followed.  I  am  in  earnest  and  speak  the 
truth,  \vhen  I  now  tell  you  that  our  last  war-path,  since  you 
will  have  it  so,  has  brought  us  to  the  Osage  country,  .and  to 
this  village.  The  Choctaw  warriors  now  at  home  would  be 
rejoiced.  to  get  a  few  hundred  of  your  scalps,  for  it  is  thus 
that  they  get  their  reputation  as  warriors.  I  tell  you  this 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  397 

to  remind  you  that  we  also  have  some  ancient  laws  as  well  as 
the  Osages,  aX4  that  the  Choctaws  know  too  how : to  fight. 
Stand  by  the  laws-of  your  fathers,  and  refuse  the  offer  of 
peace  that  we  have  now  extended  to  you,  and  bear  the  conse 
quences  that  will  follow,  * 

"We  are  now  a  little  band  in  your  midst,  but  we  do  not 
fear  to  speak  openly  to  you  and  tell' you  the  truth.  We  ex 
pect  to  move  soon  from  our  ancient  country  east  of  the 
Great  River  to  the  sources  of  the  Arkansas  and  Red  rivers, 
which  will  bring"  us  within  two  hundred  miles  of  your  coun 
try;  and  then  you  shall  hear  the  defiant  war-whoops  of  the 
Choctaws  in  good  earnest  and  the  crack  of  their  death-deal 
ing  rifles  from  one  end  of  your  country  to  the  other;  nor 
will  they  cease  to  be  heard  until  the  last  Osage  warrior  has 
fallen;  your  wives  and  children  carried  into  captivity,  and 
the  name  of  the  Osages  blotted  out.  You  may  regard  this 
as  vain  boasting,  but  our  numbers  so  much  exceed  that  of 
your  own  that  I  am  justified,  as  you  well  know,  in  my  asser 
tion.  You  say  you  will  not  accept  the  white  paper  of  the 
Great  Father  at  Washington ;  therefore,  we  now  tell  you  that 
we  take  back  all  we  said  yesterday  about  a  treaty  of  peace. 
If  we  are  to  have  peace  between  the  Choctaws  and  Osages, 
the  proposition  must  now  come  from  the  Osages.  •  I  have 
told  you  all  I  have  to  say,  and  shall  speak  no  more." 

This  bold  speech  of  Pitchlynn's  had  the  desired  effect, 
causing  a  great  change  to  come  suddenly  over  the  spirit  of 
the  Osages' dreams;  therefore,  on  the  next  day  the  council 
was  again  convened  and  the  Osages,  without  further  solici 
tations,  negotiated  for  peace,  which  was  soon  declared,  and 
followed  by  a  universal  shaking  of  hands  and  great  demon 
strations  of  friendship,  intermixed  with  una'ssumed  joy  in 
the  happy  result.  A  grand  feast  was  at  once  prepared,  at 
which  everything  presented  a  joyous  appearance,  while 
peace-speeches  furnished  the  greater  part  of  the  entertain 
ment;  the  honor  of  delivering  the  closing  speech  was  award 
ed  to  Pitchlynn,  in  which,  with  his  usual  eloquence,  he  por 
trayed  before  the  eyes  of  the  attentive  Osages  the  benefit 
that  would, accrue  to  them  as  a  Nation  to  lay  aside  their  old 
manner  of  living  and  begin  a  newr  kind  of  life — that  of  adopt 
ing  the  customs  of  civilization.  He  spoke  of  his  own  people, 
the  Choctaws,  who  had  conformed  to  the  customs  of  civiliza 
tion,  by  encouraging  white  missionaries  to  come  among  them 
and  teach  them  ;  by  establishing  schools  for  the  educafion 
of  their  children,  and  by  turning  the  attention  of  the  men  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil;  and  had  given  up  war  as  a" source 
of  amusement,  and  hunting  as  their  sole  dependence  for 
food,  and  how  much  benefit  they  had  already  derived  in  so 


398  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

doing-,  and  he  would  advise  the  Osages,  aswelj  as  all  Indians, 
to  do  the  same;  as  it  was  the  only  means  of  preserving1  them 
selves  from  the  grasping  habits  and  power  of  the  white 
men.  If  they  would  make  an  effort  to  elevate  themselves  in 
the  scale  of  civilization,  the  American  government  would 
treat  them  with  greater  respect,  and  they  thus  would  pre 
serve  their  nativity. 

At  the  close  of  the  peace  ceremonies  and  festivities  a 
party  of  Osage  warriors,  with  the  Osage  speaker  of  the 
Council,  were  appointed  to  escort,  as  token  of  peace  and 
friendship  between  the  Osages  and  Choctaws,  Pitchlynn  and 
his  little  company  to  the  borders  of  the  Osage  territories, 
a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  There  the  Osage 
escort  bade  their  old  enemies,  but  now  newly-made  friends, 
a  formal  adieu,  and  returned  to  their 'villages,  while  Pitch 
lynn  and  his  five  companions,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  six 
months,  turned  their  faces  homeward  with  light  hearts,  pur 
suing  a  southern  direction  down  the  Canadian  river,  and 
continuing  along  the  Red  river  valley,  and  finally  reached 
home  in  safety. 

Peter  P.  Pitcblynn,  while  upon  this  adventurous  jour 
ney,  picked  up  a  little  Indian  boy  belonging  to  no  particular 
tribe,  whom  he  adopted  and  carried  home  with  him,  had  him 
educated  at  the  Choctaw  academy  in  Kentucky;  and  that 
homeless  boy  of  the  western  prairies  became  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  and  faithful  preachers  that  ever  preached  the 
•'Glad  tidings  of  great  joy"  among  the  Choctaw  people. 

Peter  P.  Pitctilynn  first  formed  an  acquaintance  with 
the  great  American  statesman,  Henry  Clay,  in  1840,  when 
travelling  on  a  steamboat.  While  on  board,  he  one  day  heard 
two  apparently  old  farmers  discussing  the  subject  of  agri 
culture,  to  whose  conversation  he  was  attracted,  and  soon 
became  a  silent  but  deeply  interested  listener  for  more  than 
an  hour;  then  going  to  his  state-room  he  told  his  travel 
ling  companion  what  a  treat  he  had  enjoyed  in  the  discussion 
between  "two  old  farmers"  upon  the  subject  of  farming,  and 
added  :  "If  that  old  farmer  with  an  ugly  face  had  only  been 
educated  for  the  law,  he  would  have  been  one  of  the  greatest 
men  in  this  country."  That  "old  farmer  with  an  ugly  face" 
was  Henry  Ciay,  who  was  delighted  at  the  compliment  paid 
to  him  by  the  appreciative  Choctaw. 

The  noble  Peter  P.  Pitchlynn  was  in  Washington  City 
at  the  time  of  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war  in  1861,  at 
tending  to  the  national  affairs  of  his  people,  but  at  once  has 
tened  home,  hoping  that  they  would  escape  the  evils  of  the 
expected  strife,  and  returned  to  his  home  to  pursue  the  quiet 
life  of  a  farmer  among  his  own  people.  But  the  Choctaws, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  399 

•as  well  as  the  Chickasaws,  Cherokees,  Creeks  and  Seminoles, 
from  their  position  between  the  contending-  parties,  were  not 
permitted  to  occupy  neutral  grounds,  but  were  forced  into 
the  fratricidal  strife,  some  on  the  one  side  and  some  the 
other,  but  to  ^he  inconceivable  injury  of  all. 

CV  Peter  P.  P  tchlynn  it  can  be  said,  he  was  teacher, 
philosopher  and  friend  among"  the  Choctaws,  cherishing  with 
great  pride  the  history  and  romantic  traditions  of  his  peo 
ple.  As  a  private  citizen,  he  was  a  good  man;  as  an  official 
and  public  servant,  he  was  a  pure  man.  As  a  high  official  in 
his  country,  he  too  was  a  pious  man  ;  nor  thought  the  relig 
ion  of  Jesus  Christ  derogatory  to  the  position  of  a  public 
official,  but  taught  to  all  the  lesson  of  personal  grace  as  pro 
duced  in  the  heart,  and  won  from  those  who  knew  him  their 
esteem,  reverence  and  praise.  His  daily  wralk,  both  in  pub 
lic  and  private  capacity,  was  as  bright  as  the  sunshine  and  as 
beautiful  too.  It  truly  seemed  as  if  nothing  could  disturb 
his  serenitv,  so  evenly  was  it  spread  over  his  life,  and  so 
much  did  it  seem  to  be  a  part  of  it.  He  was  one  of  those 
Christian  men  who  carried  the  charm  of  an  attraction  with 
them  everywhere.  He  possessed  such  sweetness  of  spirit, 
such  gentleness  of  manner,  such  manly  frankness,  such 
thorough  self-respect  on  one  hand,  and  on  the  other,  such 
perfect  regard  for  the  judgment  of  others,  that  one  could 
not  help  loving  him,  however  conscience  might  compel  con 
clusions  on  matters  of  mutual  consequence  unlike  those  he 
had  reached.  Often  indeed,  one  was  even  more  drawn  to 
him  when  in  opposition,  because  he  was  so  true  and  just  that 
his  respect  carried  with  it  all  the  refreshment  of  variety 
with  none  of  the  friction  of  hostility.  His  character  possess 
ed  a  completeness  and  grandeur  rarely  found,  and  the  vir 
tues  which  distinguished  him  were  many,  both  excellent  and 
winning.  His  unswerving  fidelity  in  religion,  so  remarka 
ble  in  the  Choctaws,  and  his  eminent  purity  of  life,  ever 
shone  out  brightly  in  all  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was 
placed,  whether  in  the  private  or  public  walks  of  life.  And 
with  all  he  was  a  spirited  citizen  of  his  country,  who  lived 
and  labored,  not  for  selfish  gain  and  self-emolument,  but  for 
the  good  of  his  people,  and  always  felt  a  lively  interest  and 
performed  an  active  part  in  any  and  all  things  looking  to  the 
welfare  of  his  country.  The  loss  of  such  a  man  may  well  be 
mourned,  and  his  example  sacredly  treasured  and  followed. 
In  the  light  of  a  spiritual  sun  he  passed  from  the  scenes  of 
earth,  but  his  influence  lives,  and  illustrates  the  new  crea 
tive  power  that  is  possible  to  all. 

The  Cravat  family  of  Choctaws  are  the  descendants  of 
John  Cravat,  a  Frenchman,  who  came  among  the  Choctaws  at 


400  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

an  early  day,  and  was  adopted  among-  them  by  marriage. 
He  had  two' 'daughters  by  his  Choctaw  wife,  Nancy  and  Re 
becca,  both  of  whom  became  the  wives  of  Louis  LeFlore. 
His  Choctaw  wife  dying  he  married  a  Chickasaw  woman,  by 
whom  he  had  four  sons,  Thomas,  Jefferson,  William  and 
Charles,  and  one  daughter,  Elsie,  who  married- a  white  man 
by  the  name  of  Daniel  Harris,  and  who  became  the  parents 
of  Col.  J.  D.  Harris,  whose  first  wife  was  Catharine  Nail, 
the  fourth  daughter  of  Joel  H.  Nail.  The  descendants  of 
John  Cravat  are  still  among  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws, 
and  known  as  prominent  and  useful  citizens  in  the  two 
nations. 

The  LeFlore  family  of  Choctaws  are  the  descendants 
of  Major  Louis  LeFlore,  and  his  brother,  Michael  LeFlore, 
Canadian  Frenchmen,  who,  after  the  expulsion  of  the  French 
from  the  territories  of  Mississippi  by  the  English,  first  set 
tled  in  Mobile,  Ala.,  then  a  small  trading  post.  After  re 
maining  there  a  few  years,  Louis  moved  to  the  now  state  of 
Mississippi  and  settled  on  Pearl  river,  in  the  county  of 
Nashqba  (Wolf).  Thence  he  moved  to  the  Yazoo  Valley, 
wher£  he  lived  until  he  died.  As  before  stated,  he  married 
the  two  daughters  of  John  Cravat,  Nancy  and  Rebecca.  By 
the  former  he' had  four  sons  in  the  following  order  of  their 
names  :  Greenwood,  William  (who  was  drowned  in  Bok  Iski- 
tini),  Benjamin  and  Basil;  and  five  daughters,  viz  :  Clarissa, 
Emilee — the  names  of  the  others  not  remembered.  After 
the  death  of  Nancy  he  married  Rebecca,  by  whom  he  had 
two  sons,  viz:  For  bis  and  Jackson.  Clarissa  married  a- white 
man  by  the  name  of  Wilson,  and  living,  at  the  time  of  the 
exodus  of  her  people,  in  what  is  now  known  as  Winston 
county,  Mississippi,  east. of  the- town  of  Louisville.  Wilson 
having  died  she  married  a  man  by  the  name  of  Alfred  Leach 
and  moved  with  him  to  the  western  part  of  Winston  county, 
and  settled  on.  the  banks  of  a  creek  called  Lobucha  (cor 
rupted  from  Lah-buch-ih,  to  make  warm.)  She  there  died. 
Her  children,  by  her  first  husband,  moved  with  their  people 
to  the  west.  Emilee  married  A.  H.  Carpenter,  a  Frenchman 
of  higfh  family.  He  practiced  law  in  Jackson,  Mississippi, 
and  rose  to  an  eminence  that  caused  him  to  be  regarded  as 
a  lawyer  having  few  equals  and  no  superiors.  Mr.  Carpen 
ter  died  in  1852,  followed  by  his  wife  in  1860.  They  left 
two  sons,  Jerome  and  Surry.  Jerome  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
entered  the  Confederate  army  as  a  private,  serving  under 
General  Robert  E.  Lee  in  Virginia.  He  was  wounded  July. 
1862,  at  the  battle  of  Malvern.  After  he  had  recovered  he 
served  as  one  of  Gen.  Joe  Johnson's  body  guards,  and  acted 
in  the  capacity  of  dispatch  bearer.  Soon  after  the  t war  he 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  401 

went  to   Mexico  and  received   a  commission  as   Colonel  in 
Maximillian's  army. 

At  the  defeat  of  Maximillian,  the  youthful  Jerome  was 
condemned  to  be  executed  with  the  unfortunate  Prince;  but 
was  saved  by  the  timely  intervention  of  Secretary  Seward. 
As  an  acknowledgment  of  Jerome's  services  and  devotion 
to  Maximillian,  the  Emperor,  Francis  Joseph,  conferred  the 
title  of  "Baron"  upon  him,  and  also  offered  him  a  position  in 
the  Austrian  army,  which  he  declined  to  accept.  He  re 
turned  to  the  United  States,  and  was  shortly  afterwards 
killed  in  a  duel  with  Amos  Price,  leaving-  a  wife  to  mourn  his 
untimely  death.  He  had  no  children.  The  other  three 
daughters  married  as  follows:  One  married  John  Harkins, 
who  became  the  grand-father  of  Colonel  G.  W.  Harkins  of 
the  Chickasaw  Nation;  another  married  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Traydu  or  Traydew;  and  the  other  married  a  man  by 
the  name  of  Harris. 

The  LeFlores  have,  ever  since  the  introduction  of  the 
family,  always  held  a  prominent  place  in  the  annals  of  Choc- 
taw  history;  and  can  justly  boast  a  noble  genealogy  that  ex 
tends  far  back  into  the  twilight  of  history,  when  the  Indians 
were  truly  and  justly  the  Lords  from  the  Great  Lakes  of 
the  north  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Basil  and  Forbis  were 
the  only  sons  who  followed  the  fortunes  of  their  banished 
people  to  the  west.  William,  as  before  stated,  was  acci 
dentally  drowned  in  Bok  Iskitini;  Benjamin  lived  and  died  at 
his  old  home  on  the  banks  of  a  stream  where  he  kept  a  ferry, 
called  Yockanookany,  a  corruption  from  Yakniokhina,  (the 
land  of  streams). 

Major  Louis  LeFlore  was  adopted  by  the  Choctaws,  and: 
gradually  rose  to  great  distinction  as  a  chief  among  that  ap 
preciative  people,  who  quickly  discerned  true  merit  and 
knew  how  to  esteem  it.  He  with  his  brother  Michael  who* 
came  to  Mississippi  and  also  settled  in  the  Yazoo  Valley,  and 
Lewis  Durant,  also  a  Frenchman,  and  the  progenitor  of  the 
Durant  family  of  Choctaws,  first  introduced  cattle  into  the 
western  part  of  the  Choctaw  Nation  from  Mobile,  about  the 
year  1770,  the  first  animal  of  the  bovine  species  ever  seen  bv 
the  Choctaws  in  that  part  of  the  Nation.  They  drove  their 
little  herd  to  the  waters  of  Pearl  river  in  now,  Nashoba 
county,  and  placed  them  upon  the  range,  then  seemingly  un 
limited  in  its  wide  extended  forests  and  impenetrable  cane- 
brakes.  As  a  matter  of  course  the  cattle  were  a  great  curi 
osity  to  the  Choctaws.  The  LeFlores  and  Durant  told  an 
amusing  incident  that  took  place  a  short  time  after  their  ar 
rival  at  their  ranch  with  the  cattle.  A  little  yearling  had 
strayed  from  the  herd.  It  so  happened  that  three  Choctaw 


402  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

hunters  soon  after  pitched  their  camp  a  few  miles  from  the 
newly  established  cattle  ranch  being-  entirely  ignorant  of  its 
near  proximity,  and  also  of  the  new  animals  just  introduced 
into  their  hunting-  grounds.  One  day,  as  usual,  the  three 
hunters  left  their  camps  for  a  hunt,  each  taking-  his  course 
yet  keeping-  near  each  other.  During-  the  day  one  of  them 
discovered  the  yearling  slowly  emerging-  from  a  little  plat  of 
cane;  to  him  a  wonderful  beast.  Unseen  by  the  lonely  calf, 
he  stood,  gazed,  and  wondered.  Naught  like  that  bad  ever 
been  seen  upon  his  hunting  path  before.  What  it  was, 
whence  it  came  and  how,  baffled  tbe  wildest  flights  of  even 
conjecture.  'Twas  not  a  deer,  nor  a  panther,  nor  yellow 
wolf!  Must  he  signal  for  his  companions?  It  might  flee, 
must  he  shoot?  He  might  only  wound  and  cause  it  to  at 
tack,  and  then  what!  But  he  raised  his  trusty  rifle  and 
brought  it  to  bear  upon  the  unsuspecting  calf;  at  that  mo 
ment  he  discovered  that  it  was  eating  the  grass  similar  to 
his  native  deer;  at  once  his  fears  were  allayed  and  he  con 
cluded  not  to  kill  but  to  capture  the  prodigy,  and  take  it  alive 
to  his  camp  as  a  living  wonder. 

Setting  his  gun  against  a  tree,  he  bolted  for  the  calf; 
which  hearing  the  approaching  footsteps,  raised  its  head, 
gazed  a  moment,  and  seeing  the  fast  approaching  and  equally 
strange  object,  at  once  gave  the  signal  for  a  test  of  speed  by 
elevating  its  rear  appendage  to  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees, 
and  the  race  began;  the  pursued,  for  the  realities  of  life,  and 
the  pursuer  for  that  of  curiosity.  Hither  and  thither,  helter 
skelter;  round  and  round;  here  at  rig'ht  angles,  and  there  at 
acute;  now  in  a  circle,  and  then  ir\  a  semi-circle;  over  logs 
and  through  bushes,  the  astonished  calf,  with  head  straight 
out,  nostrils  expanded,  led  his  indefatigable  and  indefeasible 
pursuer.  Finally  the  physical  endurance  of  a  Choctaw 
hunter  proved  superior  to  that  of  a  city  calf;  for  he  now  ran 
but  a  few  feet  behind  his  coveted  prize.  But  alas  for  human 
hopes!  With  a  desperate  spring  in  which  were  centered  all 
his  hopes,  he  made  a  g'rab  at  the  tail  of  the  despairing  calf 
which  then  drooped  at  twenty-two  and  a  half;  when,  seem 
ingly  to  comprehend  his  design,  the  calf  gave  it  a  vigorous 
twitch  as  it  leaped  a  treacherous  log  that  lay  concealed  in 
the  grass  over  which  he  tumbled  headlong  to  the  ground. 
The  lucky  calf,  comprehending  the  advantage  offered,  again 
raised  its  flag  to  forty-five,  and  with  invigorated  strength 
increased  its  speed,  and  was  soon  out  of  sight. 

With  hopes  blighted,  the  unfortunate  hunter  crawled  up 
to  a  sitting  posture  and  commenced  rubbing  his  bruised  and 
painful  knee,  when  he  discovered  that  the  whole  top  of  the 
knee  moved  hither  and  thither  at  his  slightest  push, "a  thing 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  403 

untaught  in  his  book  of  anatomy,  and  at  once  concluded  that 
his  leg"  was  fearfully  shattered.  He  whooped  to,  his  com 
rades,  who,  happening-  to  be  near  and  hearing-  his  call,  has 
tened  to  his  side.  They  also,  upon  close  examination  of  the 
wounded  limb,  arrived  at  the  same  conclusion  with  the  sup 
posed  injured  man,  when  the  two  LeFlores  and  Durant, 
.searching1  for  the  strayed  yearling,  rode  up;  and  taking  in 
the  situation  at  a  glance,  after  a  few  words  of  inquiry,  they 
soon  explained  the  anatomy  of  the  human  knee  to  the  three 
hunters  by  showing  them  that  the  moving  of  the  knee-cap 
was  common  to  all,  and  did  not  denote  a  broken  bone.  Being 
thoroughly  convinced  of  its  truth,  the  fallen  man  arose  to 
his  feet,  gave  a  brief  account  of  his  adventure,  pointed  the 
direction  in  which  the  strange  beast  had  disappeared  ;  and 
the  three  Choctaw  deer  hunters,  and  the  three  white  calf 
hunters,  soon  found  the  wanderer  and  safely  placed  it  again 
within  the  fold;  then  the  three  Choctaws  returned  to  their 
forest  camp  to  talk  over  the  adventures  of  the  clay,  as  well 
as  the  knowledge  gained  regarding  the  new  animal  intro 
duced,  whose  flesh  was  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  that  of  their 
famous  deer,  and  also  of  the  addition  to  their  knowledge  in 
osteology. 

Major  Lewis  Le  Flore  resided  for  many  years  on  the 
waters  of  the  Pearl  River  raising*  cattle,  and  early  became  a 
wealthy  man;  from  his -stock,  which  increased  rapidly  in 
their  abundant  range  and  genial  climate,  the  surrounding 
Choctaws  supplied  themselves  with  cattle.  He  then  moved 
to  the  Yazoo  Valley  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
days  respected  and  loved.  As  colonel,  he  commanded  a  bat 
talion  of  Choctaw  warriors  under  Jackson  at  the  taking  of 
Pensacola  in  the  Creek  war  of  1812. 

Greenwood,  after  his  father's  death,  succeeded  him  as 
one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  which  he  retained 
until  the  exodus.  He  was  a  man  of  great  energy,  and  to 
whom  nature  had  given  force  of  character;  and  had  he  also 
have  bad  the  advantages  of  high  mental  culture,  he  would 
have  been  a  leader  of  men.  He  did  not  move  west  with  his 
people,  but  remained  at  his  old  home  in  a  little  town  called 
Greenwood,  situated  on  a  tributary  of  the  Yazoo  River, 
where  he  lived  to  an  advanced  age,  died  and  was  buried  there. 
He  was  married  twice.  His  wives  were  sisters,  the  daugh 
ters  of  John  Dunley  of  Alabama.  The  old  chief  was  highly 
respected  by  the  whites,  and  was  elected  to  the  State  Legis 
lature  as  a  member  from  Yazoo  county  ;  and  afterwards  was 
elected  to  the  State  Senate  from  Yazoo  and  Carroll  counties. 

William  lived  near  the  Yelobusha  River  (corrupted  from 
Yaloba-aia-sha — where  tadpoles  abound).  He,  too,  was  a 


404  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

respected  and  useful  man.  He  was^unfortunately  drowned 
in  Bok  Iskitini  (as  before  stated)  in  the  pride  and  manhood 
of  his  life,  regretted  and  mourned  by  all  his  numerous  ac 
quaintances  and  friends.  His  body  was  recovered  and 
buried  at  his  home. 

Forbis  and  Basil  were  the  only  two  sons  who  moved  west 
with  their  people,  both  lived  to  an  advanced  age  ;  the  former 
died  in  1883,  the  latter  in  1886.  Both  were  pious  men  and 
died  in  strong"  faith  of  a  blissful  immortality.  Forbis,  in  re 
lating  his  Christian  experience,  once  said:  "I  was  once  a  very 
wicked  man.  God  g-ave  me  a  long  rope — a  mighty  long  rope 
—but  I  cut  it  right  short  off."  And  his  Christian  life  after 
he  embraced  the  religion  of  the  Son  of  God,  proved  that  he 
did  cut  "right  short  off"  from  his  wickedness.  Forbis  Le 
Flore  was  indeed  a  man  of  stern  merits,  and  blended  with 
his  force  of  character  were  gentleness  of  spirit  and  entire 
conscienciousness,  by  which  he  obtained  the  confidenceof  his 
people;  and  while  he  merited  all  their  esteem  by  his  virtues, 
he  also  secured  their  affections  by  them. 

Basil  LeFlore  was  a  man  than  whom  a  purer  one  is  sel 
dom  found  in  this  age  of  the  world.  Of  him  it  can  with  truth 
be  said:  "He  was  an  honest  man."  His  long  and  useful 
life  was  devoted  to  the  moral  and  intellectual  improvement, 
the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  his  fellow  man.  He  filled 
the  highest  public  offices  of  his  Nation  with  honor  to  himself 
and  his  country.  He  was  truly  a  bright  and  ever  shining 
light  among  the  Choctaw  people,  of  him  they  are  justly 
proud,  for  they  have  the  best  of  reasons  to  be.  Kind  words 
and  pleasant  smiles  spread  sunshine  throughout  his  whole 
actions;  his  home  was  a  model  home,  where  all  the  virtues 
known  to  man  seem  to  congregate  and  delight  to  dwell.  I 
speak  from  personal  knowledge.  But  his  crowning  virtue 
was  his  earnest  piety,  his  simple,  trusting  faith.  No  one 
could  detect  inconsistency  in  Basil  LeFlore.  He  carried 
his  religion  with  him  everywhere,  which  burned-,  with  a 
steady  beautiful  light,  making  its  influence  felt  far  and  wide. 
His  Christian  life  was  truly  most  exemplary,  his  morals 
the  purest,  and  his  principles  the  noblest,  while  unostenta 
tious  religion  truly  seemed  a  part  and  parcel  of  his  being; 
never  arrogant  or  obtrusive,  but  all  pervading  and  firm  as 
the  Rock  upon  which  his  faith  was  founded.  As  a  friend 
he  was  warm-hearted,  steadfast  and  true  as  the  magnet  to 
the  pole;  as  a  public  or  private  citizen  his  character  was 
above  reproach;  and  his  many  virtues  will  ever  be  emulated, 
his  goodness  of  heart  and  head,  and  his  numerous  deeds  of 
charity  and  love  remembered  with  profound  gratitude. 

To  see  him  was  to  admire  him;  to  meet  him  was   to  re- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  405 

spect  him;  and  to  know  him  was  to  love  and  honor  him. 
His  public  services  were  not  less  patriotic  than  his  private 
virtues  were  conspicuous.  The  former  are  monuments 'to 
his  wisdom  and  honest  statesmanship,  and  will  ever  be 
viewed  by  his  admiring  people  as  stars  in  the  firmament  of 
their  Nation.  And  his  life  illustrates  the  possibilities  of  a 
Choctaw  citizen  meriting  and  receiving  the  entire  confidence, 
respect  and  love  of  his  people,  whom  he  had  long  and  faith 
fully  served  in  the  capacity  of  a  public  servant;  and  the 
respect  and  admiration  of  all  the  whites  who  were  person 
ally  acquainted  with  him.  He  died  full  of  years  (well  spent) 
at  the  home  of  a  friend,  October,  1886,  living  a  few  miles 
frpm  his  own,  whom  he  was  visiting.  His  death  was  sud 
den  and  unexpected — falling  dead  from  his  chair  while  at  the 
supper  table.  But  his  lamp  was  well  trimmed  and  full  of 
oil  waiting  for  his  Master's  call.  "Blessed  is  the  death  of 
the  righteous."  A  Choctaw  friend  informed  me  of  his  death, 
by  letter,  in  the  following  truthful  and  memorable  words: 
*'Gov  Basil  LeFlore  is  dead.  He  is  the  last  of  the  family. 
It  is  a  national  'loss  to  the  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  people. 
Our  best  old  men  are  fast  disappearing."  Yes,  the  death  of 
Basil  LeFlore  but  thins  still  more  the  sadly  thinned  ranks 
of  the  few  noble  old  Choctaw  men,  whose  ^history,  if  it  had 
been  written,  would  be  strangely  beautiful  and  far  more 
interesting  and  fascinating  than  the  most  thrilling  fiction, 
since  in  it  were  hidden  romantic  truths  of  which  the  "pale 
faces"  never  even  dreamed,  or  will  ever  know. 

Michael  LeFlore,  the  brother  and  only  relative  of 
Major  Lewis  LeFlore  among  the  Choctaws,  the  people  of 
their  adoption,  had  five  sons,  viz:  Thomas,  Michael,  Joel, 
Ward  and  Johnson,  and  two  daughters,  Mary  and  Sophia. 
Thomas  was  chief  in  their  present  Nation  for  several  years. 
When  I  last  heard  of  his  widow  she  was  still  living  near 
Wheelock,  Choctaw  nation,  and  is  said  to  be  bordering  on 
a  nundred  years  of  age.  Young  Michael  served  as  major  in 
the  Confederate  army  through  the  civil  war. 

Louis  Durant,  a  Canadian  Frenchman,  was  the  proprie 
tor  of  the  Durant  family  among  the  Choctaws,  who  came, 
as  before  stated,  to  the  Choctaw  Nation  with  the  two 
brothers,  Lewis  and  Michael  LeFlore  about  the  year  1770. 
He,  as  his  friends  and  contemporaries,  the  two  LeFore 
brothers,  also  selected  a  wife  among  the  Choctaw  forest 
flowers,  but  whose  name  has  been  lost  amid  the  vicissitudes 
through  which  her  people  have  passed.  They  had  three 
sons,  Pierre,  Charles  and  Lewis;  and  two  daughters,  Mar 
garet  and  Syllan.  The  father  and  three  sons  served  under 


406  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

their    renowned    chief,    Apushamatahah,   as    allies    of  the 
Americans  in  the  Creek  war  of  1812. 

Pierre  had  seven  sons,  viz:  Fisher,  George,  Jefferson, 
Sylvester,  Isham,  Ellis  and  Joseph.  Ellis  and  Sylvester 
served  in  the  Confederate  army  during"  the  civil  war  of  1861,. 
the  former  in  the  rank  of  major.  Alexander  Durant,  one  of  the 
Supreme  Judges  of  the  Choctaw  Nation,  (with  whom  I  am 
personally  acquainted)  is  a  son  of  George  Durant.  Fisher 
Durant  had  three  sons,  Bissant,  Dixon  and  Jesse.  Dixon 
is  a  minister  of  the  Gospel.  He  is  a  poor  man  in  a  pecuni 
ary  sense,  but  rich  in  a  spiritual  sense.  He  seems  to  live 
alone  for  the  cause  of  his  Divine  Master  and  the  salvation 
of  his  fellow  men.  Ah!  if  the  world's  Christians  were  all 
.such  Christians  as  Dixon  Durant,  the  djevil's  kingdom  on 
earth  would  soon  be  overturned,  and  that  of  the  World's. 
Redeemer  permanently  established  thereon.  God  be  with 
you,  my  Christian  brother!  Though  poor  in  worldly  goods, 
and  unknown  to  earthly  fame,  yet  of  you,  will  it  not  be  said 
in  the  day  of  final  accounts,  as  of  the  poor  widow  who  cast 
her  mite  into  the  treasury?  Who  then  of  man  can  justly  es 
timate  thy  riches? 

Margaret  Durant  married  a  man  by  the  name  of  Eli 
Crowder;  and  Syllan,  a  William  Taylor..  The  two  husbands 
were  with  their  father-in-law  and  their  three  brothers-in-law 
in  the  Creek  war  of  1812  as  allies  of  the  Americans. 

Eli  Crowder  secured  for  himself,  in  the  Creek  war  of 
1812,  the  name  Mu'scokubi  (Muscogee  or  Creek-Killer),  which 
he  ever  afterwards  bore;  being  called  by  the  Choctaws,  Mus- 
cokubi,  and  by  the  whites,  Creek-Killer.  The  following  are 
the  circumstances  by  which  he  gained  the  name: 

At  one  time,  during  the  campaign,  a  company  of  Choc- 
taw  warriors,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  was  encamped  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  main  body  of  General  Jackson's  army, 
then  in  the  Muscogee  or  Creek  Nation.  Crowder,  at  that 
time,  possessed  a  little  pony  which  had  served  him  faithfully 
in  more  than  one  trouble,  and  to  which  he  was  greatly  at 
tached  through  a  sense  of  deep  gratitude.  He  frequently 
would  attach  a  little  bell  to  the  neck  of  the  pony  and  turn 
him  out  at  night  upon  the  range  to  graze  upon  the  luxuriant 
grass  that  covered  the  earth  in  rich  profusion,  and  go  early 
the  next  morning  and  drive  him  from  his  night  wanderings 
back  to  camp.  Frequently  the  pony  would  wander  a  mile  or 
more  from  the  camp  during  the  "night,  and  Crowder  had 
been  warned  of  the  danger  of  his  morning  walk  after  the 
pony,  since  a  scouting  Muscogee  might  be  attracted  some 
night  by  the  bell,  and  finding  it  upon  the  horse,  naturally 
conclude  that  the  owner  would  be  out  after  him  in  the  morn- 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  407 

ing1,  and  would  lie  in  ambush  for  him,  and,  ten  to  one,  would 
lift  his  scalp.  But  Crowder  seemed  to  have  no  fears.  One 
morning-,  however,  in  going  after  his  pony,  he  heard  the  little 
bell  at  rather  an  unusual  distance  awajr,  which  aroused  his 
suspicions  a  little  that  perhaps  the  pony  had  been  driven 
there  by  a  Muscogee  scout  in  order  to  draw  the  anticipated 
owner  as  far  into  the  solitudes  of  the  forest  and  away  from 
the  Choctaw  camp,  whose  location  he  perhaps  well  knew, 
that  he  might  the  safer  shoot  him;  therefore,  he  kept  a  vigi 
lant  outlook.  When  he  had  approached  within  sight  of  his 
little  truant  quietly  feeding  some  two  or  three  hundred 
yards  distant,  whose  tinkling  bell,  mingling-  its  monotonous 
tones  with  the  song's  of  the  various  forest  birds-,  alone  dis 
turbed  the  profound  silence  of  the  scene.  The  peculiar  cir 
cumstances  of  the  immediate  surroundings,  however,  began 
to  awaken  his  suspicions  the  more  that  an  enemy  was  lurk- 
kig  near,  whose  eyes,  perhaps,  already  rested  upon  him. 
But  bracing-  up  his  nerves  he  continued  walking-  slowly  to 
wards  the  pony,  but  with  eyes  playing-  in  all  directions  and 
ears  attentive  to  the  minutest  sound.  He  had  approached 
within  two  hundred  yards  of  his  pony  when  his  watchful 
eye  detected  the  quick  movement,  as  he  thought,  of  an  ob 
ject  four  or  five  feet  above  the  base  of  a  large  tree  a  few 
rods  to  the  left  of  the  still  quietly,  feeding  pony,  who  seemed 
to  be  enjoying  his  breakfast  upon  the  grass  that  lay  in  rich 
profusion  under  his  feet,  as  well  as  the  tinkling*  chimes  of 
his  bell  that  alone  broke  the  profound  silence  of  the  vast 
solitude  that  lay  around,  unconscious  of  the  bloody  scene 
that  was  about  to  be  enacted  at  his  very  side. 

Crowder  made  no  halt,  nor  altered  his  movements  in  any 
way,  that  might  have  a  tendency  to  betray  to  his  suspected 
enemy  (if  real)  that  he  suspicioned  his  presence.  But  while 
he  guarded  with  eagle  eyes  the  suspected  tree,  he  placed 
double  duty  upon  his  ears  and  also  glanced  everywhere 
around.  He  had  walked  but  a  few  paces  farther  when  he 
noticed  a  seemingly  unnatural  protuberance,  scarcely  visi 
ble,  on  one  side  of  the  now  truly  suspected  tree.  Yet  he 
slowly  proceeded  on  his  way,  but  kept  an  eye  askant  upon 
the  tree.  As  he  steadily  continued,  he  noticed  the  protuber 
ance  slowly,  but  surely,  enlarging.  Little  by  little  it  grew 
in  size  until  the  outlines  of  half^the  size  of  a  man's  head  was 
discernible— then  instantly  disappeared.  That  told  the 
tale.  Crowder  easily  guessed  the  lurking  and  peeping  non 
descript  that  stood  behind  the  tree,  and  also  why  the  pony 
was  so  unusually  distant  from  camps.  In  a  twinkling  he 
formed  !his  resolution.  It  was  to  continue  walking  towards 
the  pony  until  within  sure  range  of  his  rifle,  and  then  risk 


408        ,  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

the  chance  of  securing"  the  first  shot.  If  he  failed,  then 
Margaret  Crowder  would  be  a  widow.  But  the  word  fail  was 
nowhere  to  be  found  in  Muscokubi's  vocabulary.  Therefore, 
he  proceeded  on  his  way,  nothing*  discomfitted  by  the  new 
acquaintance  he  was  about  to  form,  believing-  he  had  as  long 
ranged  rifle  and  was  as  accomplished  an  expert  in  the  use  of 
it  as  he  who  was  peeping  from  behind  the  tree,  and  who,  he 
felt  sure,  would  indulge  in  another  peep  ere  he  risked  a  shot; 
but  after  that  he  resolved  to  be  no  longer  peeped  at,  without 
indulging  in  a  sly  peep  himself;  so  he  slowly,  but  resolutely, 
marched  on  towards  his  concealed  foe,  but  kept  his  eyes 
upon  the  place  of  his  concealment.  As  he  expected,  again 
he  saw  the  unnatural  protuberance  slowly  forming  on  the 
side  of  the  tree  at  the  very  spot  where  it  had  twice  formed 
before  ;  slowly,  but  steadily,  inch  by  inch,  it  grew  until  it 
was  in  size  as  before,  then  as  instantly  disappeared.  Mus- 
cokubi  ran  as  nimbly  and  lightly  as  a  cat  towards  the  tree, 
which  brought  him  in  easy  range,  and  stopped,  raised  his 
rifle  and  held  it  with  unerring  aim  upon  the  very  spot  where 
the  apparition  had  so  oft  appeared  and  disappeared.  There 
he  stood  the  very  personification  of  a  marble  statue — mo 
tionless  and  silent. 

Soon  he  saw  the  dark  barrel  of  a  rifle  becoming  slowly 
visible  and  becoming  plainer  and  plainer  to  view  as  it  extend 
ed  out  along  the  side  of  the  tree  and  pointing  toward  him, 
then  was  motionless;  then  as  before,  the  apparition  slowly 
began  to  form;  inch  by  inch  it  enlarged,  but  just  as  it  reach 
ed  its  former  size  the  sharp  crack  of  Muscokubi's  rifle,  fol 
lowed  by  a  dull,  heavy  thud,  united  with  the  tinkling  pony 
bell  to  break  the  forest  silence.  He'  then  re-loaded  his  rifle 
and  again  slowly  advanced  to  the  (to  him)  so  nearly  fatal  tree 
to  learn  the  extent  of  his  morning  adventure,  and  there  saw 
a  Muscogee  warrior  stretched  full  length  in  death,  as  he  had 
expected,  with  the  right  side  of  his  head  torn  off — the  effect 
of  his  death-dealing  bullet.  For  a  moment  he  gazed  upon 
his  fallen  foe;  then  severed  the  scalp  from  the  head,  attached 
it  to  his  belt,  and  with  it  and  the  rifle  of  the  outwitted  war 
rior  "as  proofs  of  his  adventure,  returned  to  the  camp  slowly 
driving  the  truant  pony  before  him,  while  the  unceasing 
tinkling  of  the  pony  bell  seemed  as  the  exultants  of  both 
pony  and  master — the  former  in  remembrance  of  his  night's 
rich  repast,  and  the  latter  of  the  securing  of  the  scalp  and 
rifle. 

Eli  Crowder,  alias  Muscokubi,  lived,  as  would  seem  at 
the  present  day,  to  the  extraordinary  age  of  102  years,  2 
months  and  11  days;  but  longevity  among  the  Choctaws  at 
that  time,  as  well  as  among  other  southern  tribes,  was  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  409 

very  common  occurrence.  His  first  wife  was  a  white  woman 
by  whom  he  had  two  sons.  From  her  he  separated — cause 
unknown.  He  then  married  a  Choctaw  woman  by  whom  he 
had  nine  sons  and  two  daughters,  who  were  born:  Harris, 
Jackson,  Phebe,  James,  Catherine,  Solomon,  David,  Louis, 
Washington,  Martin,  and  one  who  died  in  infancy. 

His  Chocta\y  wife  dying,  he  married  a  Chickasaw 
woman,  by  whom  he  had  nine  sons;  Francis  Marion  (known 
as  Dick,)  Eli,  Van  (known  as  Bob);  the  fourth  died  in  in 
fancy;  then  followed  Thomas,  William,  Joshua,  George  and 
John.  Louis  Crowcler,  (or  Louie,  as  he  is  called,  and  to 
whom  I  am  indebted  for  all  the  above  concerning  the 
Crowder  family,)  the  sixth  son  of  Muscokubi  by  his  Choctaw 
wife,  is  acknowledged  throughout  the  Choctaw  Nation  as  the 
best  interpreter  in  it.  He  has  been  acting  in  the  capacity  of 
general  interpreter  for  the  Choctaws  and  Missionaries  dur 
ing  the  last  forty-five  years.  He  is  a  consistent  member  of 
the  Old  School  Presbyterian  Church  (south).  His  grand 
father,  James  Crowder  was  an  ordained  Methodist  minister 
of  the  Gospel;  and  two  of  his  uncles,  Jeptha  and  Levi,  were 
class  leaders  in,  the  Methodist  church.  He  has  been  greatly 
afflicted  with  rheumatism  for  many  years,  yet  has  born  his 
affliction  with  becoming  Christian  fortitude,  ever  wearing  a 
•smiling  face  and  a  cheerful  countenance. 

John  Harkins,  a  white  man,  is  the  father  of  the  Harkins 
family  of  Choctaws.  His  advent  to  the  Choctaw  nation  was, 
as  near  as  can  be  ascertained,  about  the  year  1800  or  soon 
afterwards.  He  was  a  man  of  high-toned  principles,  and 
contemporary  with  the  Folsoms,  Nails,  Pitchlynns,  Le- 
Flores,  Durants,  Cravats,  Crowders,  and  others  of  the  long 
ago,  who  married  among  the  Choctaws;  all' men,  who,  hav 
ing  cast  their  lot  among  that  people  made  their  interests 
their  own,  and  sought,  by  every  means  in  their  power  to 
elevate  them  in  the  scale  of  morality  and  virtue. 

John  Harkins  married  a  daughter  of  Major  Lewis 
LeFlore,  by  whom  he  had  four  sons — Willis,  George,  Rich 
ard  and  James.  Willis  married  Salina  Folsom,  oldest  daugh 
ter  of  Col.  David  Folsom.  They  had  two  sons,  George  W. 
and  Crittendon,  and  one  daughter,  Salina. 

Col.  George  W^  Harkins  was  a  graduate  of  Danville  Col 
lege,  Kentucky.  He  was  a  man  of  acknowledged  abilities; 
a  lawyer  by  profession,  and  a  fine  jurist  and  wise  counsellor. 
He  for  many  years  acted  in  the  capacity  of  delegate  to 
Washington  in  attending  to  the  national  affairs  of  the  Chick 
asaw  Nation,  with  which  people,  though  a  Choctaw  by  con 
sanguinity,  he  cast  his  lot.  He  was  a  bold,  vigorous  and 
able  defender  of  the  rights  of  his  people  in  the  Congress  of 


410  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

the  United  States;  and  by  energetic  and  fervent  persever 
ance,  with  solid  learning1,  he  rose  to  eminence  in  the  spheres 
of  an  active  life,  as  well  as  in  his  profession.  He  died  in 
August,  1891. 

Salina,  the  only  daughter,  is  a  lady  of  fine  literary  at 
tainments,  and  high  cultivation  of  both  mind  and  heart ;  and 
who,  by  an  indefeasible  resolution  and  indefatigable  perse 
verance  has  placed  herself  high  in  the  esteem  and  confidence 
of  a  wide  circle  of  admiring  friends.  She  has  never  mar 
ried,  but  seems  to  prefer  fighting  the  battles  of  life  single 
handed  than  running  the  risk  of  finding  a  partner  in  the 
present  seemingly  rickety  old  ship  of  matrimony,  who  would 
prove  a  worthy  ally  in  the  campaign  from  time  to  eternity, 
amid  its  fluctuating  hopes  and  fears,  its  joys  and  sorrows  ; 
though  many  a  young  swain  has  taken  issue  with  her  in  re 
gard  to  her  convictions,  and  truly  believes  her  decision  is 
injudicious  and  without  true  wisdom  for  its  foundation.  But 
there  being  two  sides  to  the  mooted  question,  the  future 
alone  can  and  will  decide  whose  arguments  will  prevail; 
though  the  flag  of  victory  thus  far  triumphantly  waves  over 
the  citadel  which  the  still  defiant  young  lady  holds  as  a  wise, 
""judicious  and  brave  commander.  She  graduated  in  one  of 
the  female  colleges  of  Tennessee,  after  which  she  .engaged,, 
for  a  while,  in  teaching,  but  for  several  years  was  engaged 
as  telegraph  operator  at  Talbott  Station,  Tennessee.  She  at 
different  intervals  visits  her  relatives  and  friends  in  the 
Choctaw  Nation,  then  returns  \to  her  duties  in  Tennessee. 
May  prosperity  and  happiness  attend  her  through  life. 

George,  of  the  four  sons  of  John  Harkins,  was  one  of 
the  chiefs  of  the  Choctaw  Nation  in  1852,  in  conjunction 
with  Cornelius  McCurtain  and  George  Folsom. 

But  it  would  not  be  practicable,  were  it  even  possible,  to 
give  a  sketch,  though  short,  of  the  lives  of  all  the  Choctaws 
who  became  conspicuous  by  their  virtues  and  noble  deeds, 
both  of  unmixed  and  mixed  .blood,  being  wise  in  counsel, 
brave  in  the  field  of  battle,  judicious  in  peace,  orators  by 
nature,  and  who  eloquently  and  courageously  presented  the 
wrongs  and  sustained  the  rights  of  .their  people. 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune,  as  well  as  pride  and  pleas 
ure,  to  be  personally  acquainted  from  youth  to  old  age  with 
the  majority  of  those  Choctaws  whose  characteristics  I  have 
thus  delineated;  and  with  the  ancient  and  present  habits, 
manners  and  customs,  of  'whose  people  I  have  made  myself 
fully  acquainted  by  the  diligent  study,  the  long  and  free  as 
sociation  and  close  observation  of  over  three  score  and  ten 
years;  and  it  has  ever  been,  and  will  ever  continue  to  be,  my 
sunniest  memories  to  know  that  I  have  ever  stood  as  the 


F 

HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  411 

friend  of  the  Red  Man,  as  my  parents  before  me  who  sev 
ered  the  ties  of  all  that  makes  life  most  dear,  leaving-  all  be 
hind,  to  go  to  the  rescue  of  the  Choctaw  people  in  obedience 
to  their  Divine  Master's  injunction — "Go  ye  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  my  gospel" — and  also  that  I  have  been  blest  with 
such  noble  friends  as  I  have  found,  secured  and  still  possess 
in  them,  true  as  the  needle  to  the  pole,  and  in  whose  friend 
ship  unalloyed  I  have  always  found,  still  find,  and  ever  ex 
pect  to  find,  equal  joy  and  cheer,  though  a  people  unknown 
to  earthly  fame. 

And  though  I  freely  and  proudly  acknowledge  my  preju 
dice  in  their  favor,  if  love  and  friendship  without  alloy,. based 
updn  true  merit,  are  worthy  that  title,  yet  I  have  endeavored 
to  give  a  truthful  sketch  of  those  noble  and  as  worthy  men 
as  ever  blest  a  Nation,  though  much  more  might  be  said  of 
their  virtues;  and  with  equal  truth  of  hundreds  of  others  of 
that  noble  people,  both  men  and  women,  who  have  lived  and 
died,  and  others  who  still  live,  but  occupied  a  less  public,  yet 
none  the  less  useful  and  glorious  sphere  in  life,  since  they 
did  their  duty  and  thus  filled  it  nobry. 

It  is  the  first  time  their  names  have  been  presented  to- 
.the  world;  and  I  have  ventured  this  just  and  true  sketch  for 
the  consideration  of  those  of  my  own  race  who  have  hereto 
fore  seemingly  felt,  and  therefore  evidently  exercised  but 
little  interest  in  the  North  American  Indians,  beyond  that 
found  in  reading  the  falsehoods  and  vituperations  published 
against  them  in  the  sensational  articles  of  the  day  by  many 
of  the  newspaper  men. 

What  more  could  be  expected  but  that  the  Indian  Race 
should  be  regarded,  root  and  branch,  as  being  incapable  of 
possessing  or  exercising  any  of  those  virtues  whose  ten 
dencies  are  to  elevate  and  adorn  the  human  race?  To  the 
refutation  of  this  false  charge,  have  I  given  to  the  world  the 
characteristics  of  the  Indian  hoping  that  it  might  serve,  to 
some  extent  at  least  to  remove  from  the  minds  of  those  open 
to  conviction,  the  gross  errors  under  which  they  have  been 
living  in  regard  to  that  unfortunate  but  noble  race,  by  their 
thoughtless  credulity  when  giving  heed  to  the  defamations 
of  those  who  scruple  not  to  do  anything  by  which  they  can 
add  a  penny  to  their  selfish  interests.  Still  I  know  the 
sketch  given  of  those  noble  Choctaws  may  be,  and  will  be 
cast  aside  by  those  over  whom  long  established  prejudice 
still  sways  her  merciless  sceptre,  with  the  interrogatory, 
"Cari  anything  good  come  out  of  Nazareth"?  To  which  I 
respond:  There  did.  A  glorious  light  which  exposed  to- 
view  a  world  that  lay  in  moral  and  intellectual  darkness. 
What  next?  This  much.  What  I  have  writte'n,  I  have  writ- 


412  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

i  .  • 

ten;  and  with  a  full  knowledge  of  its  truth,  sustained  by  over 
three  quarters  of  a  century's  personal  acquaintance  and  ex 
perience  with  the  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  Indians,  and  con 
firmed  by  hundreds  of  others  whose  acquaintance  and  ex 
perience  are  greater  than  my  own,  and  bidding  defiance  to 
successful  contradiction. 

But  it  will  not  trouble  me,  as  far  as  my  own  individual 
interests  are  concerned,  if  the  facts  presented  are  rejected 
as  the  wild  and  absurd  hallucinations  of  a  disordered  brain; 
but  only  in  behalf  of  the  down-trodden  Indian  I  would  that 
they  might  be  otherwise  accepted;  as  lam  well  aware,  that  a 
brief  period  will  place  me  beyond  all  anxiety  in  their  behalf, 
and  I  shall  leave  them  to  the  humanity,  or  inhumanity,  of  an 
other  generation;  but  in  which,  God  grant,  others,  more  able 
and  worthy  than  myself,  shall  rise  up  as  their  true  friends 
and  successful  protectors  against  any  future  generation 
whose  humanity  may  not  exceed  that  of  the  present.  Old 
and  worthy  friends  they  are,  long  tried  and  ever  true,  there 
fore  doubly  dear  in  their  misfortunes.  I  still  delight  to  take 
them  by  the  hand  as  of  old  and  listen  to  their  voices,  harmo 
nious  in  gentle  tones  of  love  and  friendship  unalloyed,  reviv 
ing  the  memory  of  happy  years  long  past,  when  in  child 
hood's  morn  I  listened  with  delight  to  their  songs  of  praise 
~ •>  Israel's  God;  and  though  but  few  remain  with  whom  I 
trod  life's  flowery  paths,  scattered  here  and  there  at  their 
humble  homes  and  around  their  peaceful  firesides  calm  and 
silent;  yet  the  names  of  those  whose  places  in  the  old  family 
circle  are  vacant  now  still  live  in  tender  recollection ;  and  my 
sojourns  among  them  have  been  to  me  like  rambling  amid 
pleasant  scenes  of  the  remembered  past;  and  bringing  long 
hidden  beauties  again  to  light  by  the  fresh  cementing  of  that 
friendship  which  has  grown  stronger  with  increasing  years, 
and  given  t )  me  the  pleasant  thought  that  there  is,  at  least, 
one  spot  c  i  earth,  if  no  other,  that  I  can  visit  as  long  as  life 
endures;  the  assurance  of  an  unfeigned  welcome  that  is  as 
spontaneous  as  it  is  sincere  and  beautiful,  and  which  I  ven 
ture  to  lay  upon  the  shrine  of  our  life-long  friendship  that 
has  existed  untarnished  through  the  vicissitudes  of  nearly 
eighty  yeai  s. 

Dark  indeed  have  been  the  clouds  and  shadows  that  have 
swept  over  those  time-honored  friends;'  but  they  nobly  and 
bravely  withstood  the  fiery  test,  and  slowly  and  surely 
pressed  forward  and  upward  over  innumerable  difficulties, 
until  those  clouds  and  shadows  were  riven,  and  their  names 
now  stand  forth  in  a  bright  and  glorious  sunshine;  for,  coin 
cident  with  their  early  and  high  position  among  their  people, 
a  little  star  was  seen  to  twinkle,  which  small  though  it  was, 


X 
HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  413 

added  its  mite  in  dispelling-  the  moral  and  intellectual  dark 
ness  that  so  long  had  brooded  o'er  their  Nation;  and,  from 
whatever  point  we  view  it,  we  find  it  has  pierced  the  dark 
clouds  and  revealed  the  bright  sky  beyond;  and  with  great 
and  noble  objects  in  view  resting  upon  the  firm  foundation 
rock  of  Truth,  and  with  the  help  of  a  just  God  above,  they 
have  been  enabled  to  withstand  the  taunts  and  malice  of  a 
selfistT  and  unmerciful  world,  and  to-day  their  works  do 
show  forth  in  tffe  peace  and  prosperity  of  their  people;  and 
to-day,  if  those  g*ood  men,  whose  memories  stand  along 
down  the  years  of  the  Choctaws'  past  ^history,  were  called 
up -from  their  graves  and  asked,  what  was  their  proudest 
boast?  they  would  respond  with  one  united  voice:  "We 
stood  on  the  side  of  truth  and  justice,  and' ever  were  the  ad 
vocates  of  temperance  and  virtue." 

But  if,  in  your  opinion,  reader,  I  have  committed  errors 
of  judgment  in  my  sketch  of  those  illustrious  Choctaws,  and 
in  my  emotional  feelings  of  interest  in  behalf  of  them  and 
their  people,  in  excuse  I  plead  but  two  things:  The  strength 
of  affection  for  worthy  men  and  their  no  less  worthy  peo 
ple,  and  the  weakness  (if  it  be  a  weakness)  of  human  nature. 
If  these  carry  110  weight  with  you,  read  no  further.  You 
are  too  good  for  me,  and  I  am  too  human  for  you.  We  can 
not  be  congenial  nor  abiding  friends,  so  there  let  the  matter 
forever  rest. 

Yet  it  is  surpassingly  strange  that  talent,  worth  and 
true  merit  should  be  so  overlooked,  and  so  little  appreciated, 
because  its  possessor  occupies  an  imaginary  low  position  in 
the  fabric  of  society;  in  other" words,  because  he  is  an  Indian. 
Alas!  When  will  human  nature  recognize  the  great  truth 
and  be  actuated  by  it  in  social  intercourse,  that  some  flowers 
may  be  repulsive  at  first  sight,  but  when  closely  examined 
unfold  a  world  of  beauty,  and  so  it  is  with  man.  But  if  in 
the  face  of  all  the  immense  array  of  incontrovertible  testi 
mony  that  has  been  and  still  can  be  adduced  to  sustain  the 
present^and  long  moral  and  intellectual  standing  of  the 
Choctaws  and  their  four  sister  tribes,  the  Chickasaws,  Cher- 
okees,  Creeks  and  Seminoles,  and  many  other  tribes  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  these  United  States,  there  still  remain 
those  who  cling  to  their  unenviable  ignorance  and  inconsist 
ent  prejudices.  It  can  only  be  said  of  them,  "They  are 
joined  to  their  idols,  let  them  alone." 

The  government  of  the  Choctaws  is  modeled  after  that 
of  the  state  of  Mississippi,  and  was  adopted  before  they 
were  exiled  from  their  ancient  domains  to  their  present 
places  of  abode.  The  executive  power  is  lodged  in  a  gov 
ernor.  Each  county  in  the  Nation  chooses  a  sheriff  and 


414  HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS. 

other  officers  by  ballot.  The  legislative  department  consists 
of  a  general  council,  comprising-  a  senate  and  house  of  rep 
resentatives.  The  Nation  is  divided  into  three  districts, 
from  each  of  which  four  senators  are  sent.  The  members 
of  the  house  of  representatives  are  chosen  by  ballot  from 
the  various  counties.  The  judiciary  consists  in  a  supreme 
court  of  three  judges,  one  from  each  district.  The  names 
of  three  judicial  districts  are  A-push-a-ma-ta-ha,  A-puk-shen- 
ub-i,  and  A-mo-sho-la-ub-i,  the  names  of  three  of  their  former 
and  famous  chiefs.  The  senior  judge  is  the  Chief  Justice. 
This  court  has  only  appellate  jurisdiction.  A  prosecuting 
attorney  is  elected  in  each  district,  whose  duty  it  is  to  rep- 
represent  the  Nation  in  all  civil  and  criminal  cases.  The 
national  capital  is  Tush-ka  Hum-ma,  (red  warrior)  where  a 
National  Council  and  Supreme  Court  are  annually  held,  con 
vening  on  the  first  Monday  in  October  of  each  year. 

In  the  First  District,  the  court  holds  its  session  during 
the  entire  session  of  their  courts;  and  mv  informer  re 
marked:  "It  is  beautiful  to  see  how  harmoniously  and 
Christian-like  they  engage  in  these  religious  exercises  and 
devotions."  Noble  people  and  true  servants  of  the  Most 
High! 

I  was  informed  by  the  Choctaws,  when  visiting  Tushka 
Humma  in  October,  1884,  during  the  session  of  their  council, 
that  during  the  session  of  their  District  Courts  as  well  as 
that  of  the  national  council,  which  are  invariably  opened  by 
prayer,  they  have  preaching  every  night  in  the  week;  and 
that  many  of  the  district  judges,  attorneys  and  jurymen, 
are  ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  all  denominations,  preaching 
alternately  at  night. 


THE  CHICKASAWS. 

Conquest  or  Progress!  It  is  the  same,  since  it  is  with 
blood  that  the  book  of  humanity  is  written.  The  pages  here 
devoted  to  the  narrative  of  the  Chickasaw  Indians  is  not  an 
exception;  their's,  too,  is  stained  with  the  seemingly  inevita 
ble  sanguinary  horrors,  but  nowhere  is  the  trace  inexplica 
ble.  To  some  it  may  seem  useless  and  even  wrong  to  recall 
these  pages  of  history  so  distant  in  the  past,  which  began  in 
wrong,  continued  in  wrong  and  will  end,  so  for  as  human  ob 
servation  can  judge,  in  wrong,  and  then  ask  nothing  better 
than  to  be  forgotten.  Alas,  experience  has  shown  that  to 
change  the  mode  of  life  of  a  primitive  race  is  to  condemn  it 
to  death ;  since  always  regarded  as  an  inferior  race  by  their 
conquerors,  they  have  been  swept  away  without  justice  or 
mercy — a  people  who  had  existed  in  an  unbroken  line  of  de 
scent  from  prehistoric  ages  unknown. 

East  of  the  Mississippi  River  was  also  the  Chickasaws' 
hereditary  domain,  handed  down  through  a  long  line  of  an 
cestry  during  ages  unknown,  and  who,  like  the  Choctaws, 
were  first  made  known  to  the  Eastern  world  by  Hernando 
de  Soto  who  invaded  their  country  in  the  month  of  Novem 
ber,  1540;  but  beyond  which,  except  through  the  tradition  of 
the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  as  before  related,  the  faintest 
glimmerings  of  vague  tradition  has  afforded  scarcely  a  ray 
of  light  to  penetrate  the  darkness  which  envelops  their  his- 
to'-y  with  its  mantle  of  silence;  yet  has  also  opened  a  wide 
field  to  those  dreamy  speculations  of  which  the  imagination 
is  so  fond,  and  in  which  it  so  delights  to  indulge.  Ah,  would 
not  their  ancient  history,  if  known,  present  as  many  subjects 
of  interest  as  any  other  race  of  primitive  man,  our  own  not 
excepted?  Would  there  not  be  much  found  in  that  period  of 
•their  early  existence  which  precedes  their  known  history, 
which,  when  placed  in  contrast  to  their  seemingly  unhappy, 
cruel  destiny,  appeals  to  the  heart  of  the  Christian?  Who, 
.so  incapable  of  reflection,  could  sit  under  the  shades  of  the 
gigantic  trees  of  centuries  growth  that  bedecked  their  an 
cient  possessions,  standing  so  densely  together  that  their 
wide  extended  branches,  interlocked  high  above,  shutting 


416  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

out  the  rays  of  the  sun  which  only  reached  the  ground  here 
and  there,  while  the  earth  beneath  was  covered  with  grass, 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  inches  high,  interspersed  with  a  great 
variety  of  wrild  flowers,  many  of  which  were  of  exquisite 
beauty  and  emitting  the  sweetest  perfume,  with  no  bushes 
to  mar  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  the  fascinating  scene;  or 
on  the  top  of  those  ancient  mounds,  the  sepulchers  of  man 
erected  by  his  own  hand — the  Nunih  Waiyahs  of  the  long 
ago — and  not  feel  his  whole  soul  glow  with  hallowed  emo 
tions  ? 

Let  your  thoughts  again  revert  to  the  scene  presented 
in  the  Ba'y  of  Santo  Spiritu,  Florida,  May  31st,  1540.  Three 
vessels,  it  is  recorded,  of  strange-  and  curious  shape  to  the 
native  beholders,  bearing  the  banner  of  haughty  Spain, 
moored  close  to  their  shores,  and  one  thousand  men  of  in 
fantry  and  three  hundred  cavalry  landed  in  proud  array, 
with  Hernando  De  Soto,  their  -leader,  the  former  companion 
of  Pizarro,  in  his  conquest  of  Peru  and  butchery  of  its 
helpless  inhabitants.  View  again  the  heroism  of  those 
ancient  Choctaws  in  the  patriotic  defense  of  their  city, 
Moma-Binah.  Look  again  upon  those  noble  Choctaw  women 
—mothers,  wives,  sisters  and  daughters — lighting  side  be 
side  with  fathers,  husbands,  brothers  and  sons,  mid  blood 
and  carnage,  and  perishing  in  the  flames  of  their  burning 
homes  rather  than  yield  to  the  human  fiends  that  had  in 
vaded  t/heir  country.  Take  also  a  retrospective  view  of 
those  foreign  marauders  afterwards  quartered  for  the  win 
ter  in  Chikasahha,  November,  1540,  the  most  ancient  city  of 
the  Chickasaws,  the  bravest  of  the  brave  among  the  North 
American  Indians,  whose  king  (th»  Chickasaw  rulers  were 
anciently  called  kings  instead  of  chiefs)  had  received  De  Soto 
and  his  followers  (though  uninvited)  with  the  greatest  kind 
ness,  and  extended  to  them  the  hospitality  of  his  town  and 
eople;  but  who,  preparatory  to  the  renewal  of  his  wild  and 
AOtic  journey  in  the  following  spring,  manifested  his 
gratitude  to  the  generous  Chickasaw  king  for  his  kindness 
and  hospitality,  by  haughtily  demanding  two  hundred  of  his 
warriors  to  accompany  him  in  his  dubious  adventures  as 
burden  bearers  and  servants  of  the  camp.  To  which  inso 
lent,  insulting  and  outrageous  demand  the  Chickasaw  king 
scorned  to  submit,  and  evaded  a  direct  answer  to  De  Soto 
by  requesting  a  few  days  in  which  to  lay  the  matter  before 
his  people  in  council  assembled,  but  during  which  interval 
nobly  prepared  for  a  bold  resistance  ;  and,  ere  the  insolent 
invaders  were  aware,  gave  his  reply  to  De  Soto's  insulting 
demand  in  the  defiant  war-whoop;  then  setting  fire  to  their 
town  in  which  the  perfidious  Spaniards  were  sleeping,  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  417 

\ 

brave  and  justly  indignant  Chickasaws,  with  a  noble  patriot 
ism,  unsurpassed  even  in-  the  civilized  world,  rushed  upon 
their  unprincipled  and  ungrateful  invaders  and  intruders. 

But  as  the  Choctaws,  in  defense  of  Moma  Binah   a   few 
months  before,  were  defeated,  so  too  were  the  Chickasaws  ;. 
for.  what  could  avail  the  feeble  bow  and  arrow  wielded  by  an 
unprotected   body  against  powder  and  lead,  lance  and  broad 
sword   wielded   by   a  steel-clad   body?     Yet    they    bravely 
fought  until  hundreds  of  their  noble  warriors  were  slain  and 
longer  fighting  was  vain;  not  without,  however,  making  it   a 
deadly  fought   victory   to   the   Spaniards;    besides  teaching 
them,  as  had  the  Choctaws  a  few  weeks  before,  that,  though 
termed  savages,  yet  they  were  patriots  and  heroes  unsurpass 
ed  even  by  exotic  barbarians  (\f  boasted  Castillian  blood  with 
bodies  incased  in  steel;  since,  unprotected  and  with  feeble 
bows   and   arrows,   the   young  Chickasaw  king  and  his  war 
riors  heroically  attacked  the  insolent  intruders  and  maraud 
ers   and    justly  punished  their  base  ingratitude  by  burning 
their  ancient  Capitol,  Chikasahha — the  Moscow  of  the  Chick 
asaws — in  which  De  Soto  had  unceremoniously  quartered  his 
cruel*  soldiers  for  the  near  approaching  winter,   and   killed 
many  of  his  men  and  horses,  destroying  the  greater  part  of 
his  baggage,  throwing  his  entire  army  into  confusion;  and 
though   the    Chickasaws   were  finally  defeated   by  superior 
arms,  yet  De  Soto  was  glad  to  bid  them  an  eternal  adieu  .with 
out  any  further  demonstration  of  their  prowess.     Thus,   as. 
the  Choctaws  were  initiated  into  a  knowledge  of  the  charac* 
teristics  of    the   White   Race,  so  too  were  the  Chickasaws. 
And  from  that  day  to  the  present,  the  former  bright  sun  of 
their  freedom,  contentment  and  happiness,  alike  with  their 
entire  race  upon  the  North  American  continent,   has   been 
steadily  and  constantly  waning.     And  though  over  400  years, 
have   elapsed    since  their  entire  country  was  sleeping  in  its 
cradled  wilderness  of  grand  forests  and  prairies,  unknown 
in   its    solitude   and    beauty  to  the  Eastern  world,  yet  they 
were  here,  .but  in  their   primitive   state   of  nature,  as  they 
were   then   regarded    and   so   termed  ;    and,   being  also  pro 
nounced  by  their  new  discoverers  to  be  of  different   origin 
from   all  others  of  the  human  race,  they  were  denounced  as. 
"unreclaimable  savages"  from  that  day  to  this;  yet  were  a 
noble  branch  of  the  human -race,  possessing  more  of  the  vir 
tues  that  adorn  humanity,  and  fewer  of  vices  that  degrade,, 
than  any  other  race  of  unlettered  people  recorded  upon  the 
pages   of    history,  ancient  or  modern.     To-dav  as  a  race  of 
people,  though  overpowered  (not  conquered),  impoverished, 
calumniated,  abused,  they  fearlessly  challenge  these  United 
States  to  show  purer  and  cleaner  skirts,  in  point  of   virtue 


418  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

\ 

and  morality  as  set  forth  in  the  Bible  (our  professed  guide) 
and  point  to  the  God  of  the  Bible  as  the  judge  by  whose  de 
cision  they  will  abide.  Who  will  take  up  that  glove  thrown 
at  our  feet  as  an  acceptance  of  the  challenge? 

Three  centuries  .after,  the  Russians  burned  their  capi- 
tol,  Moscow,  over  the  head  of  their  invader,  Napoleon  Bona 
parte;  thus  forcing  him  to  retreat  at  the  loss  of  his  army; 
which  act  of  patriotism  was  heralded  over  the  world  by  the 
pens  of  historians  as  meriting  immortal  fame;  while  the  pa 
triotism  of  the  true  Native  Americans,  though  equally  meri 
torious,  remains  unwritten  and  unsung.  But  such  is  the 
consistency  of  fallen  and  depraved  humanity  everywhere, 
and  such  too  is  its  boasted  justice. 

No  history  records  the  Chickasaws'  past  prior  to  their 
acquaintance  with  the  White  Race.  Like  their  entire  race, 
it  is  hidden  amid  the  mysteries  of  the  unknown.  But  from 
the  legends  handed  down  through  the  long  and  bewildering 
tracts  of  time  by  their  "wise  old  men,"  those  Chroniclers  of 
the  North  American  Indians'  long  ago,  as  related  to  the 
missionaries  seventy-five  years  in  the  past,  the  voice  of  the 
Chickasaw's  traditions  are  in  harmony  with  the  dubious 
lights  afforded  by  the  Magi  of  the  ancient  Choctaws;  differ 
ing,  however,  in  a  few  iionessential  particulars.  Their  tra 
dition  in  regard  to  ancestry,  migration,  etc,  are  the  same  as 
the  Choctaws,  being  o.ne  tribe  and  people  until  the  mutual 
division  made  by  their  two  chiefs  Chikasah  and  Chahtah 
many  years  after  their  arrival  and  location  east  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  river. 

In  the  year  1S19  the  Synod  of  South  Carolina  resolved 
to  establish  a  mission  among"  the  Southern  Indians  east  of 
the  Mississippi  river.  The  Cherokees,  Muscogees,  Semi- 
noles,  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  then  occupied  Georgia, 
Florida,  Alabama  and  Mississippi.  Rev.  David  Humphries 
offered  to  take  charge  of  the  intended  mission.  He  was 
directed  to  visit  the  Indians,  obtain  their  consent  and  select 
a  suitable  location.  Rev.  T.  C.  Stewart,  then  a  young  licen 
tiate,  offered  himself  as  a;  companion  to  Mr.  Humphries. 
They  first  visited  the  Muscogees  (Creeks),  who',  in  a  coun 
cil  of  the  Nation,  declined  their  proposition.  They  then 
traveled  through  Alabama  into  Mississippi,  and  proposed  to 
establish  a  mission  among  the  Chickasaws.  They  found 
them  on  the  eve  of  holding  a  council  of  the  Nation  to  elect  a 
king.  In  that  council,  held  in  1820,  permission  was  granted 
the  missionaries  to  establish  missions  in  their  Nation,  and  a 
charter  was  signed  by  the  newly-chosen  king.  The  two 
missionaries  then  returned  to  South  Carolina.  During  the 
return  Mr.  Humphries  concluded-that  he  was  not  called  to 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  419 

preach  to  the  untaught  North  American  Indians.  But  the 
Rev.  T.  C.  Stewart,  during-  the  same  journey,  firmly  resolved 
to  undertake  the  self-denying  work,  and  offered  to  take 
charge  of  the  contemplated  mission.  The  Synod  gladly  ac 
cepted,  and  he  at  once  commenced  making  preparations  to 
enter  upon  the  life  of  a  missionary  to  the  Chickasaws.  In 
January,  1821,  he  reached  the  place  chosen  for  a  station,  and 
named  it  Monroe  Station,  in  honor  of  James  Monroe,  the 
then  president  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Stewart  was  the 
only  missionary.  Two  men,  however,  accompanied  him  with 
their  families — one  named  Vernon,  a  mechanic,  the  other 
named  Pickens,  a  farmer.  Houses  were  erected,  a  farm 
opened,  a  school  established,  and  preaching  through  an  in 
terpreter. 

Rev.  T.  C.  Stewart  was   born  in  the  year  1793,  and  died 
in  Tupelo,  Mississippi,  October  9th,  1882. 

In  early  youth  I  was  personally  acquainted  with  that 
great  philanthropist,  sincere  and  self  sacrificing  Christian, 
T.  C.  Stewart;  and  in  recalling  the  reminiscences  of  those 
years  of  the  long  ago,  I  can  but  regard  them  as  treasures 
from  the  memory  of  those  jsvho  were  indeed  what  they  pro 
fessed  to  be,  honest  and  sincere  friends  of  the  entire  North 
American  Indian  Race,  as  well  as  all  mankind  the  world  over. 
Yet  those  memories  are  freighted  with  sadness,  when  re 
flecting  that  all  those  hallowed  relics  have  passed  a  way 
leaving  the  poor  Indians,  for  whom  they  so  long  and  faith- 
fullyjabored,  to  struggle  among  wolves  (many  in  sheeps' 
clothing)  with  few  such  shepherds  to  counsel  and  lead  them 
as  those  old  missionary  heroes  of  eighty  years  ago;  while 
those  years  with  their  vicissitudes  have  silvered  the  heads 
of  the  only  two  remaining  children  now  living,  of  those 
messengers  of  peace  and  bearers  of  the  glad  tidings  of  great 
joy  to  the  descendants  of  two  traditional  brother-chiefs 
Chahtah  and  Chikasah;  the  one  a  daughter  living  in  Bel- 
pry,  Ohio;  the  other  a  son  living  in  Greenville,  Texas.  Both 
were  born  among  the  Choctaws  at  the  Missionary  Station 
Mayhew;  but  now,  under  the  weight  of  years  beyond  those 
allotted  to  man's  eartjily  pilgrimage,  totter  upon  the  banks 
of  the  mystic  river;  and  though  the  scenes  and  the  land 
marks  of  the  early  labors  of  their  fathers  and  mothers, 
hallowed  by  their  foot-prints  as  the  devoted  friends  of  the 
Red  Man,  have  long  been  blotted  out,  as  far  as  concerns 
the  White  Race;  yet  they  still  live  in  the  hearts  of  the  pres 
ent  civilized  and  Christian  people,  the  Chickasaws  and  Choc- 
taws,  whom  they  have  handed  down  to  the  present  as  liv 
ing,  moving  monuments  of  the  great  and  abiding  truth  that 
the  North  American  Indians  everywhere  are  as  susceptible 


420  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

of  as  high  civilization  and  Christianity  as  any  race  of  people 
that  ever  lived  upon  earth. 

The  little  colony  soon  became  a  centre  of  Gospel  light -and 
civilizing  influences,  to  the  whole  Nation.  Other  missiona 
ries  came  at  different  times  to  aid  the  one  man,  who  began 
the  good  work:  Rev.  Hugh  Wilson,  in  1821,  from  North  Car 
olina;  Rev.  W.  C.  Blair,  from  Ohio,  in  1822;  James  Holmes, 
of  Pennsylvania,  in  1824.  The  first  two  named,  after  the 
removal  of  the  Indians,  went  to  Texas,  where  their  bodies 
now  sleep,  Mr.  Holmes  was  licensed  to  preach  after  he 
came  to  the  mission  as  teacher.  He  became  a  doctor  of 
divinity  and  taught  a  classical  school  of  high  reputation  at 
Covington,  Tennessee,  for  many  years,  and  died  at  an  ad 
vanced  age.  But  it  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into  a  detail  of 
the  fruits  of  this  mission.  It  will  suffice  to  say  that  many 
Indian  youths  who  have  become  prominent  in  their  tribe  as 
legislators,  preachers  of  the  Gospel  and  influential  citizens, 
received  their  education,  in  part  or  in  full,  at  Monroe.  The 
foundation  ot  a  Christian  civilization,  to  whieh  the  Chicka- 
saws  have  years  ago  reached  and  stilt  firmly  maintain,  may 
be  safely  said,  was  laid  in  the  mission  of  which  the  noble 
T.  C.  Stewart  was  founder. 

About  the  year  1822  Rev.  Haynes  opened  a  school  in  the 
Chickasaw  Nation,  near  the  southern  line  of  the  Cherokee 
Nation,  under  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions, 
for  the  benefit  of  which  George  Colbert  established  a  board 
ing  house.  This  school  and  the  one  established  at  Monroe 
by  Rev.  T.  C.  Stewart,  January  1821,  soon  became  flourishing 
institutions  of  learning.  In  the  course  of  years  a  son  of  Rev. 
Haynes  married  a  Chickasaw  girl  who  formerly  had  been  a 
pupil  at  his  father's  school.  He  (the  son)  labored  among 
both  the  Chickasaws  and  the  Choctaws  as  a  missionary  until 
they  emigrated  west.  He  lived  with  his  Chickasaw  wife 
nearly  forty  years,  when  she  died.  He  then  (1884)  went 
west  to  live  with  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Eads,  who'lives  in  Lone 
Oak,  Denton  county,  Texas.  At  that  time  he  was  88  years 
of  age,  still  in  his  mental  vigor  and  attending  to  his  minis 
terial  duties. 

In  1821  the  Methodist  church  sent  out  Rev.  Alex  Deavers 
as  a  missionary  to  the  Chickasaws,  who  remained  among 
them  until  they  moved  west.  He  had  two  sons,  one  of  whom 
married  a  Chickasaw  girl  and  the  other  a  Choctaw. 

De  Soto  and  his  band  gave  to  the  Choctaws  at  Moma 
Binah  and  the  Chickasaws  at  Chikasahha  their  first  lesson  in 
the  white  man's  modus  operandi  to  civilize  and  Christianize 
North  American  Indians;  so  has  the  same  lesson  been  con 
tinued  to  be  given  to  that  unfortunate  people  by  his  white 


HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS  421 

successors  from  that  day  to  this,  all  over  this  continent,  but 
which  to  them,  was  as  the  tones  of  an  alarm-bell  at  midnight. 
And  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  years  have  passed  since 
our  forefathers  declared  all  men  of  every  nationality  to  be 
free  and  equal  on  the  soil  of  the  North  American  continent 
then  under  their  jurisdiction,  except  the  Africans  whom 
they  held  in  slavery,  and  the  Native  Americans  agai'nst 
whom  they  decreed  absolute  extermination  because  they 
could  not  also  enslave  them;  toprove which,  they  at  once  began 
to  hold  out  flattering-  inducements  to  the  so-called  oppressed 
people  of  all  climes  under  the  sun,  to  come  to  free  America 
and  assist  them  to  oppress  and  kill  off  the  Native  Ameri 
cans  and  in  partnership  take  their  lands  and  country,  as  this 
was  more  in  accordance  with  their  lust  of  wealth  and  speedy 
self-aggrandizement  than  the  imagined  slow  process  of  edu 
cating,  civilizing  and  Christianizing  them,  a  work  too  con 
descending,  too  humiliating;  and  to  demonstrate  that  it  has 
been  a  grand  and  glorious  success,  we  now  point  with 
vaunting  pride  and  haughty  satisfaction  to  our  broad  and 
far  extended  landed  possessions  as  indisputable  evidence  of 
our  just  claims  to  the  resolution  passed  by  our  pilgrim  an 
cestors,  "We  are  the  children  of  the  Lord";  and  to  the  little 
remnant  of  hapless,  helpless  and  hopeless  Indians  who 
calmly  wait  their  turn  to  be  wiped  out  as  tribes  and  nation 
alities,  that  the'y  also,  as  all  their  race  before,  may  give 
place  to  our  glorious  institutions  of  civilization. 

Justly  have  the  ancient  Chickasaws  been  regarded  as  the 
bravest  and  most  skillful  warriors  among  all  the  North 
American  Indians;  and  it  has  been  affirmed  that  they  never 
were  conquered,  though  fighting  oft  under  adverse  circum 
stances;  and  also,  had  they  maintained  the  fight  with  DeSoto 
but  a  few  hours  longer,  they  would  have  defeated  him  and 
utterly  destroyed  his  army,  leaving  not  a  single  one  to  tell  of 
his  overthrow  arid  Complete  extermination.  The  surround 
ing  tribes  recognized  and  acknowledged  them  as  justly  the 
lords  and  masters  of  the  vast  territory  they  claimed  extend 
ing  from  the  Yalobaaiasha  (Tadpole  Habitation — corrupted 
to  Yalobusha),  Mississippi,  north  to  t^e  Ohio  River,  and  from 
the  Mississippi  to  the  Muscle  Shoals  in  the  Tennessee  River ; 
afTd  oft  the  Indian  hunters  from  the  prairies  of  Illinois  and 
the  lakes  of  the  North,  in  pursuing  the  deer  and  buffalo  in 
the  then  wide  extended  and  magnificent  forests  south  of  the 
Ohio  River,  trespassed  upon  those  of  the  Chickasaws  and 
fierce  and  bloody  battles  ensued.  As  it  is  the  Choctaws' 
boast — "they  never  in  war  shed  an  American's  blood" — so  it 
is  the  Chickasaws '  boast — "they  never  in  war  shed  a  white 
man's  blood  of  English  descent." 


422  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

Neither  the  Choctaws  nor  Chickasaws  ever  engaged  in 
war  against  the  American  people,  but  always  stood  as  their 
faithful  allies.  It  has  been  published  that,  after  the  destruc 
tion  of  Fort  Mims  by  the  Creeks,  in  1812,  "the  Chickasaw 
towns  began  to  paint  and  sing  their  war  songs ;  and  the 
Choctaws  had  snuffed  the  scent  of  -blood  and  were  panting 
for  war,  and  ready  to  draw  the  scalping  knife  against  the 
Americans."  This  was  founded  alone  on  rumor  promul 
gated  for  sensational  purposes,  so  much  delighted  in  by  our 
people,  especially  if  it  regards  the  Indians.  True,  had  the 
Choctaws,  Chickasaws  and  Cherokees  united  with  the  Mus- 
cogees  and  Seminoles  in  1812,  depopulation  of  all  the  white 
settlements  within  their  territories  would  have  been  the 
inevitable  result.  The  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws,  though 
distinct  nations,  yet  speaking  nearly  the  same  language, 
were  generally  animated  by  the  same  views  and  motives  ; 
had  nearly  the  same  customs  and  habits  ;  were  governed  by 
the  same  principles,  and  followed  by  the  same  fortunes. 
Alike,  they  were  doomed  to  experience  the  same  ingratitude 
from  the  American  people,  which  caused  thousands  of  them 
to  descend  in  poverty  and  sorrow  to  untimely  graves,  leaving 
it  for  posterity  to  do  justice  to  their  memory,  while  the  re 
maining  few  and  feeble  stand  waiting  for  us  to  exert  our 
clemency  in  helping  them  to  prosperity  and  happiness,  or 
display  our  power  in  the  destruction  of  their  nationalit}r  and 
sending  them  forth  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd  among 
ravenous  wolves,  already  howling  upon  their  heels. 

But  let  us  go  back,  reader,  a  few  centuries  and  review 
the  progress  of  the  early  European  settlers  of  this  continent 
and  their  dealings  with  each  other  and  also  their  modus  oper- 
andi  to  dispossess  the  Native  Americans  and  secure,  each 
for  .their  own  nationality,  the  entire  continent,  as  they  in 
truded  upon  the  Indians,  tribe  after  tribe,  until  they  reached 
the  Chickasaws. 

Twenty  years  after  Columbus  made  his  great  discovery 
Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  ex-governor  of  Porto  Rico,  sailed  from 
that  island  in  March,  1512,  and  landed  off/  the  coast  of  the 
now  State  of  Florida,  which  he  gave  that  name,  from  the 
profusion  of  wild  flowers,  seen  on  all  sides,  and  its  having 
been  first  seen  on  Easter  Sunday,  which  was  called  ^by  the 
Spaniards,  Pascua  Florida — "The  Country  of  Flowers." 
In  May,  1539,  Ferdinand  de  Soto,  Governor  of  Cuba,  landed 
at  Tampa  Bay. 

For  many  years,  by  the  so-called  right  of  discovery 
Spain  claimed  the  entire  country,  bounded  by  the  Atlantic 
to  thp  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  on  the  north,  all  of  which  being 
then  known  by  the  name  of  Florida.  About  twenty  years 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  4.23 


after  DeSoto  made  his  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  river,  a 
few  Roman  Chatholic  missionaries  made  an  attempt  to 
establish  settlements  at  St.  Augustine  and  its  vicinity;- and 
shortly  afterwards  a  colony  of  French  Calvinists  was  estab 
lished  ontheSt.  Mary's  river  near  the  coast,  butwas  destroyed 
in  1565  by  an  expedition  from  Spain,  under  Pedro  Melendez 
de  Aviles,  cowardly  murdering"  upwards  of  nine  hundred 
French  men,  women  and  children,  and  suspending-  many  of 
the  slain  to  branches  of  trees,  with  the  inscription — "Not  as 
Frenchmen  but  as  heretics."  This  diabolical  butchery 
being  accomplished,  Melendez  founded  St.  Augustine,  the 
oldest  town  by  nearly  half  a  century  of  any  in  the  United 
States.  Four  years  after,  Dominic  de  Gourges,  to  avenge 
the  butchery  of  his  countrymen  on  the  St.  Mary's  river, 
fitted  out  an  expedition  at  his  own  expense  and  attacking  the 
Spanish  colonists  on  the  St.  Mary's  river,  he  ravaged  the 
settlements  with  fire  and  sword,  burning  their  houses,  de 
molishing  their  forts,  and  slaying  the  inhabitants.  This 
being  accomplished,  he,  in  turn,  suspended  some  of  the 
dead  bodies  from  the  trees,  with  the  inscription,  "Not  as 
Spaniards,  but  as  murderers,"  and  then  returned  to  France 
with  his  fleet.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  years,  Spain 
held  Florida  until  1819,  when,  greatly  diminished  from  its 
original  boundaries,  it  was  ceded  to  the  United  States,  and 
became  a  state  in  1845, 

In  1535  James  Cartier,  a  French  explorer,  sailed  with  an 
expedition  up  the  St.  Lawrence  and  took  formal  possession 
of  the  country  in  the  name  of  his  king,  calling  it  New  France. 
In  1608  Champlain  founded  Quebec,  which  soon  became  a 
nucleus  for  the  settlement  of  Canada.  This  was  the  same 
year  in  which  the  settlement  of  Jamestown,  Virginia,  was 
established ;  and  twelve  years  before  the  Puritans  landed 
upon  the  rocks  of  Plymouth. 

In  order  to  strengthen  the  power  of  the  French,  Cham- 
plain  resolved  to  establish  missions  among  the  Indians.  At 
that  period  of  time  "the  far  west"  had  never  been  trodden  by 
the  foot  of  the  European.  In  1616  Le  Caron,  a  French  Fran 
ciscan,  visited  the  Iroquois  and  Wyandotts,  and  thence  to  the 
tributaries  of  Lake  Huron;  and  in  1634  the  Jesuits  estab 
lished  the  first  mission  in  that  then  distant  and  visionary 
region  of  country.  A  century  had  passed,  however,  from 
the  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  River,  before  the  first  Can 
adian  envoys  met  the  Indians  inhabiting  the  unknown  re 
gions  of  the  northwest,  in  council  assembled  at  the  falls  of 
the  St.  Marys,  a  little  below  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior. 
But  not  till  the  year  1669  did  any  of  the  adventurous  trap.- 
pers  and  fur-traders  spend  the  winter  along  the  shores  of 


424  HISTORY   OF   THE   INDIANS. 

that  great  lake ;  nor  until  1660  that  Rene  Mesnard  establish 
ed  the  first  missionary  station  upon  its  cold,  rocky  and  in 
hospitable  coast,  and  who,  soon  after,  was  lost  in  the  bleak 
wilderness  and  was  heard  of  no  more.  Father  Claude  Al- 
louez,  five  years  after,  built  the  first  permanent  habitation  of 
Europeans  among-  the  Indians  of  the  northwest;  and  in  1668 
a  mission  was  established  by  Dablon  and  Marquette  at  the 
falls  of  St.  Mary's.  In  1671  the  French  took  formal  posses 
sion  of  the  northwest  and  Marquette  established  another 
missionary  station  in  that  country  at  Point  St.  Ig-nace,  north 
of  Mackinac,  which  was  the  first  European  settlement  in 
Michigan. 

Owing1  to  the  hostility  of  the  Iroquois  (whose  territo 
ries  lay  along  the  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario),  caused  by  Cham- 
plain  inconsiderately  joining  with  a  few  other  Frenchmen,ta 
war  party  of  Hurons  ag-ainst  the  Iroquis,  and  a  battle  ensu 
ing  in  which  the  latter  were  defeated,  the  missionaries  were 
forced  to  travel  far  north  by  the  Ottawa  and  French  rivers 
of  Canada,  in  journeying  w"est,  to  avoid  their  threatened 
veng-eance. 

At  that  period  the  French  had  not  advanced  beyond 
Fox  river,  in  Wisconsin;  but  in  May,  1673,  Marquette,  with 
a  few  companions,  started  from  Mackinac  in  canoes  ;  pad 
dled  up  Green  bay;  thence  into  Fox  river;  thence  transport 
ing-  their  little  canoes  across  the  country  to  the  Wisconsin 
river,  and  launching  them  upon  that  stream  they  reached 
the  Mississippi,  and  upon  its  turbid,  waters  floated  down  sev 
eral  hundred  miles,  then  returned  in  the  ensuing-  autumn. 
The  discovery  of  the  great  Mississippi  was  a  source  of 
much  joy  to  the  French,  who,  in  that  age  of  newly  discov 
ered  wonders,  believed  that  a  direct  route  to  the  South  Sea, 
and  thence  to  China,  would  be  found  throug-h  some  of  its 
western  tributaries.  The  indefatigable  M'.  La  Salle  first 
explored  the  mighty  stream  to  its  termination  in  the  Gulf, 
in  1682,  and  took  formal  possession  of  the  country,  throug-h 
which  it  flowed,  in  the  name  of  the  king  of  France,  in  honor 
of  whom  he  called  it  Louisiana.  Three  years  later  he  also 
took  possession  of  Texas,  establishing-  a  colony  on  the  Col 
orado.  Being-  assassinated  by  one  oj:  his  men,  th&  colony 
was,  shortly  after,  dispersed. 

Lemoine  D'Iberville,  a  French  officer,  renewed  the  ex 
plorations  of  LaSalle  in  1697.  He  entered  the  Mississippi 
river  with  two  vessels  in  March  1698;  and  also  erected  forts 
on  the  bay  of  Boloxi,  and  at  Mobile,  both  of  which  were 
afterwards  abandoned  for  the  Island  of  Dauphine,  which 
for  many  years  was  the  headquarters  of  the  colony.  He 
also  built  Fort  Balise,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  selected 


HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS.  425 

the  site  of  Fort  Rosalie,  afterwards  destroyed  by  the 
Natchez  Indians.  Still,  after  the  death  of  D'Iberville,  in  1706, 
Louisiana  was  but  little  more  than  a  wilderness,  since  a 
futile  search  for  gold  and  the  obtaining"  of  furs,  engaged  the 
thoughts  of  the  colonists,  to  the  neglect  of  more  substantial 
pursuits,  and  valuable  time  wasted  in  journeyings  of  dis 
covery,  and  in  obtaining  furs  and  skins  among  distant 
'tribes. 

Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia,  the  oldest  towns  in  the  Valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  were  founded  near  the  year  1680.  The 
former  becoming  the  capitol  of  the  Illinois  country,  and 
where,  in  1721,  a  Jesuit  college  and  monastery  were  estab 
lished. 

In  1700  peace  was  established  between  the  two  hostile 
ttribes,  the  Iroquois  and  Ottawas,  and  the  French,  which 
.gave  the  latter  the  desired  opportunities  for  colonizing  the 
western  portion  of  Canada.  Whereupon  De  la  Motte  Cadil 
lac,  with  a  hundred  men  and  a  Jesuit  missionary,  laid,  in 
June,  1701,  the  foundation  of  Detroit,  Michigan.  At  this 
period  the  French  claimed  the  entire,  vast  and  extensive  re 
gion  south  of  the  Great  Lakes  under  the  name  of  Canada,  or 
New  France.  As  a  matter  of  course,  this  aroused  .the  jeal 
ousy  of  the  English  to  the  highest  pitch  and  the  Legislature 
of  New  York^ published  a  Bill  for  hanging  any  and  all  Papish 
'priests  who  should  voluntarily  make  his  appearance  in  the 
province. 

When  the  war  broke  out  between  England  and  France 
in  1711,  the  friendship  and  confiden£e  of  the  western  In 
dians  had  been  so  completely  gained  by  the  French  through 
-the  mild  and  conciliatory  course  adopted  by  them  and  their 
missionaries,  that  all  the  most  powerful  tribes  became  their 
allies;  when  the  former  attempted  to  restrict  the  claims  of 
the  latter  to  the  country  south  of  the  Great  Lakes,  their  ef 
fort  proved  abortive;  and  though  the  Fox  tribe,  as  allies  of 
the  English,  made  an  attack  upon  Detroit  in  1713,  they  were 
sorely  defeated  and  driven  back  by  the  French  and  their 
numerous  Indian  allies.  But  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  having 
been  concluded  that  year,  the  war  closed. 

By  the  year  1720  the  French  had  established  a  lucrative 
trade  in  furs,  skins  and  agricultural  products  between  their 
Louisiana  and  Illinois  colonies,  and  settlement  had  been  ex 
tended  on  the  Mississippi  river  to  points  below  on  the  junc 
tion  of  the  Illinois.  But  for  the  more  effectual  confinement 
of  their  hated  rival,  the  English,  to  the  Atlantic  coast,  the 
French  adopted  the  plan  of  erecting  aline  of  military  posts 
•extending  from  the  great  lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico;  and 
;as  one  of  the  important  links  of  this  chain  they  erected 


426  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 


Fort  Chartres,  on  the  Mississippi  river,  near  Kaskaskia, 
where,  in  close  proximity,  stood  the  towns  Cahokia  and 
Prairie  de  Rocher. 

The  early  settlers  upon  the  Great  Lakes  of  the  north, 
were  chiefly  French  emigrants  from  Picardy  and  Nor 
mandy,  in  France.  They  settled  in  and  around  the  forts 
that  had  been  erected  for  the  extension  of  the  dominion  of 
France,  promulgating-  the  Catholic  religion  among  the  In 
dians,  and  securing  the  fur  trade  of  the  various  tribes  that 
visited  the  forts,  bringing  their  furs  to  barter  with  the 
pale-faces  for  their  new  and  strange  commodities.  The 
most  attractive  features  of  those  forts,  according-  to  the 
early  writers,  were  the  fort  garrisoned  with  a  few  soldiers, 
the  chapel  and  its  functionaries,  the  Jesuit  priests,  and  the 
Indian  wig-warns,  interspersed  here  and  there,  all  sur 
rounded  with  little  patches  of  cultivated  land,  comprising-  a 
commandant  and  a  heterogeneous  company  of  soldiers, 
priests,  merchants,  traders,  hunters,  trappers,  half-breeds 
and  the  genuine  Indians — the  most  respectable  and  meri 
torious  of  the  outfit — all  oi  whom,  the  pure  Indian  excepted, 
were  attached  to  a  system  of  machinery  in  relig-ion  and  in 
trade  peculiar  to  themselves  alone.  Next  to  the  command 
ant  in  prominence  stood  the  merchants,  who  were  regarded 
as  the  masters  of  the  situation  when  at  their  post  of  trade. 
They  were  said  to  be  shrewd,  careful  and  frugal,  with  but 
,  little  enterprise  and  less  virtue,  and  employed  their  time  in 
procuring  skins  and  furs  from  the  Indians  in  exchange  for 
their  goods  and  commodities.  They  kept  on  the  best  terms 
of  friendship  with  the  Indians  and  displayed  their  regard 
for  virtue  and  morality  in  the  large  number  of  half-breed 
children  they  fostered,  but  whose  mothers  they  called 
wives,  though  only  truly  so  regarded  by  the  Indians  them 
selves;  who  grew  up  to  speak  the  language  of  their  parents 
— a  mixture  of  French  and  Indian — and  learning  just  enough 
of  their  religion  to  care  for  neither.  The  progress  of  the 
Indians,  morally  and  intellectually,  were  things  unthought 
of  by  the  French  west  of  the  Alleghany  mountains,  or  by 
the  English  east. 

The  design  of  the  French  was  to  enrich  themselves  by 
the  fur  trade^  therefore  they  had  little  motive  to  attend  to 
anything  else;  but  were  remarkable  for  their  skill  in  ingra 
tiating  themselves  into  the  confidence  of  the  warlike  tribes 
around  them,  and  for  their  easy  amalgamation  in  manners, 
customs  and  blood;  while  that  of  the  English  was  to  enrich 
themselves  in  seizing  the  Indians'  land. 

At  this  period  (1720)  .of  their  history  the  Ohio  river 
seems  to  have  been  but  little  known  to  the  French,  as  it  ap- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  427" 

peared  to  be  but  an  insignificant  stream  as  exhibited  on  their 
early  maps.  Early  in  the  year  1720  their  energetic  mission 
aries  had  explored"  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Allegheny  river;: 
and  in  the  following  year  the  French  trader  and  agent,  Jan- 
cairie,  established  a  trading  post  among  the  Senecas,  at 
Lewistown,  and  five  years  afterward  Fort  Niagara  was 
erected  contiguous  to  the  falls.  In  1735,  according  to  some 
writers,  Post  St.  Vincent  was  built  on  the  Wabash;  and 
about  the  same  time  the  military  post  of  Presque  Isle  was- 
erected,  on  the  site  of  Erie,'  Penn.,  and  thence  a  line  of  posts 
extended  on  the  Allegheny  to  Pittsburg,  thence  down  the: 
Ohio  to  the  Wabash. 

A  map  published  in  London  in  1775  has  the  following  list 
of  French  posts  as  then  existing  in  the  West.  Two  on 
French  Creek,  near  Erie,  Pennsylvania;  Duquesne,  where 
Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  now  stands;  Miamis,  on  the  Mau- 
mee  River,  near  where  Toledo  is  now  situated ;  Sandusky,, 
on  Sandusky  Bay  ;  St.  Joseph's,  on  St.  Joseph's  River,  Mich 
igan;  Ponchartrain,  where  Detroit,  Michigan,  now  stands; 
Michilimackinac;  one  on  Fox  River,  Green  Bay;  Creve- 
cour,  on  the  Illinois  River;  Rockport,  or  Fort  St.  Louis,  on 
the  Illinois  River;  Vincennes;  Cahpkia;  Kaskaskia,  and  one: 
at  each  of  the  mouths  of  the  Wabash,  Ohio  and  Missouri.. 
Others  besides,  it  is  said,  were  also  built  at  that  period,  but 
not  named.  Just  below  Portsmouth,  on  the  Ohio,  ruins  have 
been  found  which,  no  doubt,  were  those  of  an  anc;~nt  French 
port,  as  they  had  a  port  there,  it  is  said,  during  Braddock's 
war. 

The  Ohio  company,  principally  composed  of  wealthy 
Virginians,  sent  Christopher  Gist,  in  1748,  to  explore  the 
country,  secure  the  friendship  of  the  Indians  (always  ready 
and  willing  to  cultivate  the  acquaintance  and  friendship  of  the 
Whites  who  sought  their  friendship  upon  the  platform  of 
truth  and  justice)  and  learn  concerning  the  movements  of 
the  French.  He  reached  the  Ohio  River  over  land,  thence 
went  down  that  river  to  its  junction  with  the  Great  Miami, 
thence  up  the  Great  Miami  to  the  villages  of  the  Miamis, 
nearly  fifty  miles  north  of  the  present  Dayton.  In  the  fol 
lowing  year  the  company  located  a  trading  post  near  that 
point,  on  Laramies  Creek,  the  first  place  of  English  settle 
ment  in  the  Western  country;  but  the  French,  ever  on  the 
alert,  soon  broke  it  up. 

In  1749  the  French  began  a  more  regular  exploration  of 
the  Ohio  river,  and  also  formed  alliances  of  peace  and  friend 
ship  with  the  Indians  in  Western  New  York,  -Pennsylvania 
and  Virginia,  while  the  English,  who  extended  their  claims, 
west  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  though  their  actual  possessions. 


428  HISTORY   OF   THE  INDIANS. 

were  circumscribed  within  the  comparatively  narrow  strip 
east  of  the  Alleghany  mountains  were  becoming-  more  irri 
tated  at  the  rapidly  increasing  'power  of  the  French  in  the 
west.  Not  contented  in  exerting-  every  means  to  excite  the 
Indians  to  hostilities  against  them,  thus  using,  alike  with  the 
French,  the  misguided  Indians  as  the  cat's  paw  to  draw  out 
the  chestnuts  from  the  hot  embers,  they  as  a  stimulus  to 
private  enterprise,  gave  to  the  "Ohio  Company"  six  hundred 
thousand  acres  of  excellent  land,  -without  so  much  as  even 
saying,  "By  your  leave"  to  the  just  and  legal  owners,  the 
Indians.  And  when  they  nobly  fought  against  such  high 
handed  business,  they  were  decreed  as  meriting  speedy  an 
nihilation. 

By  the  year  1751  the  settlements  in  the  Illinois  country 
consisted  of  Cahokia,  five  miles  south  of  the  present  city,  of 
St.  Louis;  St.  Philips,  forty-five  miles  lower  down  the  river; 
St.  Genevieve,  still  lower;  Fort  Chartres.  Kaskaskia  and 
Prairie  de  Rocher,  still  below,  and  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
Mississippi  river.  Kaskaskia  being  the  largest  of  the  last 
three  named,  containing  at  one  time  upwards  of  three  thou 
sand  persons. 

The  English,  ever  wakeful  to  their  interests  upon  the 
North  American  continent,  viewed  with  apprehension  the 
rapidly  growing  power  of  the  French;  especially  as  they  re 
garded  themselves  as  possessing  an  equal  claim  by  the  right 
of  discovery  through  the  Cabots,  and  of  extending  their  set 
tlements  even  to  the  Pacific  ocean;  while  the  French,  on  the 
I  other  hand,  maintained  their  claim  to  the  valley  of  the  Mis- 
'  sissippi  upon  the  right  of  having  first  explored  and  colonized 
it;  therefore  insisted  that  the  English  should  confine  them 
selves  to  the  country  east  of  the  Alleghany  mountains.  But 
in  their  conflicting  pretensions,  no  regard  for  the  prior 
rights  of  the  Indians  which,  in  the  sight  of  justice,  equally 
barred  the  claims  of  both,  was  manifested  by  either.  And 
it  is  said  an  Indian  chief  remarked,  with  reference  to  the 
two  disputants,  "The  French  claim  all  the  country  to  the 
west,  and  the  English  all  to  the  east  and  west;  where,  then, 
is  the  country  of  the  Indians?"  Truly  a  question  that  never 
has  been  answered,  nor  will  it  ever  be. 

Measures  were  now  adopted  by  both  French  and  Eng 
lish  for  the  approaching  conflict  that  seemed  would  inevita 
bly  ensue.  On  the  9th  of  July,  1755,  General  Braddock's 
(army  was  destroyed,  which  gave  the  French  a  complete  as 
cendency  on  the  Ohio  river  and  its  tributaries,  and  for  a  few 
years,  checked  the  operations  of  the  English,  west  of  the  Al 
leghany  mountains.  In  July,  1758,  General  Forbes,  with 
an  army  of  seven  thousand  men,  started  for  the  west  from 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  429 

Carlisle,  Pennsylvania.  A  detachment  under  Major  Grant, 
consisting-  of  Highland  Scotch,  were  defeated  on  the  13th 
of  September,  near  Fort  Duquesne.  Soon  after,  the  French 
were  in  turn  defeated  by  the  advanced  guard  under  Colonel 
Boquet.  In  November,  the  French  army  at  Fort  Duquesne, 
finding  its  inability  to  cope  with  the  superior  force  advanc 
ing  under  General  Forbes,  abandoned  Fort  Duquesne  and 
descended  the  river  to  New  Orleans  leaving  the  fortress  to 
be  occupied  by  Forbes,  who  thoroughly  repaired  it,  but 
changed  its  name  to  Fort  Pitt,  in  honor  of  England's 
Prime  Minister. 

For  the  first  time  the  English  were  now  in  possession  of 
the  upper  Ohio;  while  success  had  also  attended  them  in  the 
North.  In  1759  Ticonderoga,  Crown  Point,  Fort  Niagara 
and  Quebec  fell  into  their  hands  and,  in  the  following  year, 
Montreal  also,  and  with  it  all  of  Canada.  A  few  days  after 
the  fall  of  Montreal  Major  Rogers  was  sent  with  forces  to 
take  possession  of  the  French  posts  along  the  southern  shore 
of  Lake  Erie  and  also  at  Detroit. 

In  1663  the  treaty  of  Paris  concluded,  by  which  France 
yielded  to  England,  Canada  and  New  France  which  embraced 
all  the  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  from  the  source 
to  the  Bayou  Iberville.  The  remainder  of  her  North  Ameri 
can  possessions,  embracing  Louisiana  west  of  the  Missis 
sippi  River  and  the  Island  of  New  Orleans,  she  soon  after 
secretly  ceded  to  Spain,  and  thus  terminated  the  dominion 
of  France  upon  this  continent,  and  with  it  alike  vanished  her 
vast  schemes  for  power  and  self-aggrandizement  as  mists  be 
fore  the  morning  sun. 

Immediately  after  the  .peace  of  1763  all  the  French  forts 
in  the  west  as  far  as  Green  bay  were  garrisoned  with  Eng 
lish  troops  ;  and  the  Indians  now  began  to  realize,  but  too 
late,  what  they  had  long  apprehended — the  selfish  designs  of 
both  French  and  English  threatening  destruction,  if  not 
utter  annihilation,  to  their  entire  race.  These  apprehen 
sions  brought  upon  the  theatre  of  Indian  warfare,  at  that 
period  of  time,  the  most  remarkablfe  Indian  in  the  annals  of 
history,  Pontiac,  the  chief  of  the  Ottawas  and  the  principal 
sachem  of  the  Algonquin  Confederacy.  He  was  not  only 
distinguished  for  his  noble  and  manly  form,  commanding 
address  and  proud  demeanor,  but  also  for  his  lofty  courage, 
winning  manners  and  a  pointed  and  vigorous  eloquence, 
which  won  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all  Indians,  and 
made  him  a  marked  example  of  that  grandeur  and  sublimity 
of  character  so  often  found  among  his  so  greatly  miscom 
prehended  race.  Pontiac  had  xlosely  watched  the  slowly 
advancing  power  of  the  English,  and  their  haughty  and  de- 


430  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

fiant  encroachments  upon  the  territories  of .  his  own  people 
and  his  entire  race. 

When  he  was  informed  of  the  appoach  of  Major  Rogers 
with  a  company  of  English  soldiers  into  his  country,  the  in 
dignation  of  the  forest  hero  was  roused  to  its  highest  pitch; 
and  at  once  he  sent  a  messenger  to  Rogers,  who  met  him  on 
-the  7th  of  November,  1763,  with  a  request  to  halt  until  Pon- 
tiac,  the  chief  of  the  Nation,  should  arrive,  then  on  his  way. 
As  soon  as  Pontiac  came  up  he  boldly  demanded  of  Rogers 
his  business  and  why  he  had  come  with  his  soldiers  into  the 
Ottawa  country  unsolicited?  To  which  Rogers  replied;  He 
had  no  evil  designs  against  his  people,  nor  any  of  his  race; 
his  only  object  in  coming  was  to  remove  the  French  from 
the  country  who  pretended  a  mutual  friendship  and  trade 
'between  his  people  and  the  English.  The  next  morning, 
after  smoking  by  turns  the  pipe  of  peace,  Pontiac  told  Rog 
ers  that  he  would  protect  him  and  his  party  from  the  attack 
of  his  warriors  who  were  already  collected  at  the  mouth  of 
Detroit  River  to  stop  his  further  progress.  Major  Rogers 
having  arrived  unmolested  at  Detroit,  he  at  once  entered  into 
friendly  negotiations  with  many  of  the  neighboring  tribes; 
.after  which  he  left  Captain  Campbell  in  charge  of  the  fort 
and  departed  on  the  21st  of  December  for  Pittsburgh 

The  Indians,  throughout  the  whole  of  the  country  form 
erly  occupied  by  the  French,  regarded  the  arrogant  Eng 
lish  as  intruders,  and  were  indignant  at  the  incomprehen 
sible  exchange  without  a  voice  in  the  matter;  and  the  smile 
that  might  have  been  observed  playing  around  the  mouth 
of  Pontiac  when  he  first  met  Rogers  and  his  soldiers  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  Erie,  but  concealed  the  deep  cherished 
hatred  he  entertained  for  the  English,  even  as  the  rays  of 
the  setting  sun.  bedazzle  the  thundercloud  in  the  far 
distant  east;  as  he  had  only  made  professions  of  friendship 
as  a  matter  of  national  policy,  that  he  might  gain  time  to  ma 
ture  his  plans  for  the  defense  of  his  people  and  race  against 
the  destruction  that  seemed  approaching.  Truly,  the  far- 
sighted  statemanship  evinced  in  his  plans  far  effecting  the 
expulsion  of  the  English,  their  assumed  friends  but  deadly 
foes,  and  thereby  the  preservation  also  of  his  people  and 
race,  proved  his  possession  of  an  extraordinary  courage, 
and  an  energy  of  the  highest  order.  His  plan  was  a  sud 
den  and  contemporaneous  attack  upon  all  the  English  ports 
everywhere  in  the  Indian  territories  west  of  the  Alleghany 
mountains — at  St.  Joseph,  Green  Bay,  Ouiateon,  Detroit, 
Michilimackinac,  Maumee,  Sandusky,  Niagara,  Presque 
Isle,  LeBoeuf,  Venango  and  Pittsburg;  the  last  four  men 
tioned  being  in  Western  Pennsylvania.  Could  the  attack 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  431 

be  simultaneous,  and  every  English  fort  upon  a  line  of  many 
hundreds  of  miles  be  destroyed  upon  the  same  day,  no  one 
would  be  able  to  give  assistance  to  the  other;  while,  at  the 
same  time,  the  failure  of  one  attacking-  party  would  have 
no  deleterious  effect  upon  the  other.  Thus  the  war  might 
begin  and  end  in  the  same  day,  and  the  Indians  would  again 
be  free  and  in  the  possessions  and  enjoyment  of  the  land 
of  their  ancestors. 

Pontiac  first  laid  his  plans  before  his  own  people,  the 
Ottawas,  who  at  once  embraced  his  propositions  and  gladly 
entered  into  his  plans.  He  then  called  for  a  great  council  of 
all  the  tribes  to  be  held  at  a  designated  point  on  the  Aux 
Ecarces  river.  They  responded  to  the  call  of  the  mighty 
Ottawa,  whose  name  was  known  far  and  wide  ;  and  it  was  an 
assemblage  vast  of  unvarnished,  unpanoplied  men  consult 
ing  upon  plans  for  mutual  protection  against  a  fearful  foe 
threatening  their  destruction.  Then  and  there  was  heard 
the  untaught  eloquence  of  nature's  orator,  the  great  Pon 
tiac,  who  in  strains  of  wild  eloquence  appealed  to  his  hear 
ers'  fears  and  hopes,  their  patriotism,  their  love  of  freedom 
and  hatred  of  the  English,  their  oppressors  and  destroyers; 
then  to  their  superstitions,  by  relating  a  dream  in  which  he 
told  them  the  Great  Spirit  (whom  all  Indians  held  in  great 
reverence  unsurpassed  by  any  nation  of  people  on  earth) 
had  revealed  to  a  Delaware  prophet  the  path  his  red  children 
should  pursue;  and  concluded  in  a  wild  tone  of  voice  :  "Why, 
why,  said  the  Great  Spirit,  angrily  to  the  Delaware  prophet, 
why  do  you  permit  those  dogs  in  red  clothes  to  come  into 
your  country  and  rob  you  of  the  land  and  homes  I  have 
given  you?  Drive  them  back  whence  they  came.  If  you 
need  assistance,  I  will  help  you." 

•  That  was  enough.  The  dawn  of  the  morn  of  their  lib 
eration  seemed  gloriously  appearing  in  the  East.  With 
Pontiac  at  their  head — a  host  within  himself — and  the  Great 
Spirit's  promised  assistance,  failure  in  the  great  undertaking 
was  impossible.  The  foot  prints  of  the  foreign  intruder 
and  oppressor  were  soon  to  be  seen  no  more  upon  their  soil, 
and  again  they  were  to  be  free.  A  plan  of  action  was  adop 
ted  at  once  and  far  and  wide,  even  to  the  borders  of  North 
Carolina,  the  tribes  laid  aside  their  former  feuds,  became 
friends  and  joined  the  league  in  common  and  united  effort  to 
rid  their  common  country  of  its  foreign  enemies  whom  they 
had  ignorantly  embraced  as  friends  but  to  find  them  foes. 

•Silenly  and  unobserved  g-athered  the  clouds  of  the  ap- 
proachi  ig  tempest,  while  the  quiet  or  fancied  security  res 
ted  upon  all.  The  traders,  as  usual,  traveled  from  village 
to  village;  the  idle  soldiers  dozed  away  the  day  in  dreamy 


432  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

thoughtlessness  and  all  was  calm  life;  yet  unseen,  journeyed 
bands  of  Red  Men  through  the  deep  solitudes  of  the  forests, 
until  every  English  fort  was  hemmed  in  by  mingled  war 
riors.  The  day  came,  and  first'. the  traders  everywhere  were 
slain.  Then  every  English  fort  west  of  the  Alleghany  moun 
tains  was  at  once'destroyed  through  the  pre-conceivejl^and 
pre-arranged  plans  of  the  master  mind  of  Pontiac,  except 
four,  Detroit,  Bedford,  Ligonier  and  Pitt. 

Detroit  was  the  most  important  situation  to  be  taken, 
since,  if  captured,  it  would  enable  the  Indians  to  unite  their 
hitherto  separate  lines  of  operation,  above  and  below;  there 
fore,  Pontiac,  in  person,  undertook  its  capture  with  his  own 
Ottawa  warriors.  The  garrison  numbered  one  hundred  and 
thirty,  with  forty  or  fifty  traders  in  the  village. 

On  the  8th  of  May,  1760,  Pontiac,  with  about  three. hun 
dred  warriors,  appeared  before  the  gates  of  the  fort,  and 
solicited  an  interview  with  the  commanding  officer,  Major 
Gladwyn;  but,  alas,  for  the  hopes  of  Pontiac!  A  few  days 
before'an  Indian  woman  had  betrayed  the  secret  to  Major 
.  Gladwyn,  and  Pontiac  found  all  on  their  guard  and  prepared 
for  an  attack.  Yet  he  delayed  not,  but  made  a  bold  attack 
upon  the  fort,  and  adopted  every  means  his  ingenuity  could 
suggest  to  destroy  it ;  but  after  a  siege  of  several  weeks  he 
withdrew,  having  learned  of  the  approach  of  re- enforce 
ments  for  the  fort.  Thus  Detroit  was  saved  by  the  treach 
ery  of  one  of  his  own  .race,  and  Pontiac's  hopes  utterly 
thwarted;  and  also,  as  if  by  miracle,  the  three  above  men 
tioned  forts  escaped  destruction.  The  nobl,e,  sagacious  and 
patriotic  Pontiac  afterwards  fell  by  the  hand  of  a  traitor 
and  assassin,  and  with  his  death  perished  the  last  hope  of 
the  western  Indians,  who  were  soon,  conquered  and  humil 
iated.  Ill  fated  race!  Who  but  must  sympathize  with  you 
in  y.our  misfortunes. 

Treaties  of  peace  were  then  concluded-with  the  different 
and  disconsolate  tribes  at  Niagara,  by  Sir  William  Johnson; 
at  Detroit  by  General  Bradstreet;  in  Ohio  by  Colonel  Bo- 
quet;  and  at  the  German  Flats  on  the  Mohawk  river,  with 
the  Six  Nations  and  their  allies.  By  these  treaties,  exten 
sive  tracts  of  lands,  as  usual,  were  taken  from  the  Indians, 
as  a  recompense  of  reward  for  daring  to  fight  for  freedom, 
homes  and  their  native  land. 

The  power  of  the  Indians  being  destroyed,  and  them 
selves  utterly  humiliated,  the  whites  began  to  cross  the  Al 
leghany  mountains.  Millitary  land-warrants  of  incredible 
numbers  had  been  issued,  and  a  frenzied  mania  for  western 
lands  seemingly  absorbed  every  other  desire  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people  of  that  period;  and  which  has  not  abated  from 


HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS.  4.33.< 

that  day  to  this,  but  rather  increased,  as  was  practically  il 
lustrated  in  the  Oklahoma  craze  that  added  so  much  "glory'* 
to  these  United  States,  but  to  tfrfe  pecuniary  loss  of  the  de 
frauded  Creeks.  Those  treaties  of  1768,  witji  the  north 
western  and  western  Indians,  and  the  two  made  .about  the 
same  time  with  the  Cherokees  at  Hard  Labor  and  Lochaber, 
afforded  a  pretext  under  which  the  white  settlements  ad* 
vanced  upon  the  rights  of  the  Indians.  It  was  now  falsely 
claimed  that  the  Indian  title  was  extinguished  east  and. 
south  of  the  Ohio  river,  to  an  indefinite  extent,  and  the 
spirit  of  emigration  and  speculation  rushed  headlong-  over 
reason,  justice  and  truth  in  all  things  pertaining  to  the 
rights  of  the  Indians. 

The  war  in  1774  with  the  Indians,  known  as  "Dunmore's, 
War,"  had  its  origin  exclusively  from  the   cold-blooded   and 
diabolical   murders  committed  upon    inoffensive   Indians  by 
the   Virginians   in   the   region   of  the  upper  Ohio.     Among; 
those  murdered  by  Cresap  and  Greathouse   at  Captina   andl 
Yellow   Creek,    near  Wheeling,  was  the  entire  family  of  the 
noble,  generous,  but  unfortunate   Logan.     He   was,    and    al 
ways  had  been,  the  firm  friend  of  the  Whites,  and  the  advo- 
cate  of  peace;  but  upon  this   barbarous  outrage  he   justly 
rushed  to  war  to  obtain  revenge — his  only  mode.    The  Shaw-* 
nees  were  also  among  the  murdered,  whose  tribe,  as  socrii^a^ 
it   was   known,    rushed   upon  the  war-path  with  e  mot  ions-,  of. : 
anger  and  revenge  that  knew  no   limits,   and   directed    tl&e^ 
vengeance    mainly   against   the   Virginians.      The   Colonial5 
Legislature   of  Virginia,    then   in    session,   at  once  adopted' 
measures  for  the   emergency.     What  measures?     ConcHlat- 
tory,  by  immediately  causing  the  white  murderers  to  be  ar^- 
rested    and   handed  over  to  the  outraged  Indians  to  be  dealt 
with  as  they  saw  proper,  and  thus  manifesting  to  them    that 

we   practiced   what  we  so  loudly  professed — justice  to  all 

and  by  so  doing,  saving  the  lives  of  hundreds  of  innocent 
persons,  white  and  red?  No.  But  measures  justifying  the 
white  cut-throats  in  their  crimes  by  preparing  to  success 
fully  resist  the  Indians  in  their  righteous  appeals  for  justice 
even  from  the  bloody  hands  of  war.  The  Indians  only- did 
what  we  or  any  other  people  would  have  done  under  similar 
circumstances.  But  that  "Colonial  Legislature"  had  smelt 
Indian  blood,  and  four  hundred  volunteers  responded  to  its 
call  for  more  blood,  who,  under  one  Angus  McDonald,  rush 
ed  into  the  Indian  country  on  the  Muskingum  River,  in 
June,  1774,  and  burned  the  towns  of  the  Wappatomica  In-- 
dians,  killing  many  of  the  inhabitants,  nor  lost  a  man.  But 
what  was  the  effect  of  this  "conciliatory"  measure' of  that- 
"Colonial  Legislature?"  It"  was  what  it  expected  and,  no, 


434  HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS. 

doubt,  greatly  desired.  It  only  served  to  further  exasper 
ate  the  outraged  Indians  and  to  excite  them  to  fearless  action 
in  defense  of  their  lives  and  God-inherited  rights.  What 
next?  Was  this  act  of  vandalism — burning  the  towns  of  the 
Wappatomicas  and  killing  the  inhabitants — a  recompense  of 
reward  sufficient  to  Cresap  and  Greathouse  to  induce  them 
to  again  wash  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  innocent  and  un 
offending  Indians,  when  desiring  to  gratify  their  murderous 
whims? 

In  the  following  September,  Lord  Dunmore,  the  royal 
governor  of  Virginia,  raised  a  force  of  three  thousand  men 
to  make  a  raid  on  the  Shawnee  towns  on  the  Scioto  river. 
This  force  was  collected  in  two  divisions.  The  first  to  ren 
dezvous  at  Wheeling,  under  Dunmore;  the  other  to  cross  the 
Ohio  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha,  under  Colonel  Andrew 
Lewis.  Having  arrived  there,  they  encamped.  The  next 
morning  two  soldiers  went  up  the  river  about  two  miles  in 
quest  of  game,  and  unexpectedly  came  upon  a  body  of  Shaw- 
n'ee  warriors,  who  killed  one  of  them,  and  the  other  made 
good  his  escape  to  camps  with  the  intelligence.  The  armv 
was  soon  on  the  march  in  two  lines,  and  when  they  had  pro 
ceeded  scarcely  a  half  a  mile  they  were  met  and  bravely 
charged  by  the  Shawnee  warriors,  upon .  which  both  lines 
gave  way  and  were  retreating,  when  they  were  rallied  by 
Colonel  Field,  and  the  battle  soon  became  general  and  sus- 
-ta^eu  with  obstinate  bravery  by  both  sides,  The  Shawnees 
judiciously  formed  in  a  line  across  a  point  from  the  Ohio 
river  to  the  Kana\*'ha  (the  battle  being  at  the  junction  of  the 
-two  streams)  to  prevent  being  flanked.  In  this  order  of  bat 
tle  they  maintained  the  fight  with  unabated  resolution  and 
bravery  from  early  in  the  day  until  nearly  sunset,  heroically 
resisting  successive  charges  made  upon  their  line  by  the 
whites. 

The  Shawnees  were  under  the  command  of  the  dis 
tinguished  and  consummate  chief,  Cornstalk.  His  plan  of  al 
ternate  retreat  and  attack  was  masterly  conceived,  and 
caused  the  chief  loss  of  the  whites.  Whenever  the  warriors 
manifested  signs  of  wavering,  his  voice  was  heard  above  the 
din  of  the  battle,  exclaiming  in  his  native  tongue,  "Be 
strong!  be  strong!"  Atone  time  it  is  said,  a  warrior  near 
him  manifested  fear  and  a  reluctance  to  charge,  and  Corn 
stalk,  dreading  his  pernicious  example,  struck  him  dead 
with  his  tomahawk.  As  the  evening  of  the  day  drew  on, 
and  the  Shawnees  still  maintained  their  position  against  the 
most  vigorous  attacks,  and  apprehending  the  consequences 
that  might  arise  if  the  battle  was  not  decided  before  night, 
.Colonel  Andrew  Lewis,  sent  three  companies,  who  secretly 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  435 

marched  up  under  the  banks  of  the  Kanawha  river  beyond 
the  upper  end  of  the  Shawnee  line,  and  thus  gaining-  their 
rear  made  an  attack.  The  Shawnees  unexpectedly  finding 
themselves  surrounded  on  both  sides,  and  believing-  their 
rear  attack  was  made  by  reinforcements,  soon  g-ave  way, 
and  crossing-  the  Ohio  river  retreated  to  their  villag-es  on  the 
Scioto.  -  But  the  victory  was  dearly  boug-ht,  the  brave 
Shawnees  having-  killed  and  wounded  two  hundred  and  fif 
teen  of  the  whites,  while  their  loss  was  never  ascer 
tained,  y 

^  In  the  meantime  Dunmore  had  descended  the  Ohio  river 
from  Wheeling-  to  the  mouth  of  the  Hocking-.  Thence  he 
marched  toward  the  Shawnee  towns  on  the  Scioto.  After 
the  battle,  Colonel  Lewis  hastened  on  with  his  forces  to  the 
same  point,  "maddened" — as  it  has  been  recorded— 
the  loss  of  so  many  brave  men,  and  anxious  to  avenge  their 
fate  by  the  annihilation  of  the  Shawnee  villag-es." 

But  before  reaching  the  Scioto,  the  Shawnees,  seeing  the 
folly  of  attempting  to  oppose  the  forces  approaching,  sent 
an  embassy  to  Dunmore,  requesting  peace.  He  accepted 
their  proposition.  A  conference  was  ordered  that  peace 
might  be  ratified.  Dunmore  then  sent  orders  to  Lewis  to 
discontinue  his  march.  He  refused  to  obey  orders,  nor  was 
it  until  Dunmore  went  in  person  to  his  camp,  then  on  Congo 
creek,  just  south  of  the  Shawnee  villages,  before  he  could  be 
induced  to  give  up  his  murderous  designs  against  the  In 
dians,  because  they  had  dared  to  avenge  the  murder  of  their 
people  by  the  hands  of  Cresap  and  Greathouse. 

-  Dunmore  remained  at  his  camp,  within  four  miles  of  the 
Shawnee  towns,  where  the  council  was  soon  convened  with 
the  Shawnee  chiefs  to  negotiate  peace.  The,  deliberations 
were  opened  by  Cornstalk,  who,  in  a  short,  concise  and  ener 
getic  speech,  delivered  with  great  natural  dignity,  and  in  a 
tonetso  powerful  as  to  be  heard  all  over  the  camp.  But  brev 
ity,  energy  and  dignity,  so  commendable,  were  noted  char 
acteristics  of  the  North  American  Indian  orator.  In  his 
speech,  Cornstalk  rehearsed  the  former  power  of  his  race; 
the  number  of  their  tribes  ;  the  magnitude  of  their  landed 
possessions  and  the  happiness  of  the  people  ;  then  compared 
their  past  to  their  present  feeble  condition;  to  their  forlorn 
and  diminished  numbers;  to  their  diminutive  landed  pos 
sessions;  to  their  hunting  grounds  and  game  destroyed 
those  gifts  of  the  Great  Spirit  to  his  red  children — and  to 
the  impoverished  and  humiliating  condition  of  the  people. 
Then  he  spoke  of  a  focmer  treaty  made  at  Fort  Stanwix, 
and  'the  great  cessions  of  territory  made  by  the-m  to  the 
pale-faces.  -  Then  he  pointed  to  the  lawless  encroachments 


436  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

of  the  pale-faces  upo$  their  lands  everywhere,  in  open  and 
-defiant  violation  of  all  treaty  stipulations;  to, the  forbear- 
ance.of  his  race  for  years,  under  reiterated  wrongs,  indig 
nities  and  insults  heaped  upon  them  everywhere  by  the 
frontier  white  people.  He  said  his  people,  as  well  as  all 
others  of  his  race,  knew  and  deeply  felt  their  weakness,  and 
their  inability  to  successfully  contend  in  hostilities  with  the 
whites,  and  they  asked  only  for  justice;  that  the  war  just 
closed  was  not  sought  by  his  .people,  for  it  was  commenced 
by  the  whites  without  'any  provocation  on  the  part  of  his 
people  or  race;  that  under  the  same  circumstances  the  pale 
faces  would  have  done  as  they  had  done;  that  if  they  had 
failed  to  resent  the  unprovoked,  cruel  and  treacherous  mur 
ders  of  their  relatives  and  friends  at  Captina  and  Yellow 
Creek,  they  would  have  deserved  the  contempt  of  all  nations 
,. of  people;  that  the  war  was  the  work  of  the  whites  and  not 
the  Indians,  for  they  wanted  peace. 

The  treaty  was  concluded,  but  not  before  Dunmore,  as  a 
manifestation  of  his  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  the  In 
dians,  judged  from  the  fallacy  of  his  own  heart,  had  secured 
four  Indian  warriors,  as  hostages  to  be  taken  by  him  to  Vir 
ginia,  and  right  in  the  face  of  the  irrefragable  truths  just 
rehearsed  in  his  hearing  by  the  noble  and  patriotic  Corn 
stalk;  proving  conclusively,  also,  that  though  he  knew  the 
whites  were  wholly  in  the  wrong,  yet,  like  all  evil  doers,  he 
would  shift  the  blame  from  his  own  shoulders  to  that  of  the 
Indians,  by  making  it  appear  that  the  Indians  could  not  be 
trusted;  therefore,  it  wras  necessary  to  coerce  them  by 
hostages. 

The  stipulations  of  the  treaty  under  consideration  made 
the  Ohio  River  the  boundary  between  the  Indians  and  the 
white  people;  the  Indians  agreeing  not  to  pass  beyond  the 
east  side  of  the  river,  and  the  Whites  agreeing  not  to  pass 
beyond  the  west  side.  Thus  was  that  beautiful  river,  ac 
knowledged  for  the  first  time  by  the  Indians,  as  the  boun 
dary  between  the  territory  of  the  White  Race  and  the  hunt 
ing  grounds  of  the  Red. 

Great  anger  was  manifested  by  the  officers  and  soldiers- 
against  Dunmore,  it  is  narrated  by  the  chroniclers  of  that 
war,  for  making  peace  and  the  treaty  with  the  Indians,  and 
their  indignation  knew  no  bounds  in  their  disappointment  at 
losing  so  good  an  opportunity  of  indulging  their  natural  and 
now  urgent  propensities  for  a  copious  draught  of  Indian, 
blood.  Cresap,  Greathouse  and  their  crew  had  enjoyed  a 
hearty  drink  awakening  also  their  momentary  sleeping 
thirst;  and  now,  after  marching  so  far  only  to  have  the  tan 
talizing  cup  dashed  from  their. expectant  lips  as  they  were  in 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  437 

the  very  act  of  enjoying  a  few  sips — could  poor  humanity 
endure  any  greater  disappointment  and  live?  Therefore, 
long  and  loud  were  the  curses  heaped  upon  Dunmore  for  his 
unusual  act  of  humanity  towards  the  Indians — inexplicable, 
except  on  the  supposition,  it  was  said,  that  Dunmore  had  re 
ceived  orders  from  the  Royal  Government  to  make  peace 
with  the  Indians  as  quick  as  possible,  and  on  such  terms  as 
might  secure  their  alliance  in  favor  of  tb.«.  Rnglish  against 
the  colonies  in  the  eApected  war  that  was  anticipated  with 
them;  for,  as  Pericles,  so  did  King1  George — "Behold  war 
advancing,  with  wide  and  rapid  "strides  from  the  Pelopon 
nesus,"  in  North  America.  And  thus  was  displayed  the 
character  of  that  leniency  and  exhibition  of  mercy  as  was 
displayed  on  that  occasion  by  "Dunmore  to  the  Indians — self 
interest  momentarily  checked  the  thirst  for  Indian  blood. 

But  the  noble  chief,  L^ogan,  who  mourned  the  ruthless 
murder  of  his  entire  family  by  the  hands  of  the  white  vil 
lains,  though  winked  a\  by  the  authorities  of  that  law  that 
lay  powerless  in  thei*r  hands,  as  far  as  regarded  the  poor  and 
unfortunate  Indians;  nobly  and  justifiably  refused  to  be 
seen  as  a  suppliant  ai.  >ng  his  brother  chiefs,  whose  anxiety 
and  love  for  their  living  '  families  had  overcame  their  natural 
and  manlv,  pride,  and  ha.d  alone  induced  them  to  assume  the 
humiliating  attitude  of  suppliants  when  outraged  beyond 
human  endurance;  yet, '  in  a  private  interview  with  General 
Gibson,  who  had  been  'sent  as  an  envoy  to  the  Shawnees, 
he,  though  with  a  broken  heart,  yet  with  a  calm  and  manly 
dignity  and  in  a  calm,  low  and'  solemn  tone  of  voice,  nar 
rated  the  pathetic  story  of  his  unsurpassed  wrongs  and  in 
juries  in  the  following  we'J.l  known  but  little  heeded  words; 
as  they  have  long  since  been  pronounced  as  being  above 
the  ability  of  the  Indian;  therefore,  are  the  work  of  the 
white  man,  who  writhes  in  agony  at  the  mere  mention  of  al 
lowing  the  Indian  any  credit  for  anything  that  is  commenda 
ble  or  meritorious.  Thus  spake  the  noble  but  broken 
hearted  Indian  chief  : 

"I  appeal  to  any  white  man  to  say,  if  ever  he  entered 
Logan's  cabin  hungry,  aad  I  gave  him  not  meat;  If  ever  he 
came  cold  or  naked,  and  I  gave  him  riot  clothing." 

"During  the  course  of  the  last  long  and  bloody  war, 
Logan  remained  -in  his  cabin  an  advocate  for  peace.  Nay 
such  was  my  love  for  the  whites,  that  those  of  my  own 
country  pointed  at  me  as  they  passed  by  and  said,  'Logan 
is  the  friend  of  the  white  men.'  I  had  even  thought  to  live 
with  you,  but' for  the  injuries  of  one  man.  Colonel  Cresap, 
the  last  spring,  in  cool  blood,  and'  unpro«voked,  cut  off  all  the 
relatives  of  Logan;  not  sparing  even  my  women  and  chil- 


438  'HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

dren.  There  runs  not  a  drop  of  my  blood  in  the  veins  of 
any  human  creature.  This  called  on  me  for  revenge.  I 
have  sought  it.  I  have  killed  many.  I  have  satisfied  my 
vengecince.  For  my  country,  I  rejoice  at  the  beams  of 
peace.  But,  do  not  harbor  the  thought  that  mine  is  the  joy 
of  fear.  Logan  never  felt  fear.  He  will  not  turn  on  his 
heel  to  save  his  life.  Who  is  there  to  mourn  for  Logan? 
Not  one?" 

Such  was  the  language  of  a  broken-hearted  hero.  And 
it  is  but  one  of  a  thousand  of  the  utterances  of  mingled  pride, 
courage,  sorrow  and  despair  of  the  North  American  Indians. 
For  three  hundred  years  down  the  line  of  time  to  the  pres 
ent,  have  their  wrongs,  in  pathetic  woe,  been  expressed  and 
heard,  moving  to  sympathizing  tears,  the  angels  of  heaven, 
but  awakening  no  responsiv-e  chord  in  the  hearts  of  the 
the  white  men  lost,  utterly  lost,  to  all  else,  except  the  Indians' 
few  remaining  acres  of  land;  amd  who  for  the  securing  of 
which,  have  made  proper  arrangements  with  the.  devil  for 
future  and  permanent  residences,  according  to  fruman  ideas 
of  justice,  with  him  in  the  regions  balow,  as  a  just  recom 
pense  of  their  reward  for  services  re.ndered  during  their 
stay  in  his  dominions  on  earth. 

The  last  years  of  the  old  chief  \\  ^re  spent  in  wandering 
about  from  village  to  village  and  from  tribe  to  tribe,  a  for 
lorn,  dejected,  solitary  and  lonely  old  man — a  melancholy, 
yet  truthful,  exhibition  of  the  horrible  falsity  of  the  white 
man's  professed  anxiety  for  the  good  of  the  Indian — who  had 
finally  yielded  to  the  crushing  weight  of  despair  by  the  loss 
of  his  family  and  relatives  at  the  hands  of  white  murderers, 
and  the  d,ecay  of  his  tribe  and  race.  He  also,  as  did  his  fam 
ily,  perished  by  the  hands  of  an  as.-sassin,  near  Detroit,  Mich 
igan.  He  was  sitting  before  his  camp-fire  with  his  blanket 
over  his  head,'  his  elbows  renting  upon  his  knees  and  his 
head  upon  his  hands,  wrapt  in  seemingly  deep,  sad  and 
mournful  reflection  o'er  the.  scenes  and  experiences  of  the 
eventful  past,  when  an  unexpected  tomahawk  was  buried  in 
his  brains,  wielded  by  the  hand  of  an  Indian.  But  who  does 
not  believe,  who  knows  the  sacredness  and  veneration  with 
which  the  aged  were  held  by  all  North  American  Indians, 
and  the  eternal  disgrace  that  ensued  to  him  who  killed  or 
even  injured  an  aged  person,  that  when  the  fulfillment  of  the 
declaration  of  Holy  Writ — "And  the  books  were  opened,"  at 
the  great  and  last  assizes  in  which  man  shall  be  interested — 
that  there  and  then  wi'il  be  found  recorded,  ''Logan  fell  by 
the  hands  of  a  white  assassin."  The  plea  in  favor  of  the 
white  assassin's  innocence  is  feeble.  Be  as  it  may,  so  per 
ished  the  aged  and  grand  Indian  Chief,  Logan.  ,<h 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  439 

tf 

Of  the  renowned  Shawnee  chief,  Cornstalk,  it  may  also* 
be  truthfully  affirmed  that  ,he  was  a  man  of  true  nobility  of 
soul,  a  wise  statesman  in  the  councils  of  his  Nation,  and  a 
brave  and  skillful  chief  in  war.  After  the  battle  near  the 
junction  of  the  Ohio  river  and  the  Kanawha,  he  returned  to 
the  Pickaway  villages  and  called  a  council  of  his  people  and 
other  contiguous  tribes  to  consult  what  should  be  done. 
When  assembled  he  upbraided  them  for  their  want  of  fore 
sight  and  their  injudicious  measures  adopted  in  not  permit 
ting  him  to  make  solicitations  of  peace  to  the  whites,  as  he 
desired,  on  the  evening  before  the  battle.  "What,"  ex 
claimed  he,  in  his  usual  loud  tone  of  voice  and  with  great 
vehemence,  "do  you  now  propose  to  do?  The  big  knives^ 
(referring  to  the  swords  of  the  officers)  are  coming  onus 
and  we  will  all  be  killed,  and  our  wives  and  children  led  away 
into  captivity,  or  scattered  as  autumn  leaves  before  the  win 
try  winds.  Now  we  must  fight  in  earnest,  or  we  will  be 
destroyed."  No  reply  being  made,  he  continued:  "Then 
let  us  feill  all  our  women  and  children  and  resolve  to  fight 
until  the  last  warrior  has  fallen."  But  still  no  reply  being 
made,  he  struck  his  tomahawk  with  a  mighty  blow  into  a 
tree  standing  near,  and  exclaimed:  "But  I  will  go  and  make 
peace."  To  this  there  was  given  a  universal  approval,  and 
runners  were  at  once  sent  to  Dunmore  to  solicit  peace.  The 
result  has  been  given. 

But  as  the  immortal  Logan,  whose  name  with  others  of 
his  race,  has  elevated  the  characters  of  the  native  Americans 
throughout  the  intelligent  world,  and  wrhose  .touching  elo 
quence  can  never  be  forgotten  so  long  as  eloquence  is  admir 
ed  by  man,  fell  by  the  hand  of  the  stealthy  assassin,  so  too 
was  the  noble  Cornstalk  murdered,  in  the  summer  of  1777, 
by  some  execrable  white  villains  of  the  Cresap,  Greatho'use 
and  Whetzel  order,  at  Point  Pleasant,  near  where  the  battle 
had  been  fought  three  years  before.  He  had  crossed  the 
river  to  communicate  the  designs  of  the  English  and  their 
allied  Indians,  as  it  was  afterwards  learned.  When  he  saw 
his  murderers  approaching,  his  little  son,  Elnipsico,  trem 
bled.  His  father,  upon  seeing  which,  said  to  him:  "Be  not 
afraid.  The  Great  Spirit  has  sent  us  here  to  die  together." 
As  the  white  men  drew  near  he  rose  up  and,  with  his  little 
Elnipsico,  advanced  to  meet  them,  when  instantly  a  half  dozen 
bullets  pierced  their  bodies.  So  fell  the  great  warrior  and 
pure  patriot,  Cornstalk,  whose  narnf  was  bestowed  upon  him 
by  his  Nation,  as  their  great  strength  and  support. 

Three  years  later,  in  the  summer  of  1780,  we  find  eight 
hundred  men,  under  Colonel  Brodhead,  in  rendezvous  at 
Wheeling,  where  six  years  before  Dunmore  had  collected 


-440  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

his  forces  whom  he  led  in  person  to  exterminate  the 
Shawnees  and  destroy  their  villages,  because  they  grumbled 
.about  Cresap  and  Greathouse  butchering  a  dozen  or  more 
<of  their  people  regardless  of  age  or  sexv  Colonel  Brod- 
.head,  with  his  eight  hundred,  are  to  march  against  the  In- 
^dian  villages  on  the  Muskingum  river,  Ohio.  They 
marched,  plundered  and  burnt  a  few  villages,' and  captured 
a  number  of  Indians  among  whom  were  sixteen  warriors, 
who  were  led  out  and,  in  cool  blood,  tomahawked  and 
scalped.  On  the-next  morning,  a  noble  looking  chief,  under 
SL  promise  of  protection  from  Brodhead,  came  into  camp; 
..and  while  talking  with  Brodhead  in  regard  to  peace, 
Whetzel  secretly  stole  up  behind  him,  and  with  one  blow  of 
liis  tomahawk  cleft  his  skull  in  twain.  They  now  had  to  re 
treat;  but  before  so  doing,  they  massacred  all  the  remaining 
prisoners,  except  a  few  women  and  children;  then,  when  ar 
rived  safely  at  home,  enjoyed  a  higher  degree  of  complacency 
in  imagined  self-importance  in  having  taken  a  few  villages  of 
Indian  wigwams  and  butchering  helpless  prisoners,  than 
•did  Cyrus  in  taking  Babylon,  or  Titus,  Jerusalem.  f 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1763  two  Moravian  mission 
aries,  Post  an/1  Heckewelder,  established  a  mission  among 
;the  Tuscarawa  Indians,  and  in  a  few  years  they  had  three 
nourishing  missionary  stations,  viz :  Shoenbrun,  [Gnaden- 
brutten  and  Salem,  which  were  about  five  miles  apart  and  fifty 
.miles  west  of  the  present  town  of  Steubenville,  Ohio.  During 
our  Revolutionary  War  their  position  being  midway  between 
the  hostile  Indians  (allies  of  the  British)  on  the  Sandusky 
_River,  and  our  frontier  settlements,  and  therefore  on  the  di 
rect  route  of  the  war  parties  of  both  the  British  Indian  allies 
..and  the  frontier  settlers,  they  were  occasionally  forced  to 
;give  food  and  shelter  to  both,  which  aroused  the  jealousy  of 
.both  the  Indian  allies  of  the  English  and  the  American  front- 
.iersmen,  although  they  preserved  the  strictest  neutrality. 

In  February  1772,  the  American  settlers  (nothing  more 
.could  be  expected)  assumed  to  believe  that  the  Moravian,  or 
^Christian  Indians;  as  they  were  called,  harbored  the  hos 
tile  Indians;  therefore  they  pronounced  them  enemies, 
-and  at  once  doomed  them  to  destruction.  Accordingly  on 
.the  following  march,  ninety  volunteers,  under  the  leadership 
-of  one  David  Williamson,  started  for  Gnadenbrutten  where 
.they  arrived  on  the  morning  of  the  8th,  and  at  once  sur 
rounded  and  entered  the  station;  but  found  the  most  of  the 
Indians  in  a  field  gathering  corn.  They  told  them  they  had 
•come  in  peace  and  friendship,  and  with  a  proposition  to 
move  them  from  their  unpleasant  and  dangerous  position 
between  the  two  hostile  races  to  Fort  Pitt  for  their  better 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  441 

protection.  The  unsuspecting"  Indians,  delighted  at  the 
suggestion  of  their  removal  to  a  safer  place,  gave  up  their 
few  arms  used  for  hunting  alone,  all  the  kind  they  had,  and 
commenced  preparing  breakfast  for  their  guests  and  also 
for  themselves.  The  still  unsuspecting  Indians  at  once  sent 
a  runner  to  Salem  to  inform  the  brethren  there  of  the  new 
arrangement.  After  eating  breakfast,  both  Indians  and 
whites  returned  from  the  field  to  Gnadenbrutten;  and,  on 
reaching  it,  a  number  of  the  whites  started  on  their  horses 
for  the  Salem  station,  but  met  the  Salem  Indians  already  on 
their  way,  through  the  advice  of  the  messenger,  to  join  their 
brethren  at  Gnadenbrutten.  In  the  meantime,  the  whites, 
who  had  remained  at  Gnadenbrutten,  had  secured  the  In 
dians  whom  they  had  already  decoyed  into  their  power,  by 
binding  them  and  confining  them  in  two  separate  houses 
under  a  strong  guard.  As  soon  as  the  party  from  Salem 
came  up  (their  arms  having  been  previously  secured  with 
out  awakening  any  suspicion  of  hostile  intention),  they  were 
also  placed  in  fetters  and  confined  in  the  two  prison-houses 
with  their  brethren,  the  men  in  one,  and  the  women  and 
children  in  the  other.  The  number  thus  seized  and  im 
prisoned,  including  men  women  and  children,  were  ninety- 
six.  What  next? 

A  mock  council  was  then  convened  to  decide  what  dispo 
sition  should  be  made  of  their  victims.  Upon  this  horrid 
tragedy  the  late  Dr.  Dodd ridge,  in  his  published  notes  on 
Indian  wars,  says  :  ' 'Colonel  Williamson  put  the  question, 
'Whether  the  Moravian  Indians  should  be  taken  pris 
oners  to  Fort  Pitt,  or  put  to  death?'  requesting  those  who 
were  in  favor  of  saving  their  lives  to  step  out  and  form  a 
second  rank.  Only  eighteen  out  of  the  whole  number 
stepped  forth  as  advocates  of  mercy.  In  these  the  feelings 
of  humanity  were  not  extinct.  In  a  'majority,  which  was 
large,  no  sympathy  was  manifested.  They  resolved  to  mur 
der  (for  no  other  word  can  express  the  act)  the  whole  of  the 
Christian  Indians  in  their  custody.  Among  these  were  sev 
eral  who  had  contributed  to  aid  the  missionaries  in  the  work 
of  conversion  and  civilization,  two  of  whom  graduated  from 
New  Jersey  after  the  death  of  their  spiritual  father,  the, 
Rev.  David  Brainard.  One  woman,  who  could  speak  good 
English,  knelt  before  the  commander  and  begged  his  pro 
tection.  Her  supplication  was  unavailing.  They  were  or 
dered  to  prepare  for  death.  But  the  warning  had  been  an 
ticipated.  Their  firm  belief  in  their  new  creed  was  shown 
forth,  in  the  sad  hour  of  their  tribulation,  by  religious  exer 
cises  of  preparation.  The  orisons  of  the  devoted  people 
were  already  ascending  the  throne  of  the  most  high  !  The 


442  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

^ 

sound  of  the  Christian's  hymn  and  the  Christian's  prayer 
found  an  echo  in  the  surrounding-  woods,  but  no  responsive 
feeling  in  the  bosom  of  their  executioners.  With  gun  and 
spear,  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife  the  work  of  death  pro 
gressed  in  these  slaughter-houses  until  not  a  sigh  or  moan 
was  heard  to  proclaim  'the  existence  of  human  life  within. 
All,  save  two — two  Indian  boys — escaped,  as  if  by  a  miracle, 
to  be  witnesses  in  after  times  of  the  savage  cruelty  of  the 
white  man  toward  their  unfortunate  race. 

"Of  the  number  thus  butchered  by  those  backwoods 
men  of  Ohio  between  fifty  and  sixty  were  women  and  chil 
dren — some  of  them  little  babes.  No  resistance  was  made; 
one  only  attempted  to  escape.  The  Whites  finished  the  tra 
gedy  by  setting  fire  to  the  town,  including  the  slaughter 
houses  wjth  the  bodies  in  them,  all  of  which  were  consumed. 
A  detachment  was  also  sent  to  the  upper  town,  Shoenbrunn, 
but  the  people  having  received  information  of  what  was 
transpiring  below,  had  deserted  it." 

Reader,  what  think  you  now  of  the  justice  in  still  call 
ing  the  Indian  an  irreclaimable  savage,  when  our  motto  in 
dealing  with  the  North  American  Indians  from  the  alpha  to 
the  omega  has  been — "Massacre  and  burn"  until  barbarity 
could  go  no  further? 

I  agree  that  in  every  instance  pointed  out,  that  I  have  ex 
amined,  the  Indians  imbibed  their  treachery  from  motives 
of  self-preservation  against  their  skilled  teachers  in  the  art 
of  treachery  and  hypocrisy — to  many  of  whom  such  arts  are 
intuitive.  The  Indian  is  a  H'plomatist — as  much  so  as  the 
white  man — and  his  habits  are  formed  from  those  of  the 
Whites  with  whom  he  had  to  deal  and  from  whom  he  had  to 
defend  himself.  I  have  never  known,  in  my  personal  experi 
ence  of  seventy-five  years,  a  single  instance  where  kindness 
failed  to  go  straight  home  to  the  Indian's  heart,  or  was  not 
fully  reciprocated. 

In  1780  Colonel  George  Clark  erected  Fort  Jefferson  on 
the  Mississippi  River,  in  the  territories  of  the  Chickasaws, 
a  few  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  and  on  his  return 
from  Fort  Jefferson  he  organized  a  company  of  one  thousand 
'men,  in  July,  made  a  secret  and  rapid  raid  into  the  Miami 
country,  plundered  and  burned  the  Pequa  villages  on  Mud 
River  and  also  the  Chillicothe  villages  on  the  Little  Miami, 
murdering  all  the  unfortunate  Indians  that  fell  into  their 
hands  with  fiendish  delight — and  returned  in  triumph  with 
out  loss. 

In  the  year  following,  1781,  the  Chickasaws,  justly  indig 
nant  ai  the  erection  of  Fort  Jefferson  upon  their  soil,  be 
sieged  it  under  the  command  of  the  great  Colbert.  As  us- 


HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS.  443 

ual  everywhere  for  every  act  of  injustice  heaped  upon  the 
Indians,  the  Whites  have  been  sustained ;  therefore,  General 
Clark  hastened  from  Kaskaskia  with  re-inforcements,  upon 
the  arrival  of  which  the  Chickasaws  drew  off  a  little  dis 
tance.  Soon  after,  however,  Clark  dismantled  the  fort,  re 
turned  to  his  own,  and  the  Chickasaws  quietly  returned  to 
their  homes. 

In  the  year  1799,  when  the  remnant  of  the  Moravians 
were  recalled  by  the  United  States,  in  the  plenitude  of  .their 
mercy  which  required  just  twenty-seven  years  to  mature, 
an  old  Indian,  in  company  with  a  young  white  man  by  the 
name  of  Carr,  visited  the  desolate  and  melancholy  scene,  and 
an  excavation  was  pointed  out  by  the  old  man,  which  had 
formerly  been  a  cellar,  and  in  which  were  still  some  moul 
dering  bones  of  the  victims,  though  27  years  had  passed 
since  their  tragic  death,  while  the  tears  trickled  down  the 
wrinkled  face  of  that  aged  child  of  the  Tuscarawas. 

At  the  time  of  the  diabolical  massacre,  but  little  more, 
than  one-third  of  the  Moravian  Indians  were  at  their  villages 
on  the  Tuscarawas,  the  others  having  been  induced  by  the 
hostile  Indians  to  move  and  settle  at  Sandusky  in  their  vi 
cinity.  Soon  after  the  return  of  Williamson's  men  what 
may  be  called  a  second  Moravian  campaign  was  projected, 
the  object  being  first  to  complete  the  destruction  of  the 
Christian  Indians,  at  their  new  establishment  on  the  San- 
dusky  river,  murder-the  Wyandott  Indians  on  the  same  river, 
then  plunder  and  burn  their  villages.  Having  had  a  taste  of 
blood  warm  from  the  veins  of  Christian  Indians,  men, 
women  and  children,  like  the  tiger  man-eater  of  the  Bengal 
jungles,  it  proved  more  palatable  to  their  taste  since  there 
was  no  impediment  to  obstruct  a  full  display  of  their  manhood 
and  heroic  bravery  in  butchering  and  drinking  the  blood  of 
the  Christian  Indians,  who  stood  as  helpless  before  them  as  a 
little  girl  of  ten  years  in  the  spring  of  the  Bengal  man-eater, 
they  no\w  determined  not  to  spare  the  lives  of  any  Indians 
who  might  fall  into  their  clutches,  whether  friend  or  foe, 
old  or  young,  male  or  female,  all  from  the  decrepit  in  years 
to  the  babe'in  its  swaddling  clothes.  Such  was  the  modus 
operandi  adopted  by  the  professed  civilized  and  Christian 
race  to  gather  the  Native  Americans  into  the  folds  of  the  re 
ligion  of  the  world's  Great  Redeemer,  and  practiced  from 
that  day  to  this  plainly  shown  in  the  butchery  of  the  western 
Indians  by  the  two  modern  Caligulas,  Sherman  and  Sheri 
dan  and  their  subordinates,  by  Mr.  Manypenny  in  his  "Our 
Indian  Wards." 

On  the  20th  of  May,  1792,  four  hundred  and  eighty  hu 
man  monsters,  impiously  called  men,  collected  from  'the-. 


\ 


444  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

country  of  the  upper  Ohio  at  a  point,  then  known  as  the 
"Old  Ming-o  Towns,"  to  carry  out  their  diabolical  schemes, 
and  there  raised  one  of  their  number,  William  Crawford,  to 
the  position  of  their  commander. 

Notwithstanding-  the  secrecy  of  their  murderous 
schemes,  the  Indian  scouts — the  best  the  world  ever  pro 
duced — learned  the  place  of  their  rendezvous  in  the  Mingo 
bottom,  where  they  ascertained  their  number  and  destina 
tion.  Every  encampment  after  their  departure  was  visited 
by  those  Indian  vigilants,  whose  skill  in  obtaining*  facts 
from  signs  alone  seemed  superhuman.  Every  scrap  of  pa 
per  and  chip  that  was  found  in  the  place  of  encampment 
with  marks  made  upon  them  were  picked  up  and  carried  at 
once  to  the  Moravian  Indians,  who  had  fled  from  Shoenbrunn 
at  the  time  of  the  slaughter  of  their  brethren  and  settled  at 
Sandusky;  who,  having  been  taught  to  read  and  write  by 
"their  spiritual  guides — the  white  missionaries — read  the 
writings  upon  the  scraps  of  paper  and  chips:  "No  quarter 
to  any  Indian — man,  woman  or  child." 

The  march  of  the  whites  was  directly  through  the 
Moravian  villages,  the  scenes  of  their  former  butchery.  On 
the  6th  of  June  they  reached  the  Moravian  villages,  on  a 
branch  of  the  Sandusky  river  ;  but,  instead  of  finding-  inno 
cent  and  helpless  Ind'ians  to  murder  and  plunder,  they 
.found  only  vestiges  of  desolation.  A  few  huts  scattered 
here  and  there,  alone  remained  to  tell  of  their  blighted  hopes 
and  bitter  chagrin,  in  being  thwarted  in  their  grand  designs 
of  besieging,  taking  and  destroying  an  imagined  North 
American  Nineveh,  Babylon  and  Jerusalem,  and  thus  have 
their  names  and  heroic  achievements  engraved  upon  the 
rolls  of  fame  with  a  Cyaxares,  a  Cyrus  and  a  Titus.  Alas! 
for  human  hopes!  The  scraps  of  paper  and  the  chips  injudi 
ciously  left  at  their  encampments  had  warned  their  intended 
victims,  who  had  fled;  and  with  them  set  the  sun,  whose 
rays  were  to  light  up  the  pages  of  their  imagined  glory 
through  all  future  generations  with  such  brilliancy  that 
one,  though  a  fool,  might  run  and  read,  nor  err  therein. 
Could  American  ambition  aspire  to  anything  greater!  It 
seems  not  from  the  history  of  the  past.  For  our  foolish 
boasting  over  the  sacking  of  a  few  Indian  villages  and  butch 
ering  the  sleeping  inhabitants,  the  accomplishment  of  wjiich 
always  eliciting  the  soul  animating  and  flattering  ejaculation: 
•"Too  much  praise  cannot  be  awarded  the  officers  and  sol 
diers  for  their  bravery  and  heroism  displayed  in  the  fearful 
conflict."  While  our  great  generals  enjoy  in  dreamy  frenzy 
their  fancied  flight  to  their  roost  upon  the  pinnacle  of  earthly 
fame,  there  to  revel  in  imagined  glory,  and  feel  themselves, 


OF   THE   INDIANS.  445 

as  Cyrus,  encompassing  the  walls  of  Ancient  Babylon  and 
gazing  with  admiring  and  contemplative  mind  upon  its  lofty 
battlements,  as  they  listen  to  the  noisy  shouts  of  the  rabble1 
below,  and  the  call  of  the  sensational  newspapers,  "Sheridan 
to  the  front!  To  arms!  To  arms!  The  Greek!  The  Greek!  " 
When  rumor  whispers  on  a  cloudy  day,  "An  Indian  failed  to 
answer  at  roll  call  on  such  a  reservation." 

But  what  of  Crawford  and  his  band  of  murderers? 
Maddened  at  their  disappointment  in  not  obtaining  a  few  gal 
lons  of  Indian  blood  to  cool  their  raging  thirst,  they  resolved 
to  proceed  one  dav  longer  on  their  hunt;  and  then  if  no  In 
dian  villages  with  their  unsuspecting  inhabitants  were  found, 
to  retreat.  But  on  the  next  day,  about  2  o'clock,  they  found 
the  object  of  their -search,  but  not  a  helpless  village  of  Chris 
tian  Indians  in  thoughtless  security,  but  a  well  organized 
body  of  fearless  Indian  warriors  ready  to  face  their  ruffian 
invaders  in  open  battle.  At  once  the  conflict  was  opened^ 
and  continued  with  unabated  vigor  until  dark,  each  part^j 
lying  upon  their  arms  during  the  night  to  prevent  sur~, 
prise.  The  next  morning  at  a  deliberation  of  officers, 
Williamson,  the  leader  at  the  massacre  of  the  Gnadenbrutton 
and  Salem  Indians,  proposed  to  go  with  one  hundred  and 
fifty  volunteers  to  upper  Sandusky,  which  proposition  was 
promptly  rejected  upon  the  grounds  that  their  divided  forces 
would  be  attacked  in  detail  and  destroyed.  The  day,  there 
fore,  was  spent  in  burying'  the  dead  and  making  prepara 
tions  for  a  night  retreat;  since,  to  fight  wide  awake  Indians 
was  not  in  their  vocabulary  of  warfare  in  seeking  military 
fame.  But  the  Indians,  suspecting  their  intentions,  and  de 
siring  to  -give  them  a  full  and  quenching  draught  of  Indian 
blood,  renewed  the  attack  about  sunset  with  renewed  vigor 
and  fearless  resolutions  from  all  sides  except  that  toward 
Sandusky.  The  white  marauders  unable  to  withstand  the 
urgent  desires  "to  live,  that  they  might  fight  on  some  other 
day,"  which  then  seemed  to  overbalance  the  desires  to  fight 
at,  night  live  and  wide  awake  Indians,  began  a  retreat  with 
their  thirst  for  Indian  blood  somewhat  abated,  since  the 
price  of  it  had  gone  up  to  such  an  unexpected  and  extrava 
gant  degree  that  prudence  forbade  further  indulgence  unfei 
they  should  return  home  and  recuperate  their  now  weakened 
desires.  But  many,  with  the  heroism  displayed  at  Gnaden 
brutton,  believing  the  wide  awake  Indians  would  follow  the 
main  body,  broke  off  into  small  detached  parties  and  hurried 
in  different  directions  toward  their  THEN  much  desire'd : 
homes".  All  these  the  wide  awake  Indians  pursued  in  equal' 
detachments,  overtook  and.  sent  them  to  their  long  homes, 
where  they  might  quench  tfteir  thirst  with  something 


446  HISTORY   OF   THE  INDIANS. 

- ,  ,"'  .  \ 

stronger  and   more  enduring-  than  the  blood   of  Christian 
Indians. 

Soon  after  the  retreat  had  gotten  under  full   headway, 
Crawford,  having- missed  his  son  and^several  other  relatives, 
halted  and    vainly  searched  the  line  as  it   passed  along-  for 
the  objects  of  his  solicitation,  and  waited  too  long-  in  anxious 
expectation  of  learning- something-  concerning-   them,  for   in 
attempting-    to  overtake   his  retreating-  army,  he   with  one 
Dr.  Knig-ht  and  a  few   others,  after  the  third  day's  ride  was 
captured  by  the  victorious  Indians.     They  were  all  taken  to 
an  encampment  in  the  vicinity,  and  next   morning-  their  cap 
tors,    under   the    command    of  the    Delaware     chief,    Pipe, 
started  with  them  for   a   Wyandott  village,  but  slew  all  ex 
cept  Crawford  and  Knig-ht  before  reaching-  it.     When  at  the 
village,   Crawford    recognized    among;  the    Indians   the    re 
nowned  Shawnee  chief,   Wingenund,  with  whom  he  had  long 
Aeen  acquainted  and  between  whom  a  mutual  friendship  ex 
isted.     Crawford  at  once   made  an   appeal  to  Wing-enund   to 
intercede  in  his  behalf.     But  to  his  solicitations   Wing-enund 
calmly  replied:     "I  am  not  unmindful  of  our  former  friend 
ship;  and  cheerfully  would  I  now  assist  you  in  your   misfort 
une,  were  you  in  any  other  place  but  this,  and  were  you  still 
what  I  once  thought  you   to  be."     To  which   the    despairing- 
Crawford  replied:     "I  have  been   engaged   only  in  honorable 
warfare."     Then  what  must  be  dishonorable  warfare?     But 
to  which   reply,   Wing-enund,    with    a   significant   look,    re 
sponded:     "I  mig-ht  possibly  have  been  able   to  save  you  had 
you  not  joined  Williamson   in   murdering  the   Moravian   In 
dians   without  discrimination  of   ag-e  or  sex   knowing   they 
were    innocent    of  all   wrong."     "Had    I   been  with    him   I 
would-   not    have    permitted     the    cruel    act,"    replied   the 
wretched  Crawford.     "That  may   be  all   true,"   replied  the 
chief;  but  Williamson  went  a  second  time  and  killed  more  of 
the  Christian  Indians. ?'     "But  I  went  out  and  did  all  I   could 
to  stop  him,"  said  Crawford.     "That  may  also  be  true,  but 
you  car/not  make  the  Indians  believe  it;  for,  when  you   were 
marching   here,  you    turned  aside   with   your   soldiers   and 
went   to   the   Moravian  villages,    but  found   them  deserted. 
Our  scouts  were  watching  you   and  saw  you    do  this.     Had 
you  been   looking  for  warriors,   you   would   not   have   gone 
there,  for  you   knew  the   Christian   Indians  are   foolish  and 
will  not    fight.     I  shall    ta|ve   no   pleasure    in    your   death^ 
though  you  have  forfeited   your  life.     Had  we  also   captured 
Williamson,    we    might   spare    your   life;    but   as    we   have 
failed  in  that,  you  must  take  his  place.     I  am  unable  to  save 
you." 

Crawford  still  implored  him   to  interfere  in  his   behalf, 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  447 

but  the  chief  assured  him  that  it  would  be  of  no  avail,  and 
at  once  turned  away  and  left  the  hapless  and  now  hopeless 
captive  to  his  fearful  fate,  which  was  witnessed  by  Knight, 
who  had  also  been  condemned  to  a  similar  fate,  bnt  fortu 
nately  made  his  escape  shortly  after  the  execution  of  Craw 
ford.  All  the  prisoners  captured  in  this  marauding-  cam 
paign  were  slain,  in  retaliation  for  the  butchery  of  the  Del- 
awares,  then  known  as  the  Moravian  Christians.  Crawford's 
son  was  executed  at  a  Shawnee  town. 

The  account  given  by  Knight  of  the  execution  of  Craw 
ford  need  not  be  repeated  here.  All  should  denounce,  with 
-a  united  voice,  executions  by  fire,  no  matter  how  great  the 
crime  of  the  culprit.  But  let  God,  and  not  guilty  man,  be 
the  judge  between  the  white  executioners  of  the  ninety-six 
Christian  Indians,  guilty  of  no  offense;  therefore,  the  dupes 
of  the  vilest  treachery,  and  the  Indian  executioners  of  their 
white  prisoners  of  war,  invaders  of  their  country  bearing 
the  banner  with  the  inscription  :  "No  quarter  to  any  Indian 
of  any  age  or  sex,"  and  carrying  death,  destruction  and  de 
vastation  every  where  in  their  route.  Though  a  howl  of 
indignation  rent  the  air  at  the  announcement  of  Crawford's 
fearful  death  by  Knight,  but  not  a  whimper  at  the  brutal 
execution  of  the  ninety-six  Moravian  Indians.  Such  is  the 
justice  the  White  Race  has  awarded  the  Red  from  the  alpha 
to  the  omega  of  their  dealings  with  that  unfortunate  people. 

But  two  years/previous  to  the  invasion  of  Crawford  and 
his  four  hundred  and  eighty  merciless  vandals,  thirteen  hun 
dred  men — if  men  they  may  be  called — made  a  raid  from 
Cincinnati,  under  the  command  of  General  Harmer,  against 
the  Indian  villages  on  the  Maumee  river.  When  within  a 
short  distance,  Colonel  Hardiii  was  sent  forward  with  six 
hundred  and  fifty  men  to  reconnoitre,  who  found  the'villages 
deserted.  On  the  next  day  when  the  main  body  came  up 
the  work  of  pillage,  destruction  and  desolation  was  com 
menced...  The  villages,  some  containing  upwards  of  three 
hundred  houses,  were  plundered  and  burned,  their  fruit 
trees  cut  down,  and  over  twenty  thousand  bushels  of  corn 
destroyed.  Such  was  the  work  of  those  who  really  believed 
themselves  to  be  civilized,  and  the  accepted  followers  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Should  the  devil  be  discouraged!. 

But  while  this  vandalism  was  going  on,  Hardin  was 
again  sent  forward,  but  with  only  one  hundred  and  fifty  men, 
to  follow  up  a  little  trail,  hoping  it  would  lead  to  other  vil 
lages  which  might  also  add  to  their  beastly  propensities  a 
little  more  joy.  But  they  had  not  proceeded  many  miles, 
cogitating  the  emotions  of  heroic  pride  that  must  swell  their 
breasts  to  a  danger  of  bursting,  when,  returned  to  their 


448  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

.    .  t.i/     J'.H  •    '••:•' 

homes,  they  should  be  encircled  with  wife  and  children,  each 
asking- innumerable  questions — uPapa,  did  you  kill v  an  In 
dian?  Papa,  why  didn't  you  bring1  me  a  little  pap-poo-sy  to 
play  with?  Papa,  wasn't  you  f raid?"  This' was  a  poser. 
But  the  wife  came  to  the  rescue — "No,  my  son.  Papa 
\vasn't  fraid";  and  the  momentary  cloud  passed  off,  and 
papa's  features  assumed  again  their  wonted  appearance  of 
heroism.  But  the  pleasant  reverie  of  future  narrations  o£ 
bloody  strife  mid  scenes  of  carnage  in  burning,  deserted 
villag-es,  cutting-  down  fruit  trees  and  destroying  corn,  'was 
cut  short  by  the  reality  in  the  shrill  and  defiant  war-whoop 
seconded  by  'the  united  report  of  a  volley  of  rifles  in  the 
hands  of  a  band  of  outraged,  insulted  and  maddened  In 
dian  warriors  under  the  noted  chief,  Little  Turtle,  and 
twenty-six  of  the  white  marauders  kissed  their  mother 
earth,  while  the  remaining  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  bade 
Little  Turtle  and  his  band  of  patriots  a  hasty  adieu  without 
even  returning  their  morning  salutation  by  the  discharging 
of  a  single  gun. 

As  soon  as  the  fugitives  returned  to  the  main  body  and 
gave  the  information  that  live  and  wide  awrake  Indians  were 
at  hand,  it  was  suddenly  ascertained  that  pressing  business 
at  home  required  their  attention,  and  a  retreat  at  once  be 
gan.  On  the  next  morning,  however,  Colonel  Hardin  and 
Major  Willis  returned,  with  a  force  of  340  militia  and  60  reg 
ulars,  to  the  burnt  villages,  hoping  to  find  that  the  old  men, 
women  and  children  had  returned  to  view  the  scene  which 
portrayed  the  destruction  of  their  homes  and  their  earthly 
all,  and  thus  would  be  afforded  an  opportunity  of  adding  to 
the  glory  of  their  precious  barbarism,  the  butchery  of  their 
contemplated  victims  without  danger  to  themselves,  and 
thus  add  another  wreath  of  unfading  glory  to  the  chapter  of 
their  already  attained  heroism,  and  also  one  to  be  placed  upon 
the  angelic  brow  of  their  Government,  as  an  imperishable 
trophy  of  its  success  in  disseminating  her  so-called  glorious 
principles — "Liberty  and  equal  rights  to  all  mankind" — and 
humane  efforts  to  civilize  and  christainize  the  native  Ameri 
cans.  As  they  approached  the  melancholy  scene  of  smoking 
ruins,  a  few  forlorn  hopes  were  seen  running  from  the  oppo 
site  end  of  that  place  of  desolation,  and  who  were  at  once 
pursued,  as  the  Indians  desired,  by  the  ^340  militia.  When 
the  chase  had  drawn  them  to  a  proper  distance,  the  live  Lit 
tle  Turtle  and  his  wide  awake  band  of  warriors  charged  the 
regulars  and,  ere  the  militia  could  return,  sent  the  last  one 
of  them,  with  Major  Willis,  to  where  Indian  lands  excite 
covetousness  no  more-  The  heroic  militia  returned  near 
the  close  of  the  fight,  fired  a  few  random  shots  as  they  hur- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  449' 

riedly  passed,  and  then,  with  renewed  activity  and  increased 
animation,  sought  the  main  body,  leaving"  the  dead  and 
wounded  regulars  in  the  hands  of  the  victorious  chief  and 
his  warriors. 

The  ferocious  vandalism  displayed  by  the  wrhite  intrud 
ers  and  devastaters  of  their  homes  and  country,  aroused  the 
Indians  to  that  degree  of  manly  and  vigorous  efforts  of  self- 
protection  that  they  wrould  have  broken  up  the  settlements 
of  the  white  intruders  had  it  not  been  for  the  total  destruc 
tion  of  their  provisions  and  homes  just  at  the  opening  of 
winter.  . 

In  May,  179lf a  force  of  750  men  from  Kentucky,  under 
Charles  Scott,  crossed  the  Ohio  river  and  plundered  and 
burned  several  Indian  villages  on  the  Wabash  river,  murder 
ing  thirty  of  the  inhabitants,  capturing  fifty-eight,  and  re 
turned  home  in  three  week's  without  loss,  all  of  which  was- 
regarded  only  as  a  little  freak  of  fun — a  little  pleasant  rec 
reation  for  the  jolly  boys. 

The  following  August,  a  company  of  550  similar  "jolly 
boys,"  under  one^  James  Wilkerson,  left  Fort  Washington 
to  complete  the  work  of  destruction  upon  the  Indians  on  the 
Wabash  river,  which  Scott  and  his  gang  had  so  successfully 
begun.  Wilkerson  also  was  successful  in  burning  many 
towns,  cutting  down  all  their  fields  of  corn,  killing  several, 
and  capturing  thirty-four. 

But  while  theseplunderers  were  committing  their  dep 
redations  upon  the  Wabash  and  its  tributaries,  the  war 
department  of  theUnited  States  was  engaged  in  organizing 
an  army  of  three  thousand  men,  by  directions  of  congress,. 
to  invade  the  territories  of  the  northwestern  Indians,  to  be 
placed  under  the  command  of  Governor  St.  Clair.  This 
force  encamped  on  the  night  of  the  3d  of  November,  1791, 
on  a  tributary  of  the  Wabash  river.  On  the  following  morn 
ing,  a  little  before  sunrise,  the  bold  and  patriotic  Indians 
made  a. vigorous  attack  upon  the  advanced  guard,  who  were 
encamped  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  front  of  the  main 
body,  which  was  encamped  in  two  lines,  with  a  space  of  a 
hundred  yards  or  more  between.  The  guard  at  once  gave 
way,  and  in  a  wild  frenzy  of  fright  rushed  headlong  over  the' 
camp-fires  and,  camps  of  the  first  line,  closefy  pursued  by~ 
the  outraged  Indians,  who,  however,  were  momentarily^ 
checked  by  the  fire  of  the  first  line.  At  once  they  made  a. 
terrific  charge  upon  that  line,  and  almost  simultaneously 
upon  the  second  line  also,  and  the  battle  became  general  at 
once.  In  a  short  time  the  heroic  Indians  had  penetrated 
into  the  camps,  and  though  charge  after  charge  was  made 
upon  them,  yet  each  was  met  with  the  bravest  resistance. 


.. 

...  .--,.  .;y.^.r;.,  .-.•-,       il. 
450  -          HISTORY    OF:.  THE  INDIANS. 


. 

Finally.a  desperate  cKargp  was  made  by  the  whites'  to  regain 
ad  from   which^the    had  been  cut  off..    /Tn'&twas  suc- 


.road  from   which^they 
';/cessful,  and   then  began  the  retreat  which  ,  soon  terminated 
}'*•  in  a  reckless  flight,  which  began  about  9  in  the  morning-  and 
S>"-;  continued  to  Fort  Jefferson,  twenty-nine  miles  from  the  field 
ff|rJ:'  °f  battle,  reaching-  the  Fort  about  sunset. 

The    Indian    warriors  —  rheroes   every    one  ~*df    'them-  — 

•  were  commanded  by  those  consummate  chiefs  and  warriors, 

•  Red  Jacket,  Little  Turtle  and  Bukongahelas,  and  numbered 

•  about  two;  thousand.  •  The  .government,  lost  900   killed  and 
vHvounded,    among    wliom     were    forty-nine     commissioned 

officers.  Red  Jacket,,Little  Turtle  an&  Bukongahelas  had 
only  about/60  killed  ;  wounded  unknown.  vrN' 

"  Thus  tb^  Indians  were  depredated  upon  by  the  various 

;::  campaigns  of  marauding   parties  from  every  where,"  killing, 

^j:  destroying  and  laying  waste  thiir  homes  and  country,  which 

'-aroused    their   pitriotism  to  th'at  pitch  of  enthusiasm   that 

'   caused  them  to  fight  with  a  desperation   unsurpassed  in  the 

annals  of  man.  ) 

In  Ap-ril,  1792,  General.  Anthony  Wayne  was  appointed 
;y  :  by^the  general  government  to  take  command  of  the  Nortli- 
'C::-  western  Ar.my.  .  :  /',''lv' 

g|  On   the  5th  of  the  following  November  a  hundred  men 

£  f*  from  Kentucky,  under  Adair  as  captain,  made  a  raid   across 
the  Ohio  River  into  the  Indians'  country,  but  the  indefatiga- 
'*\>it  Little  Turtle  and  his  band  of  heroes  met  him   arid,  in   a 
severe  $>bt:,'   defeated  him,  with  heavy  loss,  and  drove  him 
'-back  to  bi^  o\vn. 

In    the  Spring-  of    1793,   during  i!i6  arrangements  that 

were  being  ma;ie  lor  Wayne's  campaign,  Congress  sent  com 

missioners  to'  the  Northwest  Indians  to   negotiate   a  treaty 

on  the   basis  of    the   treaty  made  at  Fort  Harmer  in  1789. 

TMs  treaty-niaking  with  the  Northwest  Indians  was  not  a 

^    step  with^thc   view  of  civilizing  tli3  Indians  and  bringing 

them  under  the  benign  influences  of  Christianity,  nor  was 

^v    the  or<-aniz'Uija   of  Wayne's  army  for  the  purpose  of  pro^- 

tectin^them  from  the  raids  of  the  marauding  companies,  en 

W^  white  "marauders,  robbers  and  thieves,    \vho   invaded    taeir 

'  r     country  whenever  they  desired;  but  for  the  accomplish  merit 

of  a  scheme  for  robbing  the  helpless  Indians  of  their   coun 

try  arid  liomes.  '<;  ', 

The  commissioners  called  a  council  of  tap  Indians  to  be 

"held  at  the  mouth  of  the  Musldn-urn  river.  Now,  it  is  a. 
known  fact,  that  the.  Congress  of  the  United  States  never 
did  assemble  anv  tribe  or  tribes  of  Indians  upon  the  North 
American  continent  frAm  1776  'to  the  present  time,  for  the 
humane  purpose  of  consulting  with  them  upon  measures 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  451 

relating*  to  their  civilization  and  Christianity.  Never.  But 
to  rob  and  swindle  them  out  of  their  country  was  the  only 
motive  for  a  council,  and  I  challenge  , successful  contradic 
tion.  About  twenty  Indians,  from  about  the  same  number 
of  tribes,  responded  to  the  commissioners'  call,  and  as 
sembled  at  the  designated  place.  They  justly  denied  the 
validity  of  the  treaty  made  in  1789,  at  Fort  Harmer,  as  it 
had  only  been  made  by  representatives  of  six  of  the  tribes, 
who  had  no  power  or  right  to  cede  the  territories  of  the 
other  tribes,  and  Congress  knew  it,  as  well  as  the  Indians. 
But  .that  infamous  game  of  secretly  making  a  sham  pur 
chase  of  lands  from  a  tribe  or  two,  and  then  extend  the  claim 
over  every  tribe  'whose  lands  were  coveted,  and  then  back 
the  diabolical  proceedings  by  seizing  it  vi  ET  ARMIS,X  then 
burning  their  homes,  cutting  down  their  orchards,  destroy 
ing  their  every  means  of  support,  and  murdering  them  in 
cold  blood,  all,  without  distinction  of  age  or  sex,  because 
they  dared  to  raise  a  hand  in  self-defense,  has  been  our  plan, 
and  only  plan,  of  dealing  writh  the  North  American  Indians 
from  fijrst  to  last.  § 

The  deputation  of  Indians  mentioned  above  justly  insis 
ted  on  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix,  made  in  1767,  which  es 
tablished  the  Ohio  River  as  the  boundary;  and  boldly  affirm 
ed  that  the  Whites  must  conform  to  that  treaty,  as  they  had 
made  no-  other  with  them;  and  move  from  their  territories 
west  of  the  Ohio  River,  if  they  desired  peace  with  the  In 
dians.  But  the  commissioners  still  pointed  to  the  two  trea- 
tiQS  of  1784  and  1789,  in  which  they  affirmed  the  United 
States  had  bought  large  bodies  of  land  which  they  had  de 
termined  to  hold.  How  clearly  this  old  precedent,  handed 
down  from  that  day  to  this,  was  illustrated  in  the  securing 
of  the  Oklahoma  Territory,  and  also  that  from  the  Sioux, 
in  which  fraud,  falsehood,  hypocrisy  and  rascality  are  the 
only  characteristics  that  are  visible  in  the  whole? 

But  the  commissioners,  finding  the  Indians  immovable 
and  strenuously  appeali-ng  to  the  treaty  of  1768,  and  know 
ing-  that  they  had  truth,  justice  and  honor  on  their  side,  and 
-judging  that  noble  race  of  the  long  ago,  who  then  were  free, 
pure  and  even  unstained  by  the  vices  of  the  White  Race, 
whose  very  breath  seemed  pollution  to  them  by  the  fallacy  of 
their, own  polluted  hearts,  offered  pecuniary  inducements  to 
them  to  confirm  the  treaty,  then  endeavoring  to  be  made 
with  them,  the  vast  tracts  of  land  in  the  Ohio  country  which 
were  claimed  by  the  treaty  of  Fort  Harmer  in  1789,  made 
with  six  little  tribes  alone.  If  that  treaty  was  just  and  valid, 
what  necessity  was  there  in  calling  a  council  of  those  Indians 
to  make  another  treaty  in  regard  to  those  identical  lands? 


452  HISTORY    OF    TH]£   INDIANS, 

And  why  did  Congress  instruct  those  commissioners,  if  ca 
jolery  and  threats  would  not  avail,  to  resort  to  their  last  ar 
gument — bribery. 

But  those  ancient  Indian  patriots  could  not  be  bribed. 
It  would  have  been  as  easy  for  those  commissioners  to  have, 
turned  the  sun  from  its  course  as  those  twenty  native  Amer 
ican  chiefs  of  a  century  ago  from  the  paths  of  honor.  Nor 
would  they  agree  to  any  other  boundary  line  than  the  Ohio 
River,  proposed  by  the  Whites,  accepted  by  the  Indians  and 
established  by  both  in  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix  in  1768. 
The  council  adjourned  and  the  bull  dogs  of  war  were  untied 
and  turned  loose  upon  the  Indians,  Why? 'Because  they  re 
fused  to  sell  their  country.  That's  all.  Congress  knew 
they  would  not  give  up  their  country  by  the  bog-us  treaty  of 
1789;  and  it  knew  that  it  had  no  more  just  claims  to  those 
vast  tracts  of  land  than  it  did  to  the  throne  of  Queen  Vic 
toria.  But  the  United  States  had  the  power,  but  not  the 
honor,  therefore  Ahab  took  the  land. 

Wayne  at  once  took  up  the  line  of  march  for  the  Indian 
territories  in  Ohio.  On  his  march,  he  built  a  fort  where 
Greenville,  Ohio,  is  now  situated.  In  October  1793,  the 
seemingly  indomitable  Little  Turtle  and  his  warriors  made 
an  attack  upon  Lieutenant  Lowry,  who,  with  ninety  men, 
was  conveying  supplies  for  the  army,  and  killed  Lowry 
and  fourteen  of  his  men,  and  captured  ninety  horses. 

Wayne  remained  at  the  newly  erected,  fort  until  the 
spring  of  1794  making  every  preparation  for  a  successful  ex 
terminating*  campaign  against  the  Indians,  who  were  con 
centrating  their  strength  upon  the  Maumee -river,  and  also 
making  every  preparation  that  their  meag-er  means  would 
admit  to  repel  their  plundering  invaders.  On  the  27th .  of 
July,  Wayne,  with  an  army  of  4000  men,  started  upon  his 
depredatory  and  exterminating  work  upon  the  Indians. 
August  4th,  found  him  on  the  St.  Mary's  river,  47  miles, 
from  the  fort.  There  he  erected  another  fort  and 
named  it  Fort  Adams,  garrisoning  it  with  one  hun 
dred  men.  He  again  resumed  his  march,  and,  ,011 
the  8th  of  August  encamped  103  miles  from  his  first  fort. 
On  the  morning  of  the  20th  he  came  to  the  encampment  of 
the  Indians  on  the  bank  of  the  Maumee  river,  and  the  battle 
opened,  which  resulted  in  the  defeat  of  the  Indians,  though 
they  foug-ht  with  heroic  bravery,  and,  says  Wayne  in  his  re 
port  of  the  battle  "exposed  their  persons  in  an  unusual  de 
gree,  and  seemed  determined  to  conquer  or  perish." 
Wayne  remained  three  days  after  the  battle,  burning  their 
houses,  destroying1  their  cornfields  and  everything  that 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.'  453 

"*'    *    T'-J'-.j     fc-%'_ji  •v":v    '  '     ,  •'*+*> -3  •'  •:•'"•.  /  w-   "  .r   .,%,'.      .    '   • 

-.-'. '.•  :.  Vff- J: •<•< .  •;' 0''.^'- x" .-V  •'  •:          .        -:' &' •.  •     '  "          •"••'  ''oT'X'1 

could  be  destroyed,  above  and  below   for. fifty  miles  on   each 
side  of  the  Maumee  river. 

This  barbarous  destruction  of  their  villages  and  vast 
cornfields  that  spread  for  fifty  and  sixty  miles  along  the 
banks  of  the  Maumee  and  Auglaize  rivers,  reduced  the  In 
dians  to  such'  privations  and  sufferings,  that  they  were 
forced  to  sue  for  peace;  and  on  the  3rd  of  August,  1795, 
Wayne  concluded  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  northwest 
tribes,  in  which  the  Indians  were  forced  to  make  concessions  ••* 
of  large  tracts  of  land,  as  usual  in  all  such  cases,  for  fight 
ing  ^for  liberty  and  their  native  land. 

But  here,  as  in  the  middle  iwatches  of  the  night,  I  will 
close  this  cursory  review  of  the  fearful  sufferings  and  cruel 
destruction  of  that  portion  of  the  human  family,  who  were 
seldom  equalled  and  never  surpassed  in  the  annals  of  the 
world  for  patient  endurance  and  patriotic  heroism  when  bat 
tling  for  their  homes  and  native  land  against  the  iron  heel 
of  tyranny,  and  who  formerly  possessed  and  inhabited  the 
northern  and  western  part  of  this  continent  as  a  free  and 
happy  people;  then  fell  into  the  hands  of  France,  and  sub 
sequently  into  those  of  England, 'to  be  finally  handed  over 
to  the  United  States  as  old  and  useless  goods  and  chattels. 
And  though  I  have  but  exhibited  the  mere  skeleton  of  their 
wrongs  and  woes  inflicted  by  the  hands  of  white  civilization  j£ 
and  professed  Christianity,  yet  I  will  return  to  my  subject, 
the  Chickasaws,  from  which  I  have  so  long  and  far  wan 
dered  ;  not  to  repose  in  hope  of  a  fairer  morn  in  tracing  the 
line  of  their  history,  sin^e  there  can  be  no  hope  expected  in 
this  age  abounding,  as  all  heretofore  have,  more  with  vice 
than  with  virtue. 

While  the  English  east  of  the  Alleghany  mountains  were 
adopting  active,  but   secret   measures,  to   stop   the  progress 
of  French  colonization  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  river,- 
their  traders  were  meeting  the  French  traders  every  where 
among  the  southern  Indians,  and  their  mutual  animosity  and 
competition    causing   frequent   quarrels,  oft  terminating  in 
collisions,  in  which    the  unfortunate   Indians  always  became 
involved  on  the  one  or  the  other  side.     But  the  French,  at  an  ^#< 
early  day  had   excited  the  animosity  of  the   Chickasaws  by 
failing  to  protect  a  band  of\their  warriors  who  had  solicited  -  •:  :• 
an  es.cort  from   Mobile  to  their   homes  through  the  Chocta^^/^ 
Nation,  with  ,  whom   they  were  then  at   war;    but  in  passing;'^>|:; 
through  the  Choctaw  Nation,  though  under  a  French  escort, /5[;1; 
they  were  slain  to  a  man.  by  the  Choctaws.   The.  Chickasaws,    ^5^ 
believing  it  was  done  through  the  connivance  of  the  French, 
never  forgave   them;    and  in  all  the   quarrels   between  the' 
French  p.hd  English  traders   they  took^sides  with  the  latter  < 

'  ' 


/   :    '< 

. 


V454  "  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.'     : 


/and ".finally  became  the  firm  and  undeviating  friends, 'and 
allies  of  the'  English,  and  the  most  bitter"  enemies.  of.*the 
French,  giving-  them  more  trouble  than  all  the  other  so.uthern 
tribes,  and  whom  they  regarded  as  the  most  dreaded  enemies 
among  all  the  Indians  in  the  Mississippi  valley.' 

Their  territory  lay  exactly  between  the  French  settle 
ments  in  Louisiana  and  Illinois^and  thus  made  all  intercourse 
extremely  dangerousl  The  high  point  upon  .which,Mem- 
phis, 'Tennessee,  is  located,  then  known  as  the  Chickasaw 

•  Bluffs,  was  a  favorite  spot  selected  by  the  shrewd  and  wily 
Chickasaw  warriors  from  which  to  make  their  attacks  upon 
the  French  boats  ascending  and  descending  the  river.  Bien- 
ville,  then  governor  and  commander  of  the  French  colonies 

I  in  the  Mississippi  valley,  adopted  every  possible  method  to 
retaliate  upon  that  brave  Nation,  and  too  often  succeeded  in 
arraigning  the  Choctaws,  his  allies,  against  the  Chickasaws 
—much  to  his  great  joy  and  satisfaction,  but  greatly  to  the 
injury  of  the  two  injudicious  and  misguided  tribes.  In  1719 
he  succeeded  in  influencing  the  Choctaws  to  declare  war 
against  them,  and  in  which  they,  by  the  assistance  of  Bien- 
ville  in  the  way  of  arms  and  ammunition,  defeated  the  Chicka 
saws  in  several  hard  contested  battles,  and  so  weakened 
them  that  they  for  awhile  ceased  their  attacks  upon  the 
French,  though  retaining,  to  the  fullest  extent,  their  hatred 
and  animosity  toward  them.  Bienville,  in  one  of  his  Betters 
regarding  this  fratricidal  war  he  had  so  effectually  brought 
about  between  those  two  kindred  and  warlike  Nations,  ex- 
ultingly  said:  "The  Choctaws,  whom  I  have  set  in  motion 
against  the  Chickasaws,  have  destroyed  entirely  three  vil 
lages  of  this  ferocious  Nation,  which  disturbed  our  com 
merce  on  the  river.  They  have  raised  about  four  hundre.d 
scalps,  and  made  one  hundred' prisoners.  Considering  this 
state  of  things,  it  is  a  most  important  advantage  which  we 

-•have  obtained,  the  more  so,  that  it  has  not  cost  one  cr  p   of 

;  French  blood,  "through 'the  care  I  took  of  opposing  tuosc 
barbarians  to  one  another.  Their  self-destruction  operated 

1  in  this  manner  is  the  sole  efficacious  means  of  insuring  tran- 
quility  to  the  colony."' 

0  It  now  seems  almost  incredible  that  such  ,1  crazed  infat 
uation  should-possess  the  Choctaws  a's  to  so  utterly  blind  them 
from  comprehending  the  dark  designs  of  Bienville  when  ar 
raigning  them  against  their  own  race,  and  especially  against 
their  kindred  Chickasaw  brethren. 

In  July  1720,  'the  English  traders  among  the  Cliick- 
asaws  .involved  'them  in  turn  in  a  war  with  'the 
French,  by  influencing  (hem  to  kill  Serignev,  a: 'French 
officer,  whom  Bienville  had  sent  amoncr  '  them  '.to  in- 


HISTORY  [OF,  THE   INDIANS.  4£5* 

duce    them     to  ..withdraw    from     the     Erglish     and    give; 
their     trade     to    the     French.     Thus     did     the     English, 
and    French  use   th'e    inconsiderate  and   misguided    Native 
Americans  to  advance  their  own  interests,  and  sacrifice  them 
upon  the  altar  of  their  avarice  in  settling-  their   disputes  and 
quarrels.     Unfortunate   race!     Too   credulous   that   petiidy 
could    not  .dwell  in  JLhe    hearts    of    such  professed  white 
friends! 

In  1731,  after  the  destruction  of  the  Natchez  as  a  Nation, 
a  few  of  whom  had  fled  to  the  brave  and  generous  Chicka- 
saws  for  protection,  Governor -Perier,  who  had  been  ap 
pointed  commander  of  the  colony  in  the  place  of  Bienville, 
then  deposed  and  recalled  to  France,  sent  orders  to  the  s 
Chickasaws  to  drive  the  Natchez  fugitives  out  of  their  terrl- 
tories,  if  they  did  not  wish  to  secure  his  animosity;  to  this 
insolent  cotnmand,  they  heroica  ly  replied:  ''We  neither 
respect  \Tou  as  a  friend,  nor  fea^  y  m  as  an  enemy.  We 
have  extended  the  hand  of  friencohip  and  safety  to  the 
unfortunate  Natchez,  and  how  to  protect  them."  This 
heroic  but  defiant  message  caused  the  conceited  little  French 
governor  to  foam  with  rage;  and  he  at  once  resolved  upon 
immediate  war  upon  "those  insolent  savages" — but  a  Na 
tion  of  heroes,  and,  as  an  introductory  to  his  designs, 
adopted  measures  without  delay  to  ajain  array  the  C*hoctaws 
in  hostilities  against  them,  but  evidcntl\vnot  without  just  ap 
prehensions  of  success;  for  ia  a  letter  written  "at  this  time 
to  his  government  by  Beauchamp,  the  commander  at  Mo 
bile,  he  said:  "The  Choctaws  are  not  friendly  .disposed  to 
wards  us,  which  is  greatly  to  be  regretted;  lor  should  this 
tribe  declare  against  us,  we  should  be  compelled  to  abandon 
the  colony.  The  Natchez  war  principally  endangered  the /• 
traders  on  the  Mississippi  river,  but  a  Ghickasiiw  \va.r 
would  cause  apprehension  throughout  the  whole  colony.- 
They  have  already  sent  -three  emissaries  to  seek  the  al-  ; 
liance'of  the  Illinois  Indians  against  us,  who,  however'  fell- 
into  our. hands,  and  Governor  Pcrier  intends  ordering  thcrn- 
burnt."  - 

-   Such    rough   measures  and   cruel  punishment    inflicted 
upon  the  Indians,  without  any  just   cau^e  whatsoever,    froiru 
that  day  to  this,  by  those  who  professed  and  taught  the  hu 
mane  and   pacific  principles  of  Christianity,   drove   them  to 
justly    abhor  the- white  race,    and  to  justly  retaliate   u^ 
them  sixty  fold,  if  justice  c>an  be  found   in   retaliation  a 


But  Perier  wasjlisappohited,in  carrying  out  his' warlike 
designs  .against  the  .Chkkis.aws*  and  thus  avenging  the 
imagined  insult  Coffered  to  the  governor  of  an  obscure  littleX- 

.?:&^-^^^3&K  '  k^^.-J 


... 


456  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

French  Colony  somewhere  in  the  wilds  of  America;  for  in 
1733,  Bienville 'after  an  absence  of  eight  years,  was  rein 
stated  as  governor  in  the  place  of  Perier.  It  was  at  this 
lime  the  king  of  France  fully  determined  tq  firmly  establish 
his  supreme  authority  throughout  the  entire  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  then  called  Louisiana.  But  that  little,  yet 
seemingly  indomitable,  Chickasaw  Nation,  stood  in  the  path, 
•as  did  the  Iroquois  years  before  at  the  Great  Lakes  of  the 
North;  and  though  the  French  openly  derided  the  Chicka 
saws,  yet  they  secretly -dreaded  them,  and  not  without  just 
•cause.  It  was  they,  who  had  influenced  and  encouraged  the 
Natchez  to  attack  and  destroy  the  French  at  Fort  Rosalie, 
November  28th,  1729,  which  however,  ultimately  resulted  in 
the  overthrow  and  annihilation  of  the  unfortunate  Natchez 
themselves.  It  was  they-  who  had  successfully  debarred  all 
communication  between  the  French  colonies  at  Kaskaskia  and 
New  Orleans,  by  sustaining  their  independence,  tnus  weak 
ening  the  French  upon  the  continent  by  a  division  of  their 
possessions;  while  the  English  traders  from  Virginia  and 
the  Carolinas— the  uncompromising  rivals  and  inveterate 
enemies  of  the  French  in  securing  a  foot-hold  by  which  to 
m establish  their  permanency  upon  the  territories  of  the 
southern  Indians — were  welcomed  by  the  Chickasaws  in  all 
their  towns  and  villages  and  throughout  their  entire  terri 
tory.  Therefore  to  speedily  secure  and  successfully  retain 
the  eastern  valley  of  the  Mississippi  for  the  French,  it  was 
necessary  to  first  overthrow  the  Chickasaws;  and,  either  by 
titter  annihilation  or  reducing  them  to  abject  subjection, 
destroy  the  power  of  that  defiant  and  seemingly  unconquer 
able  people.  ''They  must  be  wiped  out"  was  the  fiat  of  the 
French,  and  thus  were  they  made  an  object  for  extermina 
tion  by  as  formidable  combination  of  enemies  as  ever  sought 
the  destruction  of  a  single  Nation;  yet,  over  that  seemingly 
irresistible  combination,  as  will  be  fully  shown,  they  suc 
cessfully  and  gloriously  triumphed,  after  a  long  and  fearful 
struggle  of  eighteen  consecutive  years,  alone  and  unaided 
except  by  a  few  Natchez  refugees. 

After  Bienville  was  reinstated,  he  at  once  resolved  to 
put  into  execution  the  hostile  measures  of  Perier  against 
the  Chickasaws,  and  spent  the  whole  year  (1734)  in  futile  at 
tempts  to  induce  the  Choctaws  to  make  war  upon  that  still 
'resolute  and  defiant  people;  but  at  this  juncture  of  affairs,  a 
Choctaw  chief  by  the  name  of  Shulush  Humma  (shoes  red; 
appeared  upon  the  stage  amid  those  vacillating  scenes  of 
strife  and  carnage,  who  proved  to  be  as  shrewd  a  diploma 
tist  as  he  was  a  brave  and  consummate  warrior;  and  well  un 
derstood  how  to  shuffle  his  cards  to  the  best  advantage,  as 


/ 

HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS  457 

he  oscillated  between  the  assumed  humble  solicitations  of 
the  English  and  the  French  for  the  favor  of  his  coveted  al 
liance,  with  *a  skill  that  would  have  done  credit  to,  and  elic- 
fed  the  admiration  and  praise  of  the  greatest  statesmen  of 
civilized  Nations.  But  the  French  proved  unsuccessful;  for 
Bienville  induced  Shulush  Humma  to  undertake  a  war  expe 
dition  with  a  thousand  warriors  against  the'  Chickasa\vs, 
with  whom  Bienville  also  sent  Lesuer,  a  French  officer,  with 
thirty  soldiers.  But  the  ever  vigilant  Chickasaws  had 
learned  of  the  whole  proceeding's,  and  at  once  sent  a  dele 
gation  under  a  "white  flag- to  meet  them  and'buy  them  off 
with  English  goods  of  which  they  had  a  large  amount;  in 
this  they  happily  succeeded,  and  the  war  party  returned 
home,  without  attempting  any  further  demonstrations  of 
hostilities,  except  Shulush  Humma,  who,  for  no  other  ap 
parent  reason  than  that  of  shame  to  return  to  Bienville  with 
out  having  made  some  demonstration,  attacked  a  little 
Chickasaw  village  with  a  few  of  his  warriors  as  he  was  on 
his  way  home;  but  was  at  once  repulsed  with  a  loss  of  four 
of  the  attacking  party. 

Bienville  could  scarcely  restrain  his  feelings  of  bitter 
disappointment  at  the  unexpected  turn  of  affairs;  and 
though  greatly  disconcerted,  he  appeared  indifferent  so  far 
as  to  renew  the  former  treaties  of  alliance  with  the  Choc- 
taws,  as  he  well  knew  .the  salvation  of  the  French  colony  de 
pended  wholly  upon  the  friendship  and  the  aid  of  that  then 
powerful  tribe  of  skillful  and  fearless  warriors.  But  dur 
ing  the  interval  of  those  protracted  negotiations,  the  Choc- 
taws,  through  some  unknown  cause,  became  divided  into  two 
parties,  or  factions,  one  in  favor  of  the  English,  the  other 
of  the  French,  both  of  whom  had  been  .making,  for  many 
years,  the  most  indefatigable  efforts  to  secure  to  their  re 
spective  and  exclusive  interests  that,  then,  justly  dreaded 
Nation  of  Indian  warriors. 

But  the  ever  watchful  Chickasaws,  aided-  alone  by  the 
avenging  Natchez  refugees,  were  not  idle  during-  the  slow 
and  dubious  negotiations  of  the  French  with  the  Choctaws 
to  secure  and  retain  their  alliance,  but  boldly  attacked  the 
French  whenever  and  wherever  an  opportunity  presented 
itself;  and  especially  the  Natchez,  enraged  with  a  burning 
sense  of  their  long  series  of  wrongs,  outages  and  misfort 
unes  at  the  hands  of  the  French,  .sought  everywhere  to 
avenge  their  nation's  destruction,  and  deeply  felt: 
1  •  . 

"What  though  the  fields  be  lost 
All  is  not  lost— the  unconquerable  will 
And  study  of  revenge,  immortal  hate, 
And  courage  never  to  submit  or  yield, 
And  \vhat  is  else  not  to  be  overcome." 


HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS.  . '  ,--^". 

•    ,\:«^..  t  •>,'v-'t   "  •',..''•  •**'*}?*     I          "V  V'"--?  •'if~<*"-    ^:  •'•*•?'<  ••*•'•'•  *•-  ;  /v'1' ''       -'    •••  •••        '      '  :*;'    •*  '*•''•  y-*Y    v ''    "    "''• 

->•-. '-M  But  the  Choctaws  evidently  cherished  a  desire  for  pca"cc>r 
for  having  captured  three  Frenchmen,  an'officer  ifatned  '•Di^.^. 
Cader,  a   sergeant,  and   a   private   soldier,   they   requested^; 
DuCader  to  write  to  Bienville  and   inform  him  that  they  de->y 
sired  peace;  and'as  a   manifestation   of  their   sincerity,  they 
made  the   soldier   the   bearer   of  the"  letter  to  Bienville,   re-, 
questing    him   to     also    confirm   the   statements    set  _  forth 
therein.     The  soldier  arrived  safely   in   New  Orleans,   and 
delivered  the  letter  to  Bienville,  informing  him  also  of  the  de*". 
sires  of  the  ChiCkasaws.     But  Bienville   at  once   wrote   baclv < 
sto  DuCader,  that  he  would  not  make   peace  with  the   Chicka 
saws;  nor  would  he  sacrifice  the  interests  of  the  French  Na 
tion  to  the  safety  of  two  men;  therefore  he  and  the  sergeant 
must  make  the  best  of  their  misfortune   by  escaping,   other 
wise  suffer    the  consequences.    'DuCader   and-  the  sergeant,, 
under  the  disguise  of  securing  peace,   did  eventually  outwit 
the  Chickasaws   and   made  their  escape,  'returning  safely  to  v 
New  Orleans. 

It  was  now  plainly  evident  that  Bienville  had  determined 
not  to  accept  any  terms  of  peace  with  the.  Chickasaws,  but 
had  fully  resolved  to  prosecute  the  war  of  extermination 
which  he  had  inaugurated  .against  them,  until  that  brave 
little  Nation  of  patriotic  heroes  was  totally  and  forever  blot 
ted  out.  A  resolution  afterwards  adopted  by  the  English, 
the  successors  of  the  French,  against  all  Indians;  and  when 
they,  in  turn,  handed  over  the  sceptre  of  power  on  the  Nofotli 
American  continent,  Canada  excepted,  to  the  United  States* 
they  also  bequeathed  to  them,  as  a  sacred  legacy,  the  .in 
junction,  "Extermination  of  the  North  American  Indians"; 
and  how  faithfully  thev  have  persisted  to  the  accomplish 
ment  of  that  desired  objejt,  with  unwavering  diligence  and 
unfaltering  resolution,  unsurpassed  in  the  annals  of  the 
world,  the  feeble  little  remnant  of  that  once  free  and  happy 
people  still  left  sufficiently  testify. 

..<•  Bienville  immediately  wrote  to  the  French  Minister  of 
Marine  earnestly  asking  for  four  additional .  companies  of 
,'troops  to  be  added  to  his  forces,  then  amounting  to  .only  two 
'.hundred  men;  and  with  which  he  did  not  feel  justified  in 
risking  the  "glory  and. honor  of  the  French  arms"  in  a  battle 
with  the  Chick;isaw*^*'who  could  call  into  the  field  four 
hundred  and  fiftv  warriors."  His  appeal  was  acknowledged 
by  the  arrival,  soon  after,  of  mori'  troops;  and  Bienville, 
without  further  delav.  commenced  his  .preparations  for  an 
exterminating1  expedition  against  the  still  resolute  and  de 
fiant .  Chickasaws.  with  an  avowed  determination  to1  wipe 
them  out  d's  a  Nation  and  take  possession  .of  their  territory. 
Elated  with  the  flattering  prospect  of  the  complete  success 


£££>£:    .  '•;  '  ,'  :/:::  , '-*;{•   •••:  \      ,  '  -^  •  !  ::>-'\ /  :- 

HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  459 

of  his  plans,  he  organized  two  armies,  one  in  Mobile,  then  in '&£ 
the  Choctaw   Nation;  the  other   in  Illinois;  the   former  to  be^r 
commanded    by   himself,  the  bitter   by   D'Artaguette,   then 
governor  of  the  Illinois  district.     The  two-  were   t6  forma, 
junction  by  the  31st  of  March,  1736,  in   the  Chickasaw  Terr,-:V 
ritory   at  the   village,   where,  196   years  before,  DcSoto  had-"" 
wintered,  and  had  received   a  just  rebuke   to  his  follv   in  re-' 
garding    that    people  to  be    a    race  of  "savsge-  cowards.',' 
Bienville  had   instructed    D'Artaguette  to  meet  him  with .a'll^S 
the  French  troops  he  could  possibly  collect,  and  also  with  as  •; 
many  warriors  of  his  Indian  allies  as  he  could  get.     This  in-^ 
vasion,  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  exterminating  the  Chick- 
asaws  was   planned  and    undertaken    by  the  direction  of  theff 
French  government,  "whose  solicitude  was  anxiously  turned -; 
to  it  with  high  anticipations  of  a  successful  result." 

But,  as   precursive   of  failure,  Bienville   \vas   unable   to 
leave  Mobile  with  his  army  until  th£  4th  of  April;  and  slowly;*. / 
ascending*  the  devious  windings  of  the  Tombigbee  river,  the-1  | 
troops  reached  Fort  Tombigbee  on  the  23i;d,  which  had  been;' 
'built   250   miles  above   Mobile   on    the  western  bank  of  the, 
river  by  a  party  sent'  forward  for   that   purpose.'*"1  'At   thisi; 
fort  Bienville  secured  the  aid  of  600  Choctaw  warriors  (his 
old  friends  and  allies)  by    presents  and    promised   rewards*-^ 
for   each   and   every   Chickasaw   s:alp,  which   increased  his 
force  to' twelve  hundred  men.     Thus  prepared  to  wreak  hisj| 
long   cherished  vengeance,  Bienville  again  began  his  tedious 
way  up  the  windings  of  that  crooked  stream  to  a  point  then%S£. 
called    "Tunmuntucche  (Where  the  bow  was  strung)" — cor-"%< 
ruption  of  the  Choctaw  word  Tuniuhushi,  signifying  ^village  •'; 
— and   afterwards   known   as   Cotton   Gin  Port,   twenty-one-* 
miles  southeast  of  the  famous  groat   village    of  the   Chicka^!^!: 
saws  then  called  Chikasahha,  but  afterwards  the  "Chickasaw 
Old    Fields,"   which  he   reached   on   the   22nd  of  May,  and^fer- 


of  May,  with    sanguine  expectations  of  soon  "honoring  t 
.French  arms"  by  successfully  defeating  and    exterminating1^ 
that  little   Nation    of    heroic   patriots,.  Bienville,    leaving"  a- A 
strong  guard  to  protect  his  boats;  took  up  his -line  of  march -^ 
toward    Chikasahha,  and  arrived  within  three  miles  pf  it  the;i- 
same  day,  and  there  encamped  for  the-  night,    during-  Avhicli  $ 
the  Choctaw  scouts  returned,  but  without  having  Ascertained 
anything- concerning*  D'Artaguette.     Bienville   at  once ^des~% 
pairing  of  all  hopes  of  D'Artaguette's  co-operation,  resolved-    , 
to  risk  an^attick  alone,  being  numerically  as  three  to^  one  iof -.'' 
,the'  Chickasaws;    therefore,  before  daylight  on  the  morning 


':  r.\\ 


•4-V  .  •  -v'x  V  '  g£fe 

.£*"  '•  *\^J3$ 

460        v  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  ,   ),'. 

I 

of  the  26th,  he  stealthily  marched  upon  what  he  expected  to 
'  ;find  a  village  of  unsuspecting  and  sleeping  inhabitants;  a 
plan  so  judiciously  adopted  and  successfully  executed  by  the 
modern  Sherman  and  Sheridan  style  of  "military  heroes" 
whose  military  fame  rested  alone  upon  their  skill  in  pounc 
ing  upon  sleeping  Indians  and  butchering  them  regardless 

•  of  age  or  sex. 

But  Bienville's  disappointment  in  not  finding  D'Ar- 
taguette  in  waiting  was  only  surpassed  by  finding  the  ever 

.  vigilant  Chickasaw  warriors,  who  had  kept  themselves   well 

^•posted  in  all  his. imagined  secret  movements,  calmly  waiting 

for  him,  fully   prepared   and   ready   to   extend    to   him    the 

/•hearty,  lively  and  entertaining  reception  due  him  as  the  rep 
resentative  of  the  "honor  of  the  French  arms"  (upon  whose 

•escutcheon  they  read  "Extermination,  root   and   branch,    to 

'all  Chickasaws")  from  behind  the  strong  fortifications  with 
which  they  had  encircled  their  ancient  and  honored  city  over 
which  the  British  flag  also  waved  in  flaunting1  defiance,  w  hile 
here  and  there  within  .the  fortifications  were  seen  "a  few 
prodigal  sons  of  Old  England,  as  they,  like  spectres,  flitted 
with  hurried  steps  from  side  to  side. 

The  Chickasaws  had  protected  their  favorite  city  with 
five  forts,  each  well  provided  with  loop-holos;  also  a  larger 
•one  constructed  of  logs  placed  upright  and  firmly  in  the 
ground  in  near  and  convenient  proximity  to  the  five  smaller 
parts,  and  in  addition  to  this  the}*  had  strongly  fortified 
houses.  During  the  first  day  Bienville  made  two  unsuccess 
ful  efforts  to  storm  this  Chickasaw  log  and  dirt  citadel,  but 
was  quicklv  driven  back,  with  great  loss;  for  iipon  both 
charges  the  innumerable  loop-holes  that  studded  the  forti 
fications  seemed  a  zone  of  lire  and  a  hail-storm  of  leaden 
bullets  swept  the  ranks  of  the  besiegers.  For  three  succes 
sive  days  did  the  French  attempt  to  scale  the  log  and  "dirt 
walls  of  that  little  fort,  but  to  meet  with  defeat,  for  the 
Chickasaw  warriors  met  them  at  every  point  and  heroically 
disputed  every  inch  of  ground.  Thus  for  three  days  jn 
seemingly  "doubtful  scale  the  battle  hung";  each  charge 
meeting  with  repulse,  and  forcing  the  assailants  back  be- 
j-ond  the  reach  of  the  rifles  whose  messengers  of  death 
were  directed  by  the  keen  eyes  and  steady  nerves  of  as  brave 
and  resolute  patriots  as  ever  defended  home  and  native 
land  from  the  usurping  footsteps  of  tyranny  and  oppression. 
It  is  stated,  the  French  soldiers  had  provided  them  selves 
with  wooden  breast-plates  as  a  protection  from  the  Chicka 
saw  arrows,  which  it  was  believed  would  be  the  only  wea  pon 
with  which  they  would  have  to  contend.  No  wonder  th  eir 

astonishment   was   great,   when,    instead   of  a  shower  of    ar- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  461 

rows  to  rebound  from  their  breast-plates,  a  hailstorm  of 
leaden  bullets  greeted  them,  against  which  their  wooden 
shields  were  as  gossamer. 

But  the  six  hundred  Choctaw  warriors  regarding  the 
French  as  nothing-  short  of  idiots  to  thus  charge  upon  and 
shoot  at  logs  instead  of  a  visible  enemy,  remained  at  a  com 
mendable  distance  during  the  three  days  fight,  calmly  con 
templating  and  discussing  the  apparent  folly  and 
seeming  indiscretion  'of  the  French;  and  easily  discerning 
the  inevitable  result  of  such  a  mode  of  proceeding,  they  at 
once  bade  the  French  and  Chickasaws  an  informal  adieu, 
and  sought  their  distant  homes  by  devious  ways  and  means 
known  to  themselves  alone.  The  morning  of  the  29th  of 
May,  1735,  found  Bienville  badly  whipped  and  in  inglorious 
retreat  with  his  army  for  his  boats,  vigorously  pursued  by 
the  victorious  and  exulting  Chickasaws,  who  followed  closely 
upon  the  heels  of  the  retreating  and  disorganized  soldiers, 
pouring  into  their  unpadded  backs  volley  after  volley  of 
leaden  messengers  of  death;  and  thus  terminated  Bienville's 
exterminating  invasion  of  the  Chickasaw  country,  a  disas 
trous  defeat  with  the  loss  of  many  men  killed,  wounded  and 
captured. 

On  May  30th,  Bienville,  throwing  his  few  pieces  of  light 
artillery  into  the  river,  hastily  embarked  with  his  army,  and 
greatly  humilated  and  despondent  in  regard  to  the  "honor 
of  the  French  arms"  entrusted  to  his  care,  paddled  down  the 
river,  leaving  the  brave  Chickasaws  in  quiet  possession  of 
their  homes  and  country,  and,  on  the  last  of  June,  landed  his 
crest-fallen  troops  on  the  banks  of  the  Bayou  St.  John. 
Thus  was  Bienville  justly  chastised,  under  a  just  provi 
dence,  by  the  indomitable  Chickasaws  with  a  force  less  than 
one-half  of  their  assailants  fully  confident  of  success  yet  de 
testable  in  the  avowed  use  of  their  anticipated  victory. 
Truly,  if  ever  gallant  defense  of  country  and  homes  merited 
the  admiration  and  applause  of  mankind,  those  ancient 
Chickasaws  did. 

The  cannon  thrown  into  the  river  were  found  in  its  bed 
near  Cotton  Gin  Port,  during  a  low  stage  of  the  water,  by 
the  early  settlers  of  the  state  of  Mississippi,  and  were  be 
lieved  by  the  uninformed  and  credulous,  to  have  belonged  to 
DeSoto,  and  thus  marked  the  spot  where  he  crossed  the 
Tombigbee  river  in  his  memorable  raid  through  the  Chicka 
saw  territories^  in  1740  and  1741. 

But  what  of  D'Artaguette  and  his  invading  army  from 
the  Illinois  district?  Alas!  Bienville  learned  the  sad  intelli 
gence  after  he  returned  to  New  Orleans  that  D'Artaguette 
had  arrived  in  the  Chickasaw  territory  according  to  the  time 


,.462  ^/HISTORY^  OF  •'-'THE,' INDIANS. 

Designated,  hence  many  days  in  the  advance  of  him,  and 
-when  *he  had  advanced  close  . to  jChikasabha  he  also,  as 
Bienville  afterwards  did,  sent  out  Indian  scouts  to  obtain  tid- 

•  irigs  of  him rwh7f\soon  returned  without  gaining  any   infor- 
-•- Nation.     But   the   next   day  a  courier  brought  a  letter  to  D' 

Artaguette  informing  him  that  JBienville  would  *  not .  be   able 
•to  reach  Chikasahha  before  the  first  of  May,  and  also  instruc 
ted  him  to  govern   his   movements    in   accordance   thereto, 
^  upon  which  D'Artaguette  immediately  ca'tled  a  council  of  his 

-  -officers  and  Indian  chiefs  who  at  once,  and  -unanimously,  ad- 
Wised   an  immediate   attack;  to  which  D'Artaguette  yielded, 
:and   forthwith   marched,  on   with-his   army  numbering  130 
.'French  soldiers  and  3t>0  Indian  warriors,  and   made   a   bold 
stand  fierce  attack   upon   Chick^sahha.     But  equal  was  their 
•'astonishment,   with   that  of  Bienville   afterwards,  when  500 

Chickasaw  warriors  and  30  Englishmen  suddenly  made  a 
furious  charge  upon  them  from  behind  a  hill,  near  the  mouth 
of  a  creek  called  Nita  Bok  (Bear  Creek)  and  with  such  fear 
less  impetuosity  accompanied  with  the  terrible  Chickasaw 
hoyopatassuha  (war-wjoop)  that  the  Indian  allies  lied  pro 
miscuously  in  wild  dismay,  though  the  French  soldiers 
stood  their  ground  and  bravely  fought  until  forty-five  of  their 
number  were  killed,  then  began  a  slow  and  orderly  retreat, 
>vhich  was  soon  discovered  by  the  Chickasavvs  who,  with  an 
exultant  war-whoop,  made  a  fearless  charge  upon  them 
which  at  once  destroyed  all  order  among  the  soldiers  and 
caused  them  to  fly  panic-stricken,  terminating  in  a  complete 
and  disastrous  rout.  Shouting  their  wild  and  exulting  war- 
cry,  the  victorious  Chickasavvs  pursued  the  frantic  fugitives, 
killing  fifty  and  wounding1  many  others.  At  this  juncture 
the  hand  of  Providence  seeme-1  to  be  stretched  out  in  behalf 
.of  the  French  fugitives;  for  a  furious  storm  suddenly  arose 
and  ra'jed  with  su:li  terrific  fury  that  further  pursuit  was 
stopped,  or  scarcely  one  would  have  survived  to  narrate  the 
story  ofXthcir  utfcer  destruction.  The  victory  of  the  Chica- 
asaws  was  complete,  and  the  booty  secured  in  the  camp  out 
fit  of  the 'French  wis  highly  prized, ^especially  the  guns  and 
ammunition  v/bic".i  amounted  to  450  pounds  of  powder  and 
12,000  bullets,  whic'.i  they  soon  after  brought  into  re 
quisition  in  clef eati n-r  Bienville.  Also  a  large  amount  of  pro- 
visionsjwore  taken  and  many  horses  captured.  But  D'Arta 
guette  was  not  as  fortunate  as  Bienville.  lie  and  Vincennes, 
the  second  in  command,  and  a  Jesuit  priest  were  taken  pris 
oners  and  all  were'  burned  at  the  stake  according  to  the 
North  American  Indian  mode  of  revenge,  and  also  in  strict 
"accordance  with  the  example  set  before  them  in  1731  by 
Governor  Perier,  who  had  burned  the  three  Chickasaw  war- 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  463 

riors  sent  by  their  Nation  to  seek  the  alliance  of  the  Illinois 
Indians,  but  unfortunately  fell  into  his  hands  while  on  their 
mission.  If  the  seeking-  of  aid  from  others  merited  death 
at  the  stake,  how  much  more  does  seeking-  the  destruction 
of  an  entire  Nation  merit  a  similar  fate.  The  Chickasaws, 
but  executed  the  old  primitive  law — ''An  eye  for  an  eye  and 
a  tooth  for  a  tooth" — in  perfect  harmony  with  their  white 
foes  when  killing  Indians. 

A  youth  sixteen  years  of  age,  it  is  stated,  led  the  sur 
vivors  of  that  unfortunate  battle  safely  back  from  their  dis 
astrous  defeat  to  their  homes  in  Illinois;  and  thus  terminated 
the  expedition  of  D'Artaguette  to  assist  Bienville  in  the  utter 
extermination  of  the  Chickasaws.  Many  .prisoners  were 
also  taken  by  the  Chickasaws  in  the  defeat  and  retreat  of 
Bienville  to  his  boats,  all  of  whom  perished  at  the  stake.  Dur 
ing-  the  fearful  trag-edy,  a  Jesuit  Priest,  also  a  prisoner,  pro 
posed  to  his  fellow  prisoners,  as  they  waited  their  inevitable 
•  doom,  that  they  all  march  tog-ether  into  the  fire  and  thus  ex 
hibit  to  the  Choctaws  how  Frenchmen  could  die;  to  which  all 
consented,  provided  he  would  lead  the  way.  .  Then  com 
mending-  their  souls  to  God,  they  together  chanted  the 
miserere  as  the  sig-nal  for  starting",  and  all  calmly  and  reso 
lutely  marched  up  and  threw  themselves  into  the  flames  and 
perished  tog-ether.  The  Chickasaws  were  so  astonished  at 
this  unexpected  movement  that  they  looked  on  the  scene  in 
silence  and  made  no  opposition  whatever;  and  such  was  the 
finale  of  Bienville 's  hopes  to  destroy  the  peace-seeking 
Chickasaws  root  and  branch.  Had  he  been  taken  prisoner 
by  the  Chickasaws  and  suffered  death  at  the  stake,  instead 
of  his  soldiers,  even  mercy  might  have  exclaimed:  "He 
merited  his  fate."  But  such  personages,  who  will  sacrifice 
the  lives  of  thousands  of  their  own  people  to  gratify  a  re 
vengeful  spirit  in  seeking  the  deestruction  of  the  objects  of 
their  hate,  are  always  endowed  with  that  character  of 
bravery  and  great  presence  of  mind  that  enables  them  to 
bring-  "self"  salely  out  of  all  danger,  no  matter  how  great, 
sufficient  evidence  of  the  advantage  possessed  over  the  com 
mon  soldier  in  having-  a  military  education  which  so  plainly 
inculcates  the  art  of  keeping1  before  in  all  retreats  from  a 
pursuing-  enemy. 

Years  afterward,  the  old  Chickasaws  oft  rehearsed  to 
the  missionaries  the  traditional  account  of  their  two  great 
victories  over  the  French,  and  proudly  displayed  to  their 
view,  as  trophies,  many  relics  of  the  two  "battles  which  com 
memorated  the  defeat  of  D'Artaguette  and  Bienville. 

There  is  a  little  incident  connected  with  the  battle  in 
which  D'Artaguette  and- his  army  were  destroyed  that  mer- 


\ 

464  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

* 

its  a  place  in  memory,  while  bordering-  on  the  romantic,  yet 
tinged  with  melancholy  and  sadness.  In  the  pursuit  of  the 
fugitives  of  D'Artaguette's  routed  and  fleeing-  army  a  young 
Chickasaw  warrior  named  Hlikukhlo  hosh  (the  humming 
bird)  captured  a  little  French  girl  5  years  of  age,  named 
Nancy.  The  chivalric  young  warrior  spared  the  child,  and, 
captivated  by  her  wonderful  beauty,  there  and  then  resolved, 
in  the  coming  future,  to  make  the  pale-face  maiden  his  wife. 
In  accordance  therewith  The  Humming  Bird  watched  over 
his  little  captive  protege  and  prospective  wife  from  innocent 
childhood  to  beautiful  womanhood  with  zealous  care,  having 
her  trained  and  educated  in  strict  accordance  with  the  most 
approved  Chickasaw  style  of  etiquette,  while  he'ever  mani 
fested  to  her  a  proper  reserve,  attended  with  the  greatest 
respect  and  devotion  as  she  grew  to  womanhood.  In  the 
course  of  years  his  unwearied  and  undeviating  devotion  was 
reciprocated  by  French  Nancy,  as  she  was  called,  which  be^ 
ing  discovered  by  her  attentive  guardian  and  faithful  lover, 
he  at  a  proper  time  solicited  the  hand  of  his  fair  protege  in 
marriage,  and  was  accepted.  Indue  time  the  nuptial  cere 
mony  was  performed  in  accordance  to  Chickasaw  custom 
and  usages,  while  the  flowers  and  birds  of  the  forest  con 
tributed  their  incense  and  music,  and  the  Chickasaw  maid- 1 
ens  envied  the  bliss  and  good  fortune  of  the  strange  but 
beautiful  flower  that  had  budded  and  bloomed  as  an  exotic 
among  them.  French  Nancy  raised  a  family  and  lived  to  a 
great  age.  Rev.  T.  C.  Stuart,  the  missionary,  stated  he  saw 
her  and  made  her  acquaintance  in  1821,  at  which  time  she 
was  91  ye^ars  of  age,  according  to  the  year  she  was  captured 
(1735)  by  Hlikukhlo,  at  the  age  she  was  said  to  be  at  the  time 
of  her  captivity.  She  remembered  some  of  the  circum 
stances  of  her  capture  and  seemed  to  delight  in  narrating 
them.  She  still  retained  her  European  features,  said  Rev. 
T.  C.  Stuart,  but  in  every  other  respect  was  Chickasaw. 
She  was  respected,  honored  and  loved  by  the  entire  Chicka 
saw  Nation,  and  regarded  as  a  living  monument  of  their 
victory  over  their  inveterate  enemies,  the  French.  She  died 
and  was  buried  at  Monroe,  the  old  missionary  station. 

Through  the  instigation  of  The  French  the  war  was 
continued  between  the  seemingly  infatuated  and  blinded 
Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  during  the  entire  year  1737,  yet 
without  any  perceptibly  advantageous  results  to  either.  A 
long  and  bitter  experience  seemed  wholly  inadequate  to  teach 
them  the  selfish  designs  of  the  French.  No  one  can  believe 
the  friendship  of  the  French  for  the  Choctaws  was  unas- 
sumed.  They  were  unmerciful  tyrants  by  whatever  stand 
ard  one  may  choose  to  measure  them,  and  without  a  redeem- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  465 

ing-  quality  as  far  as  their  dealings  with  the  North  American 
Indians  go  to  prove;  and  their  desire  for  the  good  of  that 
race  of  people  utterly  out  of  the  question;  and  with  equal 
truth  may  the  same  be  affirmed  of  the  entire  White  Race, 
whose  universal  opinion  was  just  wise  enough  to  measure  the 
Red  Race  by  the  standard  found  in  their  own  souls;  there 
fore  the  North  American  Indians  were  called  savages,  and 
have  been  so  denominated  to  this  day,  and  are  now  made  the 
foundation  of  innumerable  and  ridiculous  myths.  But  Bien- 
ville,  still  chafing  like  an  enraged  bear,  under  the  mortifica 
tion  of  his  defeat  by  the  brave  and  patriotic  Chickasaws, 
which  but  increased  his  desire  and  determination  to  destroy 
them  and  blot  out  their  very  name,  devoted  the  year  1739  to 
preparation  for  another  exterminating  invasion  into  the 
country  of  that  seemingly  indomitable  people;  and,  as  an  in 
troductory  step  to  the  more  successful  accomplishment  and 
full  realization  of  his  designs,  he  sent. an  embassy,  in  March 
1739,  to  the  Choctaws  to  conciliate  their  good  will  a'nd  obtain 
their  aid.  And  strange  as  it  may  appear,  Bienville  secured 
thirty-two  villages  out  of  forty-two  to  the  interests  of  the 
French,  while,  through  the  instigation  and  influence  of  Shu- 
lush  Humma,  the  remaining  ten  decided*  in  favor  of  the 
English. 

And  now,  for  the  first  time  in  their  history,  the  Choc- 
taws  were  divided  into  two  parties.  Shulush  Humma,  elated 
with  his  success  in  securing  to  himself  even  ten  villages, 
made  a  clandestine  visit,  'with  about  a  hundred  of  his  war 
riors,  to  the  English  settlements  in  now  the  State  of  Georgia, 
but  for  what  purpose,  it  was  never  satisfactorily  ascertained. 
By  some,  it  was  thought,  he  desired  to  adopt  measures  of 
mutual  action  between  the  English  and  his  party  against  the 
French;  by  others,  that  he  was  influenced  alone  by  the  hope 
of  reward.  Be  it  as  it  may,  he,  through  the  influence  of 
some  unknown  cause,  suddenly  changed  his  course  of  action, 
and,  returning  home,  at  once  declared  himself  in  favor  of  the 
French;  soon  after  which  he,  to  establish  his  sincerity, 
burned  three  English  warehouses  and  then  started,  without 
delay,  with  a  band  of  his  warriors,  on  a  war  expedition, 
against  the  Chickasaws.  • 

Bienville  was  greatly  pleased  at  the  turn  Shulush 
Humma  had  taken,  as  with  the  assistance  of  the  entire  Choc- 
taw  Nation,  his  long  cherished  hopes  of  exterminating  the 
Chickasaws  would  now  be  fully  realized.  But  to  make  his 
second  attack  upon  them  a  sure  and  complete  success  with 
out  the  possibility  of  failure,  he  adopted  every  measure  pos 
sible  that  might  strengthen  his  plans;  therefore  called  into 
requisition  all  the  available  troops  he  could  command  not 


466  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

only  in  Illinois  and  Canada,  but  even  obtained  troops  from 
France;  and  still  to  be  more  sure,  he  chose  a  different  route 
from  that  by  the  way  of  the  Tombigbee  river,  to  again  in 
vade  the  country  of  that  little  Nation  of  heroes  for  the 
avowed  purpose  of  their  extermination.  He  now  determined 
to  ascend  the  Mississippi  river  to  a  point  on  its  banks,  to  be 
previously  ascertained,  nearest  to  Chikasahha,  from  which  he 
had  been  so  uncivilly  and  expeditiously  induced  to  leave  a 
few  years  before;  this  point  was  found  to  be  near  the 
mouth  of  a  little  creek  called  Margot,  a  few  miles  below  the 
present  city  of  Memphis,  Tennessee,  and  about  120  miles 
from  Chikasahha,  the  object  of  his  unrelenting-  and  diaboli 
cal  vengeance,  but  whose  sun  of  ancient  glory  still  lingered 
on  the  western  horizon,  as  if  loth  to  set,  and  still  displayed 
an  effulgence  of  patriotism,  which  few  nations  could  sur 
pass,  not  even  boasting  BVance,  of  which  Bienville  was  a 
subject. 

The  forces  to  be  .drawn  from  Illinois  and  Canada  were 
to  assemble  on  a  river  then  St.  John  in  now  the  state  of 
Arkansas,  with  their  headquarters  on  the  bluff  then  called 
Chickasaw  Bluff,  on  which  is  now  located  Memphis,  Ten 
nessee.  By  the  last  of  June,  1739,  1200  French  soldiers  and 
2400  Indian  warriors  (allies  of  the  French)  had  congregated, 
and  the  doom  of  the  Chickasaw  patriots  seemed  inevitably 
sealed.  But  the  hand  of  Providence  was  again  stretched 
out  for  their  protection;  for  inexplicable  causes  delayed  the 
,French.  army  at  the  place  of  rendezvous  during  the  whole 
summer;  in  the  intervening  time,  many  soldiers,  especially 
those  from  France  and  Canada,  fell  victims  to  the  diseases 
peculiar  to  that  malarial  climate;  in  addition  to  this,  their 
supply  of  provisions  failed,  as  fully  half,  which  had  been 
forwarded  from  Fort  St.  Francis  failed  to  reach  their  place 
of  destination;  and  also  250  horses  and  50  beeves,  sent 
from  Natchitoches,  were  lost  enroute;  nor  was  the  march 
ing  route  to  Chikasahha  fully  established  until  nearly  two 
months  of  exploration  had  been  spent,  by  which  tinie  (Jan 
uary  1740)  their  provisions  were  exhausted. 

But  Bienville,  still  smarting  and  fretting  under  the- rec 
ollection  of  his  severe  chastisement,  and  burning  with  a 
spirit  of  revenge  that  the  utter  extermination  of  the  Chicka- 
saws  could  only  quench,  obstinately  refused  to  accede  to  any 
measures  that  tended  to  giving  up  the  expedition,  until 
coerced  by  a  council  of  war  convened  in  February,  which 
declared  a-  retreat  absolutely  indispensable.  Immediately 
the  main  body  of  the  army  began  its  retreat  down  the  Mis- 
si^sippi  river,  March,  1740.  But  Celeron,  the  commander  of 
the  Canadian  troops,  with  100  Canadian  soldiers  and  500  In- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  467 

<lian  warriors,  determined,  upon  his  own  responsibility,  to 
•go  on  to  Chikasahha,  and  at  once  took  up  his  line  of  march 
accordingly.  But  the  Chickasaws,  ever  on  the  alert,  and 
fully  aware  of  the  great  army  organized  to  invade  their 
country  with  the  avowed  purpose  to  exterminate  their  Nation 
without  regard  to  age  or  sex,  and  also  of  the  approach  of 
Celeron,  whom  they  believed  (fortunately  for  him)  was  but 
the  van  of  the  French  army,  sent  an  embassy  to  him  to  treat 
on  measures  of  peace.  Celeron  at  once  accepted  their  prop 
osition,  and  told  them  to  report  to  Bienville,  whom  they 
soon  overtook  on  his  retreat  to  New  Orleans.  The  Chicka 
saws  evidently  did  not  comprehend  the  true  state  of  affairs 
at  that  time,  for,  had  they  truly  known  the  demoralized  state 
-of  the  French,  the  peace  embassy,  instead  of  following  after 
Bienville,  would  have  hastened  home,  and  at  once  prepared 
to  receive  Celeron,  whom  they  could  easily  have  defeated,  as 
they  had  D'Artaguette  and  afterwards  Bienville. 

But  Bienville  gladly  (yet  unmanifested)  accepted  the  pro 
positions  of  peace,  yet  stated  to  them  that  the  terms  agreed 
upon  would  not  include  the  Chocktaws  in  the  stipulations, 
and,  therefore,  they  would  still  continue  the  war  against 
them,  and  he  would  also  continue  to  pay  to  the  Choctaws  the 
promised  reward  for  every  Chickasaw 'scalp  taken  by  them 
until  they  should  satisfactorily  remunerate  to  them  for  the 
many  injuries  (creatures  of  Bienville's  own  begetting)  .they 
had  done  them.  Celeron  at  once  returned  to  Fort  Assump 
tion,  on  the  bluffs,  which  he  destroyed  and  then  started 
with  his  soldiers  for  their  distant  Canadian  homes;  while 
Bienville,  with  his  troops,  sought  his  southern  post  at  New 
Orleans,  there  to  hide  his  deep  mortification  under  the  cloak 
of  false  pretences.  And  thus  his  second  exterminating  cam 
paign  against  the  Chickasaw  patriots  also  evaporated  in 
smoke — the  mountain  labored — and  brought  forth  a  diminu 
tive  mouse.  And  that  brave  little  handful  of  heroes  whom 
Bienville  once  declared  "so  formidable  as  to  threaten  the  ex 
istence  of  the  colony,"  and  afterwards  represented  them  "as 
being  the  source  of  not  much  uneasiness  to  the  colony," 
nobly  held  their  own,  and  still  maintained  their  independence 
in  spite  of  Bienville  and  his  efforts  to  execute  his  threats. 

Peace  was  then  proclaimed  to  have  been  established  be 
tween  the  Chickasaw  Nation  and  the  Kingdom  of  France; 
but  it  was  a  peace  that  left  the  Chickasaws  the  undaunted 
and  unconquered  lords  of  their  own  country,  while  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  France,  over  the  vast  expanse  of  Indian  ter 
ritory  which  she  claimed  it  left  but  an  empty  name. 

To  the  honor  and  praise  of  the  Chickasaw  people,  it  may 
truly  be  said:  They  fought  single  handed  and  alone  for 


468  HISTORY"' OF  THE  INDIANS.     • 

eighteen  years  against  the  French  and  their  numerous  In 
dian  allies,  kept  them  out  of  their  country  and  maintained 
their  independence  to  the  last.  Truly,  history  no  where 
upon  its  pages,  ancient  or  -modern,  records  a  nobler  or 
braver  little  nation  of  people  than  the  Chickasaws  of  North 
America.  They  defeated  D'Artaguette  and  Bienville  in  1736; 
Marquis  of  Vaudreuil  in  1752,  and  Regio  in  1753;  and  in  1771 
sustained  their  authority  over  an  extensive  country,  em 
bracing  the  territory  from  middle  Mississippi  north  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio  river,  and  from  the  Tombigbee  river  west 
to  the  Yazoo. 

.The  French  regarded  the  treaty  of  peace  which  Bien 
ville  had  made  with  the  Chickasaws  as  of  no  weight  or  im 
portance,  and  totally  failing  of  the  desired  intent,  since  the 
Choctaws  still  maintained  that  they  had  not  as  yet  (1741) 
received  any  compensation  for  the  injuries  (more  imaginary 
than  real)  inflicted  upon  them  by  the  Chickasaws, -which  be- 
-ing  supported  by  the  French  as  a  justifiable  pretext  to  keep 
up  hostilities  between  the .  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  so 
much  desired  by  Bienville,  who  had  not  forgotten  the  chas 
tisement  inflicted  upon  him  by  the  latter  for  his  temerity  in 
entering  their  country  uninvited;  the  Choctaws  still  impera 
tively  demanded  the  coveted  remuneration.  Consequently 
these  two  nations  were  still  at  war,  greatly  to  the  joy  and 
satisfaction  of  the  wily  French,  who,  with  all  their  boasted 
friendship  for  the  Choctaws,  secretly  rejoiced  equally  at  the 
weakening  and  destruction  of  the  one  or  the  other  of  those 
two  war-like  nations,  as  the  sequel  will  prove,  while  an  in 
comprehensible  infatuation  seemed  to  effectually  close  their 
eyes,  especially  the  Choctaws,  against  seeing  the  dark  de 
signs  and  artful  hypocrisy  of  the  French  in  regard  to  both 
nations. 

But  in  their  fratricidal  conflicts  the  Choctaws,  being 
fully  supplied  with  guns  and  ammunition  by  the  French, 
often  got  the  advantage  of  the  Chickasaws;  and  who,  at  var- 
ous  times,  seemed  to  be  threatened  with  the  fate  of  the 
Natchez — utter  destruction  and  extinction — as  their  numbers 
were  fast  being  thinned  and  their  strength  ebbing  away. 
At  this  crisis  of  affairs  the  different  little  bands  of  Natchez, 
who  had  found  a  temporary  asylum  among  the  noble  and 
generous  Chickasaws  'from  their  inveterate  enemies,  the 
French,  and  who  had  bravely  assisted  them  in  defense  of 
their  country,  now,  having  learned  that  their  presence  but 
entailed  additional  trouble  upon  their  generous  and  noble 
protectors,  withdrew  from  them  and  sought  safety  among 
the  Cherokees,  who  openly  extended  to  them  the  hand  of 
pitying  charity. 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  469 

Yet  thousands  of  the  White  Race  still  regard  the  Red 
Race  as-being  wholly  void  of  humanity,  generosity;  in  short, 
of  every  principle  that  distinguishes  man  from  the  brute. 
How  great  the  opportunity  for  compassion  to  exercise  its 
virtues  upon  such  incomprehensible  ignorance,  which,  with 
all  the  visible  light  that  proclaims  the  absurdity  of  such  er 
roneous  views  still  clings  to  them  with  the  tenacity  of  death, 
yet  claiming  to  be  civilized  and  informed;  upon-the  current 
events  of  this  progressive  age!  What  though  dame  Fortune 
has  not  been  so  generous  in  the  bestowal  of  her  favors  upon 
the  Red  Race  as  upon  the  White!  since  Nature  has  been 
equally  as  generous  in  her  endowments  of  noble  virtues  to 
the  Red  as  to  the  White;  yea,  more  so,  in  withholding  from 
the  former  the  many  dark  vices  with  which  she  has  endowed 
the  'latter,  while  bestowing'  upon  her  Red  children  those 
noble  virtues  which  have  called  forth  as  great  sacrifices,  in 
duced  as  arduous  labors,  excited  as  ardent  hopes,  awakened 
as  high  joys  and  produced  as  noble  patriotism  in  the  breast 
of  the  Red  Race  as  ever  was  experienced  or  manifested 
in  that  of  the  White;  nor  have  the  grossest  supersti 
tions,  the  wild  and  absurd  fancies  that  have  presented 
themselves  before  mankind  and  received  their  homage,  been 
found  to  any  greater  extent  among  the  North  American  In 
dians  than  the  European  world,  with  all  its  boasted  literary, 
scientific  and  religious  attainments,  while  all  the  Christian 
virtues,  moral  stamina  and  social  graces  are  found  in  the  ed 
ucated  and  Christian  Indians  as  are  found  in  the  educated 
and  Christian  Whites. 

With  the  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws  there  was  no  truce 
with  a  liar  or  slanderer.  Their  detestation  of  the  one  and 
abhorrence  for  the  other  were  deep  and  abiding.  The 
same  may 'be  said  of  all  North  American  Indians,  if  the 
statements  of  the  early  explorers  and  missionaries  may  be 
relied  on.  They  were  never  aggressive  or  oppressive  in 
disposition,  or  abusive  of  anyone.  They  were  firm  of 
purpose,  and  of  deep  moral  convictions,  as  understood  by. 
the  light  of  nature.  They  were  temperate  in  all  their  habits, 
and  warmly  sympathetic  in  their  natures,  shedding  a 
brightness  everywhere,  while  their  charitable  dispositions 
were  manifest  to  all.  To  their  friends  they  were  lovable  in 
the  full  sense  of  the  word,  and  no  one  who  was  brought  into 
close  contact  with  them  could  fail  to  love  and  admire  them; 
and  the  nature  of  the  warfare  so  long  waged  upon  them  is 
wholly  responsible  to  the  miserable  and  unreasonable  mis 
conception  of  their  true  characters,  and  the  result  of  the 
personal  rancor  of  the  whites  whose  desire  for  their  lands 
caused  th.e  uninformed  to  regard  all  Indians  as  incarnate 


470  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

devils,  without  a  redeeming-  trait;  therefore,  the  Indian  has 
been  and  is  to-day,  the  target  against  whom  the  scum  of  hu 
manity  have  opened  their  batteries  of  abuse,  slander  and 
falsehood,  while  no  weapon  that  money  or  influence  can  com 
mand  has  been  left  unused  in  their  desperate  efforts  to  dis 
credit  that  innocent  and  helpless  yet  noble  and  Unfortunate 
race  with  all  mankind. 

I  "am  fully  awar/e  that  this  statement  will  not  pass  un 
challenged  by  the  thousands  whose  knowledge  of  Indian, 
characteristics  rest  alone  upon  hearsay;  nevertheless  it  is 
true  and  defies  successful  refutation.  Such  may  deny  it, 
but  the  truth  remains  all  the  same.  I  speak  from  the  per 
sonal  experience  and  knowledge  of  a  long1  life  sustained  and 
confirmed  by  the  testimony  of  all  the  old  missionaries  who 
have  labored  among  the  Indians  during1  the  last  two  cen 
turies,  and  whose  advantages  for  ascertaining-  the  truth 
the  whole  truth,  and  nothing1  but  the  truth  in  reg-ard  to  all 
that  pertains  to  the  North  American  Indians,  surpassed  all 
others  in  the  world,  and  whose  veracity  none  will  question 
who  have  a'ny  knowledge  of  those  self-sacrificing  men  of 
God. 

Contemplate  the  noble  sentiment  expressed  by  that  little 
remnant  of  Natchez  Indians,  whose  nation  had  been  blotted 
out  a  short  time  before  by  the  French,  in  retiring  from  the 
Chickasaw  Nation,  when  they  learned  that  their  presence 
but  entailed  upon  their  noble  and  generous  benefactors  the 
deeper  animosity  of  their  mutual  enemies,  the  French, 
whose  heart  so  hard,  so  lost  to  every  principle  of  humanity 
as  not  to  sympathize  with  those  forlorn  Natchez  Indians, 
whose  deep  gloom  and  despondency  must  have  shrouded 
their  souls  in  darkest  night,  as  they  contemplated  their  help 
less  and  hopeless  condition  and  looked  out  upon  the  dark 
cloud  of  desolation  that  hung  o'er  their  future,  beyond  which 
not  a  ray  of  light  gave  promise  of  a  returning  morn  bring 
ing  peace  and  joy  to  them. 

But  whence  the  cause  of  all  this  human  woe?  Its  foun 
tain  head  may  be  traced  to  the  insatiable  avarice  of  the 
white  man,  which  has  swallowed  up  all  the  finer  sensibilities 
of  his  heart  and  left  him  a  wild  demon  roaming  over  the 
earth,  with  destruction  and  woe  closely  following1  upon  his 
heels.  Verily,  he  who  would  deliberately  add  a  single  pang- 
to  the  vast  and  fearful  catalogue  of  sorrow  already  endured 
by  that  forlorn  race  of  people  still  lingering  within  the  juris 
diction  of  these  United  States  is  worse  than  a  brute,  and  his. 
cavilings  about  the  Indians  proceed  alone  from  profound 
ignorance  and  equal  depravity  of  heart.  Therefore,  "let 
him  not  quit  his  belief  that  a  pop-gun  is  a  pop-gun,  although 


HISTORY    OF    TH-E   INDIANS.  471 

the  ancient  and  honorable  of  earth  affirm  it  to  be  the  crack 
of  doom."  x 

The  closing-of  the  year  1742  still  found  the  inconsider 
ate,  deluded  and  misguided  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws  en 
gaged  in  devastating-  war,  as  the  Choctaws,  with  an  incom 
prehensible  infatuation  and  blindness,  had  now  declared, 
through  the  influence  of  the  French,  that  they  would  con 
tinue  the  war  until  the  Chickasaws  were  driven  from  their 
ancient  domains  or  entirely  exterminated;  and  the  first 
clause,  at  least,  of  their  fratricidal  threat  seemed  about  to 
be  verified,  for  many  of  the  Chickasaws  were  then  seeking 
an  asylum  among  the  English  in  the  Carolinas,  the  Choctaws 
little  dreaming*  they,  in  turn,  were  soon  to  be  as  deeply  hu 
miliated  by  the  French,  into  whose  hands  they  were  so  inju 
diciously,  blindly  and  foolishly  playing",  when  trying  to  re 
duce  and  humiliate  their  brethren  and  kinsmen,  the  Chicka 
saws. 

About  two  miles  south  of  West  Point,  Mississippi,  there 
are,  or  were  many  years  ago,  two  mounds  standing  in  a  line 
of  north  and  south,  about  140  yards  from  each  other.  The 
tradition  of  both  the  old-time  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws  state 
that,  in  the  years  of  the  long  past,  a  great  battle  was  fought 
near  where  the  two  mounds  now  stand,  between  a  company 
of  Chickasaw  and  Choctaw  warriors.  The  battle  proved  to 
be  a  drawn  one,  and  both  parties  agreed  to  bury  their  dead 
without  molestation,  the  one  by  the  other.  A  large  hole  was 
excavated  by  each  party  in  which  they  placed  their  respect 
ive  dead,  and  filled  up  the  grave,  and  then  erected  the 
mounds  over  their  dead  and  buried  warriors.  The  Chicka 
saws'  dead  occupied  the  northern  and  the  Choctaws'  the 
southern.  This  battle,  no  doubt,  was  one  among  the  many 
they  fought  in  their  fearful  conflicts  with  each  other  in  be 
half  of  the  English  and  French,1  and  today  stand,  in  silence 
and  solitude  unknown,  as  living  monuments  of  those  fratri 
cidal  wars  that  so  weakened  both  nations,  to  the  secret  joy 
of  both  the  English  and  the  French. 

At  this  juncture  of  aifairs,  May  10th  1743,  the  marquis 
of  Vaudreuil  arrived  at  New  Orleans,  and  assumed  com 
mand  of  the  colonies,  Bienville  having  been  again  deposed. 
As  soon  as  the  Chickasaws  learned  that  Bienville  had  been 
superceded  by  a  new  governor,  they  sent  four  of  their 
chiefs,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1743,  to  sue  for  peace;  but 
Vaudreuil  informed  them  he  would  enter  into  no  treaty  with 
them,  unless  they  would  drive  all  English  traders  from  their 
territories;  and  not  even  then  would  he  treat  with  them  un 
less  in  concert  with  the  Choctaws.  Thus  again  were  the 
Chickasaws  baffled  in  their  efforts  to  make  peace.  The 


472  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

four  chiefs  then  requested  time  to  lay  his  terms  of  peace 
before  their,  people. 

Early  in  the  following  year,  the  Chickasaws  again  sent 
an  embassy  to  Vaudreuil  and  informed  him  they  would  ac 
cept  his  first  proposition,  if  he  would  supply  them  with 
goods  and  ammunition  as  the  English  had  done,  but  still 
Vaudreuil  would  take  no  action  in  the  matter  without  first 
obtaining  the  sanction  of  the  Choctaws.  Great  indeed 
was  his  surprise  in  learning  that  the  Chickasaws  and  Choc- 
taws  were  at  that  very  time  endeavoring  to  establish  peace 
between  themselves,  without  his  knowledge.  Such  a  thing 
the  French  from  the  first  had  labored  to  prevent;  therefore 
Vaudreuil  determined  at  once  to  defeat  the  object,  if  pos 
sible,  of  all  si^ch  negotiations  between  the  two  long  hostile 
Nations,  and  immediately  went  to  work  for  the  accomplish 
ment  of  that  end;  first,  by  postponing  the  making  of  a  treaty 
himself  with  the  Chickasaws;  second,  by  using  every  means, 
right  or  wrong,  to  ag-ain  revive  the  animosity  so  long  exist 
ing  between  the  two  Nations,  and  to  again  put  into  renewed 
action  their  former  hostilities,  then  temporarily  slumber 
ing. 

Alas!  he  succeeded  but  too  well  in  his  nefarious  designs 
against  the  interests  and  welfare  of  those  two  kindred 
tribes,  who  seemed  deaf  to  the  demands  of  their  own  .na 
tional  safety,  prosperity  and  happiness,  in  not  learning'  from 
sad  experience  long  before  that  both  the  English  and  French 
desired  nothing  more  of  them  than  to  see  them  waste  away 
their  national  strength  against  each  other.  But,  unfortu 
nately  for  them,  they  seemed  under  the  complete  control  of 
those  two  great  foreign  rivals,  who,  with  jealousy,  were  con 
tending  everywhere  for  the  possession  of  the  Indians'  terri 
tories  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific;  and,  therefore,  con 
tinually  led  the  inconsiderate,  deceived  and  unfortunate 
North  American  Indians  everywhere  into  suicidal  hostilities 
against  each  other  which  tended  so  rapidly  to  their  destruc 
tion  and  final  extermination.  But  to  the  eternal  condemna 
tion  before  the  tribunal  of  a  just  God,  of  both  the  English 
and  French,  they  made  every  effort  in  this  civil  discord,  not 
to  conciliate,  but  to  inflame  the  passions  and  strengthen  the 
animosities  of  the  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws  by  the  most 
unjust  and  diabolical  means  that  the  corrupt  heart  of  man 
could  conceive. 

But-down  to  the'year  1746,  the  undaunted  and  seemingly 
invincible  Chickasaws  were  still  maintaining  their  ground 
against  fearful  odds;  while  the  Choctaws,  now  becoming 
weary  with  their  long  protracted  wars  against  them,  and 
also  relenting  in  their  continued  hostility  towards  them, 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  -  473 

many  of  them  became  their  friends  and  even  allies;  among* 
the  most  prominent  of  whom  stood  the  renowned  Shulush 
Humma,  who  by  his  daring  deeds  had  become  a  terror  to 
the  Chickasaws,  and  also  Alabaman  Mingo  (a  corruption  of 
Ullabanoh  Miko,  the  only  child  of  a  chief),  who  had  long- 
been  considered  as  a  firm -friend  of  the  French;  still,  the 
French  retained  many  friends  among-  the  Choctaws,  who 
were  now  called  "the  French  party";  and  those  who  were 
disposed  to  be  lenient  to  the  Chickasaws  and  had  extended 
to  them  the  hand  of  peace  and  friendship  were  called  "the 
English  party." 

But  now  the  judgments  of  God  seemed  about  to  be  vis 
ited  upon  the  Choctaws  for  their  inconsiderate  hostility  to 
wards,  and  cruel  wars  against,  the  Chickasaws,  through  the 
instigations  alone  of  the  covetous  French,  by  sending  upon 
them  an  infatuation  more  fatal  to  themselves  than  were  their 
hostilities  to  the  Chickasaws,  which  seemed  for  the  time 
being  must,  and  would,  terminate  in  nothing  less  than  their 
own  destruction,  for  early  in  the  year  1748  the  animosity  of 
the  two  parties  arose  to  that  degree  that  a  civil  war,  fierce 
and  bloody,  was  the  actual  result,  to  the  infinite  delight  of 
both  the  French  and  English,  who  with  great  complacency, 
looked  on  and  secretly  exulted  in  the  self-destruction  of  the 
foolish  Choctaws,  who  seemed  to  have  lost  their  reason. 
Each  party  formed  themselves  into  small  bands  and  made 
hostile  excursions,  the  one  against  the  other.  Also,  the 
English  faction  made  excursions  against  the  French,  and  the 
French  faction  against  the  English.  A  band  of  the  English 
party  made-  an  attack  upon  a  German  settlement  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  French,  killed  a  German,  wounded  his 
wife  and  took  captive  their  daughter.  And  the  leader  of  the 
band  was  in  turn  killed  by  his  own  brother,  who  was  also  a 
leader  of  one  of  the  bands  of  the  French  party  ;  also  a 
brother  of  Shulush  Humma,  who  had  been  sent  on  an  em 
bassy  to  the  Carolinas  with  a  small  party  to  solicit  aid  from 
the  English  settlements,  was  attacked  by  a  company  of  the 
French  party  and  had  eight  warriors  slain.  On  July  14th  a 
French  party  rushed  upon  a  village  of  an  English  party 
and  slew  thirteen,  among  whom  were  two  noted  chiefs,  upon 
which  the  English  party,  maddened  with  the  desire  of  retal 
iation,  rushed  upon  a  village  of  the  French  party,  and  there 
a  fierce  and  desperate  hand-to-hand  fight  with  tomahawk  and 
knife  ensued,  in  which  both  sides  lost  grievously,  but  result 
ing  in  the  defeat  of  the  English  party  with  a  loss  of  eighty 
killed  and  an  equal  number  wounded,  whom  they  carried  off 
in  their  retreat,  but  many  of  whom  afterwards  died.  Many 
such  fratricidal  battles  followed  in  quick  succession,  the 


474  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

English  party  always  sustaining1  the  greater  loss.  Such  an. 
insane  warfare  and  foolish  destruction  of  life,  sapping-  the 
very  foundation  of  their  national  existence,  finally  put  the 
Ghoctaws  to  thinking1,  which  soon  brought  them  to  their 
senses.  Both  parties  mutually  began  to  see  that  they  were 
cutting  each  others'  throats  for  the  sole  benefit  and  the  en 
tire  satisfaction  and  gratification  of  their  worst  enemies,  the 
English  and  French  pale-faces. 

At  once  a  council  of  the  old  and  wise  men  of  the  Nation 
was  convened  to  deliberate  upon  the  unhappy  state  of  affairs 
and  to  devise  measures  to  bring  about  a  cessation  of  hostili 
ties   and   restore  peace  and  friendship  among  their  people. 
After  a  few  days  of  calm  and  solemn  deliberation,  the   chief 
cause  of  the  unfortunate  state  of  affairs  was  traced  to  Shu- 
lush  Humma,  and  the  immediate  verdict  of  the  council  was 
death  to  him;  and  in  accordance  thereto,  that  noted  chief  and 
consummate  warrior  was  slain  by  a  deputation,  appointed  for 
that   purpose,   while   returning  one  day  to  his  home  with  a 
company  loaded  with  English  goods.     It  was  hoped  that  the 
death    of   Shulush   Humma   would  be  effective  in  restoring 
peace  and  harmony  to  the  Nation,  and  it  would   have   been 
had    not   the   English,  still  desiring  to  weaken  as  much  as. 
possible  their  old  enemies,  the  Choctaws,    determined   that 
peace   should    not  be  made  between  the  two  contending  fac 
tions  if  it  was  possible  to  prevent  it;  therefore  they  clandes 
tinely   secured   the   appointment   of    a   brother   of    Shulush 
Humma   to  the  chieftaincy  of  that  renowned  chief's  party, 
and  thus  thwarted  the  good  designs  of  the  council  and   pro- 
tricidal   war,  during  which  the  English  were  diligent  in  ex 
tending  their  own  selfish  interests  to  the  serious  injury   of 
their  unfortunate  dupes,  the  contending  Choctaws,  who  con- 
tinned  the  devastating  strife  until  1750,  when  it  terminated 
with  the  advantage  on  the   part  of    the   French   faction,    at 
which   time  only  two  of  the  thirty-two  villages  still' adhered 
to  the  interests  of  the  English;  who,  having  lost  130  of  their 
warriors  in  a  terrible  battle  that  shortly  afterwards  ensued, 
now   sought   peace   of  the  French,  who  granted  it  with  this 
humiliating  proviso:     "That  the  punishment  of  death  should 
be  inflicted  on  any  and    every   Choctaw  who   should   kill   a 
Frenchman,   be  he  chief  or  common  warrior;  and  if  »  any  one 
or  more  Choctaws  should  attempt  to  rescue  the  guilty  party, 
or  parties,  from  the  punishment  of  this  sentence,  then   the 
entire    Choctaw  Nation  should  unite,  assist  and  inflict  death 
also  on  all  those  who  attempted  to  rescue  the  guilty  party,  or 
parties;    and   also   that   death   should  be  inflicted  upon  any 
Choctaw  who  should  lead  an  Englishmen  into  his  village;  nor 
in  such  a  case,  should  retaliation  for  his  death  be  sought  by 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  475 

any  one  of  his  Nation;  and  also  they  should  put  to  death  the 
Englishman  thus  introduced;  and  also  the  Choctaws  should 
continue  hostilities  ag-ainst  the  Chickasaws  so  long-  as  they 
existed  as  a  Nation." 

The  humiliating-  terms  were  accepted  and  peace  among 
the  Choctaws  once  more  assumed  her  pacific  sway,  but  too 
late;  learning  what  miserable  dupes  they  had  been  made  by 
the  wiles  of  the  perfidious  French  and  English;  and  only  to 
realize  to  what  a  humiliating  extremity  they  had  reduced 
themselves  by  destroying  each  other  and  those  of  their  own 
race — the  Chickasaws  and  Natchez — to  secure  the  friend 
ship  of  the  pale-faces,  who  never  felt  an  emotion  of  that 
noble  principle  for  them  or  any  of  their  race. 

Alas!  what  Christian  heart  but  weeps  over  the  mis 
fortunes  of  the  North  American  Indians,  and  sympathizes 
with  them- in  their  mistakes  in  the  selection  of  friends,  since 
they  were  totally  ignorant  of  the  duplicity  and  incapable  of 
comprehending  the  avarice  of  the  white  men's  hearts,  and 
thereby  unfortunately  judged  them  from  the  stand-point  of 
their  own  honest  and  truthful  hearts  which  had  never  felt 
the  gnawings  of  avarice,  nor  knew  deceit  when  dealing  with 
supposed  friends. 

The  Chickasaws,  now  also  reduced  to  the  verge  of  de 
struction  by  their  long  struggle  with  the  combined  'forces  of 
the  French  and  the  inconsiderate  Choctaws,  once  more  sued 
for  peace  with  the  French;  but  to  their  solicitation,  Vaud- 
reuil  coolly  replied,  "That  he  would  consider  the  matter." 
But  the  truth  is,  he  did  not  want  to  treat  with  the  Chicka 
saws  upon  any  terms 'of  peace  whatever;  for  he  still  hoped 
to  be  able  to  execute  his  former  resolution,  imbibed  from 
Bienville,  against  them,  nothing  more  nor  less  than  absolute 
extermination.  Therefore  in  a  letter  written  shortly  after 
to  his  government,  he  stated:  "With  regard  to  the  Chicka 
saws,  we  must  postpone  all  action,  and  patientl}'  wait  until, 
we  can  organize  and  make  another  expedition  against  them"; 
and  assigns  his  reasons  for  acting  with  such  vindictive 
cruelty  and  base  injustice  against  that  peace  soliciting  and 
peace  desiring  Nation  of  noble  patriots,  that,  "By  the  failure 
of  the  expeditions  undertaken  against  them  between  the 
years  1735  and  1740,  the  Indians  have  arrived  at  the  con 
clusion  that  we  cannot  conquer  or  destroy  them;  and  until 
we  erase  from  their  minds  the  impression  of  our  inability 
to  subdue  them,  by  giving  full  retaliation  for  our  unsuccess 
ful  operations  against  them,  the  honor  of  our  arms  will  re 
main  tarnished." 

But  after  two  years  of   consideration  on   the  solicitation, 
of  the   Chickasaws  for   peace,  Vaudreuil,  instead  of  giving: 


476  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

them  a  reply  pro  or  con,  spent  the  intervening  time  in  the 
organization  of  another  war  expedition  against  them,  lest 
"the  honor  of  our  arms  remain  tarnished  ;"  and,  in  1752,  he 
started  with  700  French  soldiers  and  a  large  body  of  Indian 
warriors  to  exterminate  that  brave  and  heroic  nation  of 
people,  fully  believing  that  it  had  fallen  to  his  good  fortune 
"to  erase  from  their  minds  the  impression  of  our  inability 
to  subdue  them."  But  alas,  for  his  anticipated  good  fortune! 
His  expedition  proved  as  complete  a  failure  as  the  previous 
three,  for  the  Chickasaw  heroes,  at  Chikasahha,  where  they 
had  repulsed  D'Artaguette  and  Bienville  seventeen  years 
before,  also,  whipped  Vaudreuil,  and  he,  too,  sought  safety 
and  found  it  in  an  inglorious  retreat,  without  erasing-  from 
the  minds  of  those  indomitable  Chickasaw  warriors  "the 
impression  of  our  inability  to  .subdue  them  ;"  and  also  post 
poned  "giving  full  retaliation  for  our  unsuccessful  opera 
tions  against  them,"  lest  "the  honor  of  our  arms  will  remain 
tarnished,"  to  some  more  propitious  time  in  the  future,  as 
Bienville  had  done,  but  which  never  came.  Yet  he  was  blest 
with  the  consoling  reflection  that  he  had  done  something,  at 
least,  in  the  way  of  "giving  full  retaliation  for  our  unsuccess 
ful  operations  against  them;"  since  he  could  state  in  his 
report  that  he  had  been  enabled,  though  in  full  retreat,  "to 
burn  a  few  deserted  Chickasawr  villages,  destroy  a  few  fields 
of  corn,  and  kill  a  few  cattle  of  the  enemy" — neither  Bien 
ville  nor  D'Artaguette  could  say  as  much — and  "the  honor  of 
our  arms  will"  not  now  "remain  tarnished."  For  the  sake 
of  humanity  it  is  to  be  hoped  so. 

In  1753  Vaudreuil  was  appointed  Governor  of  Canada, 
and  Kerleree  took  the  place  of  Vaudreuil  as  Governor  of  the 
Louisiana  Colony;  and  shortly  after,  in  a  letter  to  his  Gov 
ernment,  August  20,  1753,  he  said:  "I  am  satisfied  with  the 
Choctaws.  I  believe  them  true  to  their  plighted  word,  and 
it  is  necessary  that  we  should  be  the  same  to  them.  They 
are  a  people  who  reflect  and  reason  more  logically  than  it  is 
generally  supposed."  More  truthful  words  could  not  have 
been  uttered  in  regard  to  the  North  American  Indians;  yet  a 
truth,  which  the  White  Race  have  ever  been  reluctant  to  ad 
mit. 

After  the  appointment  of  Vaudreuil  as  Governor  of 
Canada  the  French  made  no  more  "exterminating  expedi 
tions"  against  the  Chickasaws.  But  Kerleree,  shortly  after 
he  had  taken  the  place  of  Vaudreuil,  had  an  interview  with 
several  chiefs'  of  the  Arkansas  tribes  at  New  Orleans  and 
whose  good  will  he  won  by  his  affected  generosity  and  seem 
ingly  great  friendship  and  hospitality  manifested  towards 
them;  nor  was  he  unmindful  of  the  "failure  of  the  expedi- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  477 

lions  undertaken  against  the  Chickasaws";  therefore,  "lest 
"the  honor  of  our  arms  remain  tarnished,"  he  embraced  the 
opportunity  offered  to  induce  the  chiefs  of -the  Arkansas 
tribes  to  make  war  upon  the  Chickasaws  wjiom  they,  had  been 
taught  by  bitter  experience  to  fear,  therefore  still  hated;  for 
that  indefatigable  Nation  still  presented  the  same  bold  and 
defiant  front  to  the  French,  though  greatly  reduced  in  num 
bers  and  strength.  Kerleree  also  made  strenuous  efforts  to 
induce  those  chiefs  to  make  war  upon  the  Cherokees,  who 
had  entailed  the  hatred  and  animosity  of  the  French,  because 
they  had  extended  the  hand  of  pity  and  protection,  in  con 
nection  with  the  Chickasaws,  to  the  homeless  and  forlorn 
little  band  of  Natchez,  who  had  escaped  the  wholesale 
slaughter  of  their  people  by  the  hands  of  their  common  and 
unrelenting  enemy,  the  French. 

That  the  Choctaws  were  once  a  numerous  and  powerful 
people,  even  at  the  beginning  of  their  hostilities  with  the 
French;  and  that  their  warriors  were  among  the  most  sa 
gacious  and  fearless  men  that  ever  went  into  battle,  no 
stronger  evidence  is  necessary  than  the  fact,  they  stood 
alone  and  maintained  their  independence  against  the  com 
bined  forces  of  the  Canadian,  Illinois  and  Louisiana  colonies, 
together  writh  the  soldiers  sent  from  France  and  their 
numerous  Northern  Indian  allies,  also  the  Choctaws,  then 
the  most  dreaded  nation  of  warriors,  except  the  Chicka 
saws,  among  the  North  American  Indians,  from  1716  down 
the  march  of  time  France  ceded  her  North  American  pos 
sessions  to  Eiigland  in  1763;  defeating  four  French  armies, 
well  organized  and  equipped,  and  their  Indian  allies,  sent 
against  them,  each  of  which,  in  numbers  and  munitions  of 
war,  was  superior  to  them  as  the  ratio  of  three  to  one,  and 
driving  them  from  their  territories;  and  though  Roman 
states,  in  his  "Barnard  Roman's  Florida,  page  571."  "In 
1771,  this  once  powerful  and  warlike  tribe  could  not  number 
over  three  hundred  warrioVs,"  yet  the  combined  forces  of 
their  White  and  Red  enemies  failed  to  conquer  them. 

The  following  letter  written  by  Governor  Claiborne  of 
Mississippi,  in  1802,  to  Samuel  Mitchell,  United  States  Agent 
to  the  Chickasaws,  expresses  much  trurth  in  regard  to  the 
Indians: 

"I  am  well  pleased  with  your  efforts  to  advance  the  hap 
piness  of  our  Chickasaw  brethren.  I  hope,  under  your  tu 
torage,  that  they  will  soon  acquire  the  habits  of  civilization. 
Exert  all  your  influence  to  induce  the  men  to  have  fixed 
abodes,  cultivate  the  soil,  and  encourage  the  women  to  habits 
of  domestic  life.  Continue  to  supply  them  with  wheels  and 
cards,  scissors,  thimbles,  needles  and  thread.  Retain  a 


478  HISTORY   OF    THE  INDIANS. 

competent  weaver  constantly  in  your  employ  and  persuade  a 
few  young  girls  to  learn  the  art  from  him.  A  competent 
man  of  undoubted  morals  must  be  procured  who  must  take 
the  necessary  pains  to  teach  them,  and  I  will  see  him  liberally 
compensated.  Itjs  desirable  to  place  a  few  intelligent  In 
dian  lads  with  your  wheelwright  and  blacksmith.  In  all 
cases  it  is  my  express  injunction  that  the  white  mechanics, 
you  are  authorized  to  employ,  shall  be  men  of  sober  habits 
and  of  good  character.  They  are  to  be  there  not  only  as  ar 
tisans,  but  as  teachers,  to  set  an  example  to  an  untutored 
people,  entrusted  to  my  guardianship  by  their  great  Father, 
the  President,  and  he  demands  that  they  shall  be  treated  as 
his  children,  and  not,  in  any  instance,  be  exposed  to  the  evil 
example  of  bad  white  men.  Say  to  my  old  friend,  Major 
Colbert,  his  wish  to  have  his  son  educated  in  and  by  the 
United  States  shall  be  promptly  recommended  by  me;  and, 
I  doubt  not,  will  be  so  directed  by  the  President.  A  trad 
ing  house  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Chickasaws  has  been 
established  at  the  Bluffs,  and  the  factor  has  been  instructed 

TO  SELL  AT  PRICES  MERELY  TO  COVER  COST  AND  CHARGES.      Com- 

plaint  of  undue  charges  must  be  made  through  you  to  me. 
You  did  right  to  exert  your  influence  for  peace  between  the 
Chickasaws,  Choctaws  and  Osages.  The  United  States  is 
bound  by  treaty  to  restrain  the  tribes  within  their  limits 
from  warring  against  tribes  in  the  Spanish  dominion." 

What  if  the  noble,  humane  and  Christian  sentiments  ex 
pressed  in  the  above  letter  by  Governor  Claiborne  had  been 
adopted  and  truly  carried  out  by  the  Government  and  people 
of  the  United  States  from  the  date  of  the  above  letter  to  the 
present,  who  now  could  justly  describe  the  happy  and  pros 
perous  condition  of  every  Indian  tribe  within  the  jurisdic 
tion  of  the  United  States? 

In  1792,  in  a  couucil  held  at  Chickasaw  Bluffs,  where 
Memphis,  Tennessee,  is  now  located,  a  treaty  was  made 
with  the  Chickasaws,  in  which  they  granted  the  United 
States  the  right  of  way  through  their  territory  for  a  public 
road  to  be  opened  from  Nashville,  Tennessee,  to  Natchez, 
Mississippi.  This  road  was  long  known,  and  no  doubt,  re 
membered  by  many  at  the  present  time  by  the  name 
^'Natchez  Trace."  It  crossed  the  Tennessee  river  at  a 
point  then  known  as  "Colbert's  Ferry,"  and  passed  through 
-the  present  counties  of  Tishomingo,  Ittiwamba,  Lee,  Pan- 
totoc,  Chickasaw,  Choctaw,  thence  on  to  Natchez,  and  soon 
became  the  great  and  only  thoroughfare  for  emigrants  pass 
ing  from  the  older  states  to  Mississippi,  Louisiana  and 
South  Arkansaw.  Soon  after  its  opening,  it  was  crowded  by 
fortune  seekers  and  adventurers  of  all  descriptions  and 


HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS.  479 

characters,  some  as  bad  as  it  was  ^  possible  for  them  to  be, 
and  none  as  good  as  they  might  be. 

One  of  the  most  noted  desperadoes  in  those  early  days 
of  Mississippi's  history  was  a  man  named  Mason,  who,  with 
his  gang  of  thieves  and  cut-throats,  established  himself  at  a 
point  on  the  Ohio  river  then  called  "The  Cave  in  the  Rock," 
and  about  one  hundred  miles  above  its  junction  with  the 
Mississippi  river.  There,  under  the  disguise  of  keeping-  a 
store  for  the  accommodation  of  emigrants,  keel  and  flat 
boatmen  passing-  up  and  down  the  river,  he  enticed  them 
into  his  power,  murdered  and  robbed  them;  then  sent  their 
boats  and  contents  to  New  Orleans,  throug-h  the  hands  of 
his  accomplices  to  be  sold.  He,  at  length,  left  "The  Cave 
in  the  Rock,"  and  sought  a  new  location  on  the  Natchez 
Trace,  where  he  established  himself,  and  soon  attained  to 
such  a  power,  that  he  and  his  \vell  organized  band  of  outlaws 
became  a  terror  to  all  from  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi 
river  to  the  hills  of  Alabama  and  Tennessee.  Over  this 
wide  extended  territory  he  \vas  "monarch  of  all  he  surveyed"/ 
for  several  years;  and  though  many  efforts  were  made  by 
the  law  abiding-  citizens  to  kill  or  capture  him  and  break  upx 
this  nest  of  land  pirates,  yet  he  always  manag-ed  to  out-wit 
his  pursuers  and  elude  their  grasp.  Ultimately  a  strong- 
party  organized  themselves  at  Natchez  and  went  in  pursuit 
of  the  daring-  robber,  resolving-  to  kill  or  capture  him  at  all 
hazards  but  was  out-generaled  by  the  sagacious  and  ever 
watchful  desperadoes.  The  company  having-  arrived  on  the 
banks  of  the  Pearl  river,  soon  learned  that  the  object  of 
their  search  was  in  the  vicinity,  but  before  making  an  at 
tack  upon  him,  they  concluded  to  dine,  feed  and  rest  their 
horses.  During-  this,  two  of  the  company,  allured  by  the  an 
ticipated  delig-ht  of  a  swim,  plunged  into  the  cool  and  clear 
waters  of  the  river  and  swam  to  the  opposite  bank,  but  to 
give  themselves  into  the  hands  of  the  vigilant  Mason,  who, 
cognizant  of  all  the  proceedings  and  designs,  had  closely 
watched  their  maneuvers,  by  which  he  soon  found  himself 
enabled  to  accomplish  by  stratagem,  what  he  could  not  per 
haps,  by  force. 

Having  secured  the  two  thoughtless  and  inconsiderate 
fathers,  Mason  at  once  assumed  a  bold  and  defiant  attitude, 
and  called  out  to  his  would-be  capturers  on  the  opposite 
bank  and  informed  them  that  all  further  demonstration  of 
hostilities  on  their  part  would  be  followed  by  the  instant  death 
of  their  two  captive  friends;  and  also  stated  if  they  wished 
to  save  the  lives  of  their  two  companions  to  stack  their  guns 
and  ammunition  at  once  on  the  banks  of  the  river  at  a  desig 
nated  place  and  he  would  send  for  them;  if  they  manifested. 


480  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.N 

the  least  disposition  to  interfere  with  his  messenger  his  two 
prisoners  would  be  instantly  slain;  but  if  they  punctually 
and  obediently  complied  with  his  demand  he  would  return 
their  two  friends,  unharmed,  to  them,  at  the  same  time 
pledging  his  word  of  honor  to  the  performance  of  the  same. 
The  demands  of  Mason  were  duly  obeyed  and  several  of  his 
party  swam  across  the  river  and  took  possession  of  the  guns, 
while  the  two  captives  were  placed  in  full  view  with  rifles 
pointing  in  unpleasant  proximity  and  in  direct  line  to  their 
heads.  Then  Mason  released  his  prisoners  and  bade  them 
return  in  the  way  they  came;  to  which  they  gladly  and  with 
out  hesitation  complied.  He  then  sternly  ordered  the  crest 
fallen  company  to  mount  their  horses  and  return  to  Natchez, 
adding  that  it  would  not  be  healthy  for  them  to  indulge  in  a 
hunt  again  for  him,  as  he  would  not  let  them  off  so  gently  if 
they  should  again  fall  into  his  hands. 

Treachery  finally  effected  what  all  other  means  failed  to 
accomplish.  Shortly  after,  a  man  of  high  standing  and  his 
two  sons  were  robbed  by  a  party  of  Mason's  band,  as  they 
were  passing  along  the  Natchez  Trace,  though  they  received 
no  bodily  injury.  After  their  return  home,  Governor  Clai- 
borne,  of  the  Mississippi  Territory,  offered  a  large  reward 
for  Mason,  dead  or  alive,  a  copy  of  which  soon  found  its  way 
to  the  notorious  bandit,  over  which,  it  is  said,  he  manifested 
much  merriment.  But  the  reward  proved  too  great  a  temp 
tation  for  two  of  his  band,  and  they  treacherously  slew 
Mason  and  carried  his  head  in  secret  triumph  to  Gov.  Clai- 
borne.  It  was  at  once  recognized  by  many  of  the  citizens. 
But  the  joy  of  the  two  traitors  in  anticipation  of  the  reward 
was  of  short  duration,  since  among  the  many  spectators 
were  the  two  sons,  who,  with  their  father,  had  been  robbed 
shortly  before,  and  who  at  once  recognized  the  two  scoun 
drels  as  being  of  the  party  who  had  robbed  them.  At  once 
they  were  arrested,  tried,  convicted,  and  paid  the  penalty  of 
their  crimes  upon  the  gallows.  And  thus  was  broken  up 
one  among  the  most  notorious  gangs  of  robbers  that  infested 
the  Natchez  Trace. 

However,  another  daring  gang  sprang  up  a  few  years 
after  the  death  of  Mason,  under  the  leadership  of  one  John 
A.  Murrell.  who  also  sought  upon  the  Natchez  Trace  their 
victims  to  murder  and  plunder  during  the  years  1830  and 
1840.  And  numerous  werevthe  bloody  deeds  and  daring  rob 
beries  committed  by  those  bold  free-booters  upon  the  lonely 
traveller  who  had  the  nerve  to  venture  through  that  long 
stretch  of  wilderness  and  solitude  alone :  and  the  thefts 
of  horses  and  negroes  from  the  -planters,  especially  the 
negroes,  whom  they  enticed  away  under  the  promise  of 


HISTORY    OF    THK   INDIANS.  481 

taking- them  north  to  a  free  state;  then,  after  selling-  and 
stealing  them  a  few  times  under  the  pretense  to  the  deluded 
negroes  of  getting-  money  to  defray  their  expenses  to  a  free 
state,  they  would  kill  them  and  sink  their  bodies  in  a  river 
or  lake.  Murrell  was  finally  captured,  tried  and  condemned 
to'life  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary  at  Nashville,  Ten 
nessee.  After  a  few  years  of  confinement  he  professed 
religion  (it  was  said),  and  his  health  failing,  he  was  eventu- 
ually  pardoned,  then  became  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  and 
shortly  afterwards  died. 

General  Andrew  Jackson  led  his'  victorious  army  along- 
this  road  (the  Natchez  Trace)  on  his  return  from  New  Or 
leans,  in  1815.  Before  steamboats  began  to  plough  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  river,  all  kinds  of  produce  were 
transported  to  New  Orleans  in  keel  and  flat  boats  from  the 
upper  countries.  When  arriving  there  both  boat  and  cargo- 
were  sold,  and  the  owners  with  their  employers  returned 
home,  some  on  horseback  and  more  on  foot,  by  the  way  of 
the  "Old  Natchez  Trace."  Bands  of  those  rough  and  fear 
less  boatmen  fllocked  along  on  the  old  trace  to  their  distant, 
homes  in  North  Mississippi,  Tennessee  and  Southern  Ken 
tucky.  The  intervening  wilderness  of  forests  were  illu-- 
minated  with  the  camp-fires,  and  the  midnight  silence  of  the: 
then  vast  soliludes  broken  bytheir«bacchanalian  revelries.. 
All  characters  blended  together  in  those  straggling  bands  of 
wild  and  reckless  humanity;  the  jolly  ^boatmen  whose  lives 
were  spent  on  the  bosom  of  the  majestic  "Misha  Sipokni'1" 
and  in  the  romantic  and  fascinating  jolifications  of  thei 
camp;  men  of  education  and  refinement;  adventurous  youth,, 
wTho  never  before  was  out  of  sight  of  the  smoke  of  bis, 
native  village  or  humble  home;  the  sturdy  farmer;  the 
shrewed  trader;  the  calculating  merchant;  the  wily  gam-; 
bier,  and  the  daring  robber,  were,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
represented. 

^ut  the  "Old  Trace"  has  long  since  been  effaced  by  the-, 
ploughshare  and  buried  in  the  field  of  forgetfulness  amid. 
the  corn  and  cotton  plantations,  together  with  the  throbbing- 
hearts,  then  buoyant  with  hope  and  elated  with  joy,  dis~* 
tracted  with  fear  or  burdened  with  care  that  followed  its, 
windings  and  dubious  ways  through  the  Chickasaw  and  Choc-. 
taw  Nations  nearly  a  century  ago,  and  sang  or  weptr  laughed' 
or  sighed  along  that  old  forest  road,  and  have  become  as. si-. 
lent  and  as  little  remembered  as  the  multitudes  that  cnce- 
thronged  the  busy  streets  of  ancient  Tyre,  while  obli'viorv 
has  woven  her  raven  web  and  thrown  it  upon  the  "Old;. 
Natchez  Trace"  to  be  remembered  "never  more." 

"Natchez-Under-The-Hill"   was,  at   that  early  day,  the: 


482  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

"'sine  qua  non"  as  the  point  of  rendezvous  for  the  rough  and 
(care-for-nothing  men   who  navigated   the  keel  and  flat-boats 
<on  the  Mississippi   river  ere  they  were  superseded  by  the 
•steamboat.     Ai\  that  early  day  the  city  of  Natchez  was  an 
-excellent   market  for   the  products  of  the  "upper  country," 
consequently   hundreds  of    heavily   and    richly-laden  boats 
often  congregated  there,  to  the  great  dread  of  the  law-abid 
ing1  and  peaceful  inhabitants  residing  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  city,  then  known  as  "The  Bluff;"  for  the  wild   and  law 
less  boatmen  knowing   no  restraint,  and   without   the  fear  of 
•'God  or  man,  indulged  their  caprices  in  every  kind  of  rowdy 
ism   known  to  man ;    and    often   breaking  through  the   ac 
knowledged   limits  of  their   own  district,    "Natchez-Under- 
•The-Hill,"  they  carried  the  city  "On   The  Bluff  "  by  storm, 
not   unlike   a  genuine   cyclone   of    the   present   day,  riding 
rough-shod  over  the  law  and   every  physical  obstruction  that 
impeded   their    headlong   course.     Then,   having  had  their 
"fun,"  during  which   they  had   drank  and  destroyed   all  the 
whisky   they  could   lay  their  hands   upon,  they  returned  to 
the   plateau  "under  the  hill"  with   songs   and   hideous  yells, 
where,  perhaps,  they  would  meet  with  another  gang  of  their 
own  faith   and  order,  and  a  fight   would  ensue,  in  which  the 
Herculean  strength  there  and  then  displayed  has  no  parallel 
,except  in  Homer's  description  of  the  fabulous  wars  between 
-the  gods.     Thus  did  those  specimens  of  American  freemen 
,  spend  their   leisure  hours   in  drinking  whiskey,  yelling,  fid- 
'.dling,  dancing  and  fist-fighting,  the   latter  seeming  a  direful 
^necessity,   an   unconquerable   appetite,  which,  like  hunger, 
must  be  appeased  at  all  costs;  and  even  when  quietness  had 
•assumed  her  sway  in  camp,  often  it  would  be   unexpectedly 
and   unceremoniously    disturbed  by  some   aspirant   to  fame 
loudly  crowing*  forth    his   defiance  like  a   game  cock,  which 
was  sure  to  be  answered  by  another  in  a  different  part  of  the 
camp,  and  the  natural  result  is  easily  guessed,  since  he  who 
'boasted   according   to  the   approved  style  of  the  game  cock, 
^virtually  proclaimed  he  had  never  been  whipped,  and,  there 
fore  occupied  a  dangerous   eminence,  as   some  equally  ambi 
tious  aspirant  was   sure   to  be   in   hearing  of  the   midnight 
•challenge,  and  equally  ready  to  dispute  his  claim  to  such  dis 
tinction. 

Still  those  apparently  lawless  men  had  a  code  of  honor 
•among  themselves  to  which  they  strictly  adhered  and  impli- 
.citly  obeyed.  "Fair  play"  was  a  jewel  among  them;  and  in 
.all  disputes  and  difficulties  they  invariably  took  up  the  cause 
of  the  weaker,  and  always  espoused  that  of  the  aged,  right 
#r  wrong. 

"In  1794  the  United  States  Government  secured  the  aid  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  \          483 

several  companies  of  Chickasaw  warriors  to  co-operate  with 
its  troops  against  some  of  the  northwestern  tribes  of  In 
dians  with  whom  it  had  become  involved  in  war;  and  though 
the  cause  is  not  now  known,  yet  it  may  with  safety  be  easily 
guessed,  as,  like  the  English  and  French  before  it,  so  it  also 
arrayed  one  tribe  against  another  in  its  own  wars  with  that 
credulous  people  until  partially  destroyed,  then  gobbled  up 
all  (allies  and  enemies)  at  a  swoop.  The  following  is  a  war 
commission  given  by  George  Washington,  then  President  of 
the  United  States,  to  a  Chickasaw  chief  called  Mucklesha 
Mingo  (corrupted  from  Mokulichih  Miko — to  outdo  or  excel 
— chief.  The  chief  who  excels: 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  President  of  the  United  States  of 
America.  To  all  who  shall  see  these  presents  greeting: 

"Whereas,  I  am  authorized  by  law  to  employ  such  a 
number  of  Indians  and  for  such  compensation  as  I  shall 
think  proper,  within  certain  limitations,  to  act  against  the 
hostile  tribes  northwest  of  the  Ohio. 

"And,  whereas,  it  is  expedient  that  in  case  of  such  an 
event  certain  chiefs  should  be  previously  designated;  and 
having  full  confidence  in  the  well  tried  friendship  of  Muckle- 
shamingo  a  chief  of  the  Chickasaw  Nation,  I  do  hereby  ap 
point  him  to  rank  and  to  receive  pay  as  Captain  of  Militia 
while  he  shall  actually  be  in  the  service  of  the  United  States, 
and  co-operating  with  the  troops  thereunto  belonging.  '  And 
I  do  hereby  direct  that  on  such  occasions  he  be  respected 
accordingly. 

Given  under  my  hand  at  Philadelphia,  this  the  20th  of 
July,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1794,  and  in  the  19th  year  of 
the  Independence  of  the  United  States. 

"G.  WASHINGTON. 
"By  command  of  the  President,  J.   KNOX." 

After  the  French  lost  their  claimed  possessions  upon  the 
North  American  continent  and  were  driven  therefrom,  the 
Chickasaws,  from  that  time  to  the  present,  have  been  at 
peace  with  the  world  of  mankind;  and  though  they  never 
wholly  recovered  from  the  long  devastating  wars  with  the 
French,  yet  they  fully  maintained  their  independence  to  the 
last. 

Their  country  lay  adjoining  the  Choctaws  on  the  north; 
and,  like  that  of  the  Choctaws,  was  as  fertile  and  beautiful 
a  country  as  the  eyes  of  man  ever  looked  upon;  as  it  ap 
peared  under  their  own  and  Nature's  rule,  it  indeed  pos 
sessed  a  charm  that  fascinated  the  admirers  and  lovers  of  the 
grand  and  the  beautiful.  There  was  a  beauty  bordering  on 
the  sublime  in  the  spring,  as  nature  unfolded  and  spread  out 
her  forest  robes;  also,  a  loveliness  in  the  summer,  with  her 


484  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

sh'ady  hills  and  valleys;  a  quiet,  too,  in  the  calm  and  mel 
low  autumn,  with  the  variegated  hues,  falling  leaves  and 
tranquil  scenes,  which  language  cannot  depict,  or  even  im 
agination  conceive.  D  With  no  undergrowth  whatever  the 
great  variety  of  majestic  trees  of  centuries  growth  covered 
the  hills  and  valleys;  yet  with  the  ground  everywhere  con 
cealed  under  a  thick  carpet  of  grass  one  to  two  feet  high,  in 
termixed,  especially  on  the  prairies,  with  wild  flowers  of 
every  shade  of  color,  covering  the  face  of  the  entire  earth. 
In  the  months  of  April  and  May  strawberries  were  found 
profusely  scattered  amid  the  grass  of  the  undulating  prairies 
that  lay  along  the  banks  of  their  rivers  and  creeks,  and  here 
and  there  scattered'amid[the  hills  and  valleys  of  their  forests; 
then  summer  too  yielded  her  immense  store  of  black 
berries  on  every  side;  in  turn,  followed  autumn  with  prodi 
gal  abundance  of  hickory  nuts  of  several  varieties,  walnuts, 
pecan,  buckle  berries,  wild  plums,  persimmons,  wild  grapes, 
muscadines,  all  of  excellent  flavor;  while  from  early  spring 
to  late  autumn,  among  the  wide  extended  branches  of  the 
forest  trees  high  above  the  verdant  carpet  of  green  that  lay 
spread  out  beneath  by  the  accomplished  hand  of  nature, 
their  forest  orchestra,  unsurpassed  by  the  art  of  man,  filled 
the  groves  with  melody  and  rivaled,  with  their  bright  and 
variegated  plumage,  the  hues  of  the  flowers  that  bloomed 
beneath,  seemingly  but  uto  waste  their  sweets  upon  the  de 
sert  air."  The  scene  seemed  indeed  as  if  the  hand  of  en 
chantment  had  suddenly  raised  a  forest  on  the  bosom  of  a 
primitive  prairie. 

There  amid  those  magnificent  parks  of  primitive  nature, 
deer  in  great  numbers,  grazed  with  their  cattle  and  horses, 
while  everywhere  could  be  seen  flocks  of  wild  turkeys 
feeding  under  the  forest  trees  whose  tops,  seemed  alive  with 
jolly  squirrels,  all  undisturbed  only  as  the  swift  arrow- from 
the  noiseless  bow  or  the  deadly  bullet  from  the  unerring  rifle 
demanded  food  for  the  Chickasaw;  while  the  vast  canebrakes 
along  all  the  water  courses  abounded  with  carnivorous  ani 
mals  of  various  kinds  in  great  numbers,  furnishing  skins  and 
furs  to  supply  the  necessities  of  the  lords  who  justly  claimed 
dominion  over  those  vast  solitudes  and  their  various  quad 
ruped  occupants,  and  who  were  as  noble  a  race  of  unlettered 
men  and  women  as  ever  lived  upon  earth;  wholly  free  by 
fortunate  ignorance  from  the  thousand  debasing  and  ruin 
ous  vices. 

But  to  one  who  has  witnessed  all  the  changes  which  have 
taken  place  in  the  native  characteristics  of  the  southern  In 
dians  in  their  former  independence  and  happiness,  as  also 
in  the  appearance  of  their  ancient  domains  since  their  first 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  485 

settlement  by  the  White  Race,  all  seem  as  a  dream  of  the 
night  or  romance  of  the  imagination;  and  he  finds  it  diffi 
cult  to  realize  the  features  of  that  forest  wilderness  which 
was  the  home  of  his  boyhood  days,  alike  with  that  of  the 
red  man.  The  humble  little  cabins  of  the  generous  and 
hospitable  Indians,  their  little  fields  of  corn,  pumpkins, 
potatoes  and  beans  that  furnished  their  supplies  of  bread, 
etc.,  have  long-  since  been  swallowed  up  in  the  wide-extended 
group  of  the  cotton  fields  of  civilization,  and  the  vast  forests 
have  disappeared,  leaving  no  trace  of  their  former  loveliness; 
.and  when  he  reflects  on  their  original  aspect,  his  thoughts 
seem  to  revert  to  a  period  of  time  greatly  more  remote  than 
it  really  is;  and  the  view  from  one  extreme  to  the  other  ap 
pears  as  that  of  an  opposite  shore  over  a  wide  expanse  of 
water,  whose  hills,  valleys  and  forests  present  a  confused 
but  romantic  scenery,  losing  itself  in  the  distant  horizon, 
though  doubling  the  retrospect  of  life;  and  did  not  the  defi 
nite  number  of  his  years  teach  him  the  contrary,  he  would 
imagine  himself  much  older  than  he  really  is.  But  how  dif 
ferent  it  must  be  with  those  who  have  passed  their  lives 
amid  cities  and  ancient  settlements,  where  the  same  un 
changing  aspect  presents  itself  from  year  to  year.  There 
the  years  come  and  go  with  no  striking  events  or  great 
changes  to  mark  their  different  periods,  and  give  them  an 
imaginary  distance  from  each  other,  and  life  passes  away  as 
an  illusion  or  dream,  to  close  in  bitter  murmurings  of  its 
shortness. 

A  few  years  after  the  exodus  of  the  Chickasaws  and 
Choctaws,  and  before  the  tide  of  white  emigration  had  set 
in  the  most  ppominent  feature  of  their  forsaken  country 
was  its  profound  solitude,  even  the  days  seeming  more  soli 
tary  than  the  nights;  nor  did  the  gobbling  of  the  wild  turkey, 
the  chattering  of  the  squirrel,  the  chirping  of  a  bird,  ming 
ling  -with  the  tapping  of  the  woodpecker  upon  the  hollow 
limb  of  a  decaying  tree,  seem  to  enliven  the  silent  and  lone 
ly  scene;  and  he  who  roamed  through  the  solitudes  of  the 
forests,  as  bequeathed  to  the  White  Race  by  the  Chickasaws 
and  the  Choctaws  in  1830,  was  truly  alone  and  far  away 
from  the  din  of  civilized  and  domesticated  life.  The  fad 
ing  rays  of  the  declining  sun  received  not  the  requiem  of 
the  song  of  the  laborer  returning  from  his  tpil;  but  its  sil 
ence  was  interrupted  by  the  howl  of  the  wolf  and  the  cry  of 
the  panther  issuing  from  the  canebrakes  in  quest  of  their 
prey  upon  the  highlands;  nor  were  his  returning  rays  on 
the'morn  announced  by  the  voice  of  the  domestic  cock,  but 
.by  the  hoot  of  the  owl  as  he  sought  the  deeper  solifcides  of 


486  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

the    dark    swamp   to    doze  away    the    unwelcome    light    of 
day. 

Though  such  a  hunter's  paradise  will  never  be  found 
again  upon  the  North  American  continent;  yet  hunting  alone 
was  not  wholly  free  of  danger,  and  though  the  hunter  was 
seldom  without  his  dog,  the  true  and  faithful  animal  to  man 
of  the  brute  creation,  whose  native  sagacity  taught  him  to- 
be  as  watchful  as  Argus  and  who  saw  everything  and  heard 
every  sound,  and  the  acuteness  of  whose  scent  gave  warn 
ing  of  all  approaching  enemies,  yet  when  in  eager  pursuit  of 
his  game,  with  hope  and  fear  alternately  predominating  in 
his  breast,  his  path  was  sometimes  beset  with  hidden  ene 
mies.  , Under  his  footsteps  the  sluggish,  yet  spiteful,  rattle 
snake,  then  abundant,  might  be  coiled  in  watchfulness  to  in 
flict  a  deadly  wound  upon  all  intruders  into  his  retreat;  Or 
the  wily  panther  stretched  upon  the  limbs  of  a  tree  might 
suddenly  drop  from  his  perch  upon  him  to  dispute  the  right 
of  man's  supremacy  over  the  brute  creation,  as  also  his 
cousin,  the  catamount,  which,  in  those  early  days,  not  unfre- 
quently  tried  his  physical  strength  with  man,  though  he  paid 
dearly  for  his  temerity,  since  his  sharp  teeth  and  keen  claws 
proved  of  little  avail  against  the  long,  keen-edged  knife  wield 
ed  by  the  hand  of  the  sturdy  hunter;  though  the  latter  al 
ways  bore,  as  trophies  of  his  victory,  the  unmistakable  evi 
dence  of  his  enemy's  valor. 

When  watching  at  a  deer  lick  at  night  by  the  light  of 
the  full  orbed  moon,  in  which  the  writer  has  indulged  years 
ago  in  the  Mississippi  forests  then  untouched  by  the  ax,  the 
hunter  found  as  his  rival  in  the  same  sport,  the  panther  or 
the  catamount,  sometimes  both;  and  whose  preseiice  was 
made  known  by  the  moving  shadow  cast  upon  the  ground  by 
moon-light  as  he  was  preparing  to  leap  from  his  perch 
upon  a  deer  that  had,  unconscious  of  danger,  walked  into 
the  lick.  An  incident  of  this  kind  happened  to  a  hunter  in 
Oktibbihaw  county,  Mississippi,  shortly  after  the  exodus 
of  the  Choctaws.  He  had  found  a  deer  lick  in  Catarpo 
(corruption  of  the  Choctaw  word  Katapah,  stopped  re 
ferring  to  the  obstructions  in  the  creek  by  drifts)  swamps, 
which  was  much  frequented  bv  the  deer.  He  built  a  scaf 
fold  15  or  20  feet  high  on  the  edge  of  a  lick,  and  on  a  beauti 
ful  night  of  the  full  moon,  shortly  after  sundown,  took  his 
seat  thereon.  About  10  o'clock  at  night  a  deer  noiselessly 
entered  the  lick  a  few  rods  distant  from  his  place  of  con 
cealment,  and,  began  licking  the  salty  earth;  he  was  just  in  the 
act  of  shooting  it,  when  his  attention  was  attracted  from  the 
deer  to  a  moving  shadow  upon  the  ground  between  him  and 
the  deer,  he  at  once  looked  up  to  ascertain  who  his  neighbor 


HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS.  487 

was,  and  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  see  a  huge  panther 
standing"  on  a  projecting  limb  of  a  tree,  that  reached  nearly 
over  and  just  behind  him,  and  preparing  to  spring  upon  the* 
unsuspecting  deer.  He  thought  no  more  of  the  deer,  and 
gave  his  undivided  attention  to  his  rival  who  had  unceremo 
niously  and  clandestinely  taken  his  seat  a  little  higher  and 
nearly  over  his  head  without  so  much  as  saying  "By  your 
leave."  Not  being  very  fastidious  just  then,  he  quietly 
yielded  the  right  of  precedence  to  his  fellow  hunter  above,  in 
all  things  pertaining  to  the  deer  quietly  licking  the  salty 
earth  below.  For  several  minutes  he  gazed  upon  ,the  huge 
beast  as  it  maneuvered  upon  the  limb  seemingly  doubtful  as 
to  making  a  successful  spring.  Finally  the  panther  made  a' 
tremendous  leap  from  the  limb,  passing  almost  directly  over 
the  hunter's  head,  and  lit  directly  upon  the  deer's  back. 
The  bleating  of  the  helpless  deer  momentarily  broke  the 
stillness  of  the  forest,  and  then  all  was  hushed.  The 
panther  pulled  his  victim  to  the  outer  edge  of  the  lick,  stood 
a  moment  and  then  with  mighty  bounds  disappeared  in  the 
surrounding  forests.  During  all  this  the  hunter  sat  quietly 
upon  his  perch  cogitating  over  the  novel  scene.  But  his 
reveries  were  suddenly  interrupted  by  a  wild  and  terrible 
yell,  seeminly  half  human  and  half  beast,  fearful  enough  to 
awaken  all  the  denizens  of  the  forest  for  miles  away;  then 
came  an  immediate  response  from  a  distant  point  in  the 
swamp.  That  was  enough  to  bring  the  hunters  cogitations 
to  a  fixed  determination,  which  was  clearly  manifested  by 
the  agility  disp^ed  in  descending  the  scaffold,  and  the 
schedule  time  on  which  :he  ran  towards  home,  leaving  the 
two  panthers  to  enjoy  their  unenvied  supper  of  venison  in 
their  native  woods  undisturbed.  Often  the  hunter  found 
the  panther  had  preceded  him  at  the  deer-licks;  in  all  such 
cases,  having  previously  resolved  never  to  dispute  preced 
ency  with  any  gentleman  of  that  family,  he  quietly  left  him 
to  the  undisputed,  possession  of  the  chance  of  venison  for 
that  night  particularly. 

The  Chickasaws,  at  the  time  the  missionaries  were 
established  among  them,  as  the  Choctaws  and  other  south 
ern  tribes,  lived  in  rude  log  houses  provided  with  a  few 
culinary  articles  (all  they  desired),  and  with  skins  and  furs, 
elaborately  dressed  and  finished,  for  their  bedding;  all  of 
which  were  principally  made  by  the  women,  who  were 
equally  skilled  in  the  art  of  making  earthenware  for  all  do 
mestic  purposes,  as  they  were  proficient  in  the  art  of  pre 
paring  the  skins  and  furs  of  various  animals  for  domestic 
use,  which  their  forests  so  bountifully  supplied.  Their 
shoes,  called  moccasins,  were  principally  made  of  the  skins. 


488,  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

of  deer  thoroughly  dressed  by  a  process,  unequalled  by  the 
art  of  the  whites,  and  beautifully  ornamented  with  little 
Treads  of  various  colors. 

As  ornaments,  the  men  wore  four  or  five  broad  crescents 
-of  tin  hig-hly  polished,  or  of  silver  when  to  be  obtained,  sus 
pended  upon  the  breast,  one  above  the  other,  and  one  around 
the  head.  They  also  used  little  beads  in  ornamenting  their 
leather  garments,  intermingled  with  fancy  embroidery. 
Their  favorite  embellishment,  as  with  all  North  American 
Indians,  was  the  vermilion  paint  with  which  they  decorated 
their  faces.  This  mode  of  decoration  was  confined  to  the 
men. 

The  women,  as  their  white  sisters,  wore  ornaments  sus 
pended  from  their  ears,  bracelets  around  their  necks,  and 
also  strings  of  various  kinds  of  gaudy  beads. 

The  ancient  Chickasaws  were  deservedly  celebrated  for 
their  handsome  young  women;  and  seldom  have  I  looked 
upon  such  specimens  of  female  grace  and  loveliness  as  I  have 
-.seen  among*  the  Chickasaws  three  quarters  of  a  century  ago 
in.  their  former  homes  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  nor  do 
they  fall  much  below  at  the  present  day.  Their  eyes  were 
dark  and  full  and  their  countenances  like  their  native  clime— 
always  beaming  with  sunshine — whose  'sympathetic  smiles, 
chased  fatigue  away  and  changed  the  night  of  melancholy 
into  day.  They  were  truly  beautiful  and,  best  of  all,  uncon- 
••sciouslv  so.  Oft  was  I  at  a  loss  which  most  to  admire — the 
.graceful  and  seemingly  perfect  forms,  finely  chiseled  fea 
tures,  lustrous  eyes  and  flowing  hair,  or  that  soft,  winning 
artlessness  which  was  so  pre-eminently  theirs. 

To  the  Chickasaws,  as  to  all  the  North  American  In 
dians,  worldly  honors  and  distinctions  that  arose  from  wealth 
•or  family  connections  were  as  empty  bubbles — unworthy  of 
their  consideration  or  anxiety.  Ignorant  of  commerce,  so 
they  were  utterly  ignorant  of  the  wealth  and  luxuries  of  the 
-civilized  world,  with  all  their  attending  vices,  nor  did  they 
desire  to  know.  Therefore,  they  lived  in  peaceful  content 
ment  and  died  in  blissful  ignorance  of  the  empty  distinction 
•of  wealth  or  rank;  thus  all  were  upon  a  natural  equality;  all 
•dressed  alike,  and  all  met  as  equals  everywhere,  at  all  times 
and  upon  all  occasions.  The  virtues  of  their  primitive  sim 
plicity  were  indeed  many.  Punctuality  and  ttonesty  in  their 
dealings,  and  unassumed  hospitality  to  strangers  were  hab 
itual;  unalloyed  friendship  and  cordiality  to  their  neighbors 
universal;  and  all  seemed  as  members  of  one  great,  loving 
.family,  connected  by  the  strongest  ties  of  consanguinity. 

The  greatest  care  was  bestowed  upon  their  children  by 
the  Chickasaw  mothers,  whom  they  never  allowed  to  be 

\ 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  489 

placed  upon  their  feet  before  the  strength  of  their  limbs 
would  safely  permit;  and  the  child  had  free  access  to  the 
maternal  breast  as  long- as  it  desired,  unless  the  mother's 
health  forbade  its  continuance.  Children  were  never  whipped 
by  the  parents,  but,  if  guilty  of  any  misdemeanor,  were 
sent  to  their  uncle  for  punishment  (the  same  as  the  Choc- 
taws),  who  only  inflicted  a  severe  rebuke  or  imposed  upon 
them  soro£_  little  penance,  or,  what  was  more  frequent,  made 
appeals  to  their  feeling's  of  honor  or  shame.  When  the  boys 
arrived  at  the"  age  of  proper  discrimination — so  considered 
when,  arrived  at  the  age  of  12  or  15  years — they  were  com 
mitted  to  the  instructions  of  the  old  and  wise  men  of  the 
village,  who,  at  various  intervals,  instructed  them  in  all  the 
necessary  knowledge  and  desired  qualifications  to  constitute 
them  successful  hunters  and  accomplished  warriors.  As 
introductory  lessons  they  were  instructed  in  the  arts  of 
swimming-,  running-,  jumping-,  wrestling-,  using  the  bow  and 
arrow;  also,  receiving  from  those  venerable  tutors  those 
precepts  of  morality  which  should  regulate  their  conduct 
when  arrived  at  manhood.  The  most  profound  respect  (a 
noted  charrcteristic  of  the  North  American  Indians)  was 
paid  everywhere  to  the  'oldest  person  in  every  family, 
whether  male  or  female,  and  whose  decisions  upon  all  dis 
puted  points  were  supreme  and  final,  and  were  received  with 
cheerful  and  implicit  obedience.  No  matter  how  distant 
their  blood  relations  might  be,  all  the  members  of  a  family 
addressed  its  head  as  father  or  mother,  as  the  case  might 
be;  and  whenever  they  meant  to  speak  of  him  (their  natural 
father),  they  said,  -"My  real  father,"  in  contradistinction  to 
that  of  father  applied  to  the  chief  or  head  of  the  family. 

The  itinerant  white  trader,  with  his  smuggled  whiskey, 
was,  has  ever  been,  is  and  will  ever  be,  the  patent  instru 
ment  in  the  hands  of  the  devil  of  demoralization  among  all 
Indians,  and  counteracted  the  moral  and  religious  influence, 
teachings  and  regulations  of  the  missionaries  of  the  long 
ago,  as  well  as  of  the  present  day.  Still  those  devoted 
teachers  of  righteousnessof  the  long  past  succeeded  ineffect 
ually  removing  forever  many  of  their  ancient  superstitious 
customs  and  beliefs  in  almost  and  incredible  short  space  of 
time.  The  power  and  influence  of  the  "Medicine  Man,"  the 
magic  power  of  their  personal  totems,  and  alike  that  of  the 
Rain  Maker,  the  Prophet,  soon  vanished  before  the  light  of 
the  Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  as  mists  before  the/morning 
sun;  and  it  was  truly  affecting  to  witness  with  what  deep  and 
unfeigned  interest  they  listened  to.  the  history  of  the  Cross, 
as  narrated  by  those  true  and  devoted  servants  of  God,  sev 
enty-five  years  ago;  and  how  soon,  under  the  Divine  guid- 


490  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

ance,  they  seemed  to  comprehend  and  feel  the  regenerating 
influence  of  revealed  religion.  With  unfeigned  astonish 
ment  they, heard  the  story  of  the  atonement.  For  a  man  to 
yield  his  life  to  the  demands  of  a  violated  law  for  the  life  he 
had  taken,  or  that  a  friend  might  die  for  a  friend,  was  their 
own  law  and  creed;  but  for  one  to  voluntarily  die  for  a  known 
and  inveterate  enemy — yea,  for  the  Son  of  the  Great  Spirit 
to  willingly  die  for  those  who  despised  and  reviled  him  re 
quired  more  than  the  logic  and  eloquence  of  the  missionaries 
could  accomplish;  but  it  pleased  the  Divine  Spirit  to  enlighten 
their  understandings,  and  they  soon  manifested  an  earnest 
faith  clearly  visible  in  their  prayers,  daily  walk  and  conver 
sation  and  in  their  lives  and  deaths.  Thus  God  himself 
proved  the  whites  that  the  live  Indian  was  as  good  as  the  live 
white  man,  and  in  many  respects  better. 

As  the  art  of  writing  was  unknown  to  the  .Chickasaws, 
before  the  advent  of  the  missionaries  among  them;  their 
history  rested  alone  upon  tradition,  in  common  with  the  In 
dian  race,  handed  down  through  succeeding  generations; 
and  that  a  correct,  truthful  and  enduring  knowledge  of  their 
traditional  love  might  be  imparted  to  each  generation,  as,  in 
turn,  it  took  its  place  upon  the  stage  of  life,  and  which  each 
was  taught  to  regard  as  sacred  and  to  cherish  with  the 
greatest  fidelity,  that,  in  their  turn,  they  might  also  be  able 
to  transmit  it  to  their  successors  with  the  exact  minute 
ness  they  had  received  it,  the  young  men,  as  the  future 
repositories  of  the  past,  were,  at  various  intervals,  sum 
moned  before  the  aged  patriarchs  of  the  Nation  to  have  re 
hearsed  to  them  the  sacred  things  in  which  they -had  been 
previously  instructed,  and  which  were  soon  to  be  wholly 
entrusted  to  their  care,  that  it  might  be  ascertained  whether 
there  would  be  found  any  omissions  from  forgetfulness,  or 
additions  proceeding  from  nights  of  youthful  fancy,  or  the 
pruriency  of  invention;  thus  evincing  a  regard  for  histori 
cal  narrators  highly  commendable  and  worthy  of  imitation 
by  all  recorders  of  events. 

It  was  a  general  custom  among  all  the  southern  Indians, 
and  no  doubt  of  the  northern  Indians  also,  when  they  be 
lieved  a  just  cause  of  war  against  another  tribe  had  pre 
sented  itself,  to  pursue  a  certain  preliminary  course,  though 
similar  to  a  great  extent,  yet  must  be  regarded  as  having  its 
origin  in  a  custom  which  became  the  law  of  Nations.  In  all 
such  cases  the  old  men  of  the  Nation  constituted  the  council 
of  war,  who  deliberated  with  great  gravity  and  solemnity 
upon  a  question  involving  such  momentous  and  dubious  re 
sults.  But  in  all  their  deliberations,  whether  issues  of  the 
highest  or  lowest  importance  were  at  stake,  the  one  speak- 


HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS.  491. 

ing-  was  never  interrupted  under  any  circumstance  ;  and 
even  in  social  conversation  but  one  talked  while  the  others- 
listened  in  profound  silence  and  with  strict  attention.  This 
was  a  universal  characteristic  among  all  southern  Indians, 
which  I  have  learned  by  personal  observation  among-  the 
Chickasaws  and  Choctaws  'during  a  life  of  over  seventy-five 
years,  and  also  by  reliable  information  from  others  who- 
lived  for  many  years  among  other  tribes;  and  it  was  difficult 
for  them  to  reconcile  the  chattering  of  the  whites  in  their 
social  gatherings  with  their  ideas  of  propriety  and  good 
sense,  when  hearing  them  all  talking  at  the  same  time,  to 
them'  apparently  without  a  listener. 

Du  Pratz,  in  1716,  when  speaking  of  this  noble  charac 
teristic  of  the  southern  Indians,  says  he  had  often  noticed 
the  smile  that  played  upon  the  lips  of  the  Natchez  Indians, 
on  many  occasions,  and  had  asked  them  the  reason,  but  in 
variably  received  the  same  reply — "What  is  it  to  you?'r 
Finally  one,  after  frequent  solicitations,'  answered:  "If  we 
smile  when  we  see  you  talking  together  it  is  because  you  re 
mind  us  of  a  flock  of  cackling  geese."  Verily,  Mr.  Natchez, 
if  you  could  attend  a  modern  "social,"  fully"  understanding 
the  English  language,  your  sense  of  justice  and  honor  would 
compel  you  to  make  humble  acknowledgments  to  every  goose 
you  met,  for  the  insult  offered  (though  inadvertently)  to  her 
race  in  illustrating  the  senseless  chatterings  of  a  "social" 
by  the  significant  language  of  her  illustrious  family  in  loving 
association  assembled. 

But  to  return  to  the  council  of  war.  If,  after  due  delib 
eration,  they  concluded  that  their  Nation  had  been  wronged 
to  such  a  degree  as  to  justify  their  action,  an  embassy  was 
immediately  sent  to  seek  redress!  If  granted,  the  "Pipe  of 
Peace"  was  then  smoked  and  a  renewal  of  friendship  estab 
lished. 

The  "Pipe  of  Peace,"  which  was  tastefully  decorated 
with  a  profusion  of  fanciful  ornaments,  the  white  feathers- 
of  the  eagle  being  the  most  conspicuous,  was  respected 
everywhere  by  the  North  American  Indians,  and  the  bearers 
of  that  sacred  emblem  were  always  safe  in  going  and  re 
turning  under  any  and  all  circumstances. 

But  if  satisfactory  explanation  was  refused,  the  em 
bassy  hastily  returned  home,  and  the  warriors  of  the  Na 
tion  at  once  'summoned  in  council,  in  which  war  measures- 
were  discussed  and  adopted  duringwhich  the  "Pipe  of  ^STar" 
was  smoked;  this  pipe  was  similar  in  shape  to  the  peace- 
pipe,  with  the  exception  that  the  colors  of  its  ornaments 
were  different,  red  being  the  most  prominent. 

During  these  preliminaries,  the  opening  tribe   not  un- 


492  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

mindful  of  the  gathering-  storm,  were  also  performing-  their 
war  ceremonies.  With  some  tribes,  a  declaration  of  war 
was  made  by  leaving  a  hieroglyphic  picture  near  a  principal 
villag-e  of  the  Nation  ag-ainst  which  war  was  declared,  and 
'executed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  fully  comprehended  by 
the  challenged  who  the  challengers  were.  If  the  challenged 
did  not  desire  war,  an  embassy  bearing  the  pipe  of  peace 
was  immediately  sent  to  the  offended  Nation  with  full  powers 
of  negotiating  for  combined  peaceful  relations  between  the 
two  nations,  which  most  always  terminated  successfully. 

When  preparing  for  war,  the  Chickasaws,  like  their  en 
tire  race,  of  whom  I  have  read  or  personally  known,  painted 
their  faces  in  such  a  manner  (known  only  to  the  North 
American  Indians)  as  to  give  the  face  an  expression  of  fierce- 
ness  that  must  be  seen  to  be  justly  comprehended.  A  few 
days  before  going  upon  the  war-path  a  day  was  solemnly 
appointed  for  a  great  feast,  consisting  of  all  the  varieties  of 
food  that  could  be  obtained;  but  every  night  previous  to  the 
day  of  the  feast  those  contemplatiug  going  upon  the  war 
path  engaged  in  the  war-dance  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
nights  dressed  in  all  the  paraphernalia  of  Indian  warfare. 
Tl^e  warriors  also  came  to  the  prepared  feast  fully  equipped 
with  every  necessary  appertaining  to  the  war-path,  but  with 
no  superfluous  articles  whatever  that  might  have  a  tendency 
to  impede  their  actions.  Before  they  partook  of  the  waiting 
repast  some  celebrated  old  chief  or  noted  old  warrior,  with 
the  war-pipe  in  his  hand,  who,  from  the  decrepitude  of  age, 
had  been  placed  upon  the  "retired  list"  among  the  seers  and 
prophets  of  the  Nation,  delivered  a  speech  to  the  war-going 
company,- in  which  he  rehearsed  his  own  exploits,,  not  in  the 
spirit  of  self-adulation,  but  as  an  honest  exhortation  to  them 
to  emulate  his  deeds  of  heroic  valor;  then  enpouraged  them 
to  go  in  trusting  confidence;  to  be  great  in  manly  courage 
and  strong'  in  heart;  to  be  watchful,  keen  in  sight  and  fleet 
in  foot ;  to  be  attentive  in  ear  and  unfailing  in  endurance;  to 
be  cunning  as  the  fox,  sleepless  as  the  wolf  and  agile  as  the 
panther;  not  to  be  eager  beyond  prudence  ;  and  when  wis 
dom  so  dictates,  to  flee  as  the  swift  antelope,  as  your  lives 
are  of  great  worth  to  your  Natiou,  and  even  one  life  neces 
sarily  or  unnecessarily  sacrificed,  will  bring  sorrow  to  the 
hearts  of  your  people.  But  to  the  appreciation  of  which  no 
outward  manifestation  whatever  was  made,  as  an  Indian 
warrior  is  ever  silent  upon  any  and  all  emotions  of  his  heart, 
yet  the  aged  orator  plainly  read  its  significance  in  each  silent 
and  attentive  face,  and  was  satisfied.  Then  he  filled  the 
war-p'ipe  with  prepared  sumac  leaves  and  tobacco;  lighted 
it;  drew  a  few  whiffs,  then  passed  it  to  the  war-chief,  the 


\  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  493 

leader  of  the  •  forth-going  war-party,  who  also  drew  a  few 
puffs,  and  from  him  it  went  the  rounds  of  the  entire  party, 
each  in  profound  silence  drawing  a  whiff  or  two  snd  then 
passing  it  to  the  next  in  turn.  .  After  this  impressive  cere 
mony  they  turned  to  the  prepared  feast  and  did  ample  justice 
thereto;  after  which,  the  "war-post,"  painted  red,  was  set 
up,  at  which  the  chief  of  the  war-party  rushed  and  struck 
with  his  tomahawk  with  all  his  strength,  as  if  one  of  the 
enemy.  Then  followed  his  warriors  in  regular  order,  each 
doing  the  same. 

Then  followed  again  the  war-dance,  the  finale  of  the  war 
ceremonies,  which  continued  two  or  three  consecutive  nights 
during  the  intervening  days  of  which  their  relatives  and 
friends  observed  a  strict  fast  and  engaged  in  solemn  and 
supplicating  prayer  to  the  Great  Spirit  for  their  success 
against  their  enemies,  and  their  safe  return. 

The  Chickasaws  were  addicted  to  one  vice,  the  vice  of 
gambling.  They  bet  on  the  proper  handling  and  the  skill 
ful  shuffling  of  his  ball-sticks,  the  fleetness  of  his  feet, 
and  his  power  of  endurance;  while  his  white  brother  risked 
his  money  on  the  proper  handling  and  skillful  shuffling  of 
his  paper  cards.  \ 

Among  the  many  redeeming  traits  of  the  Chickasaws 
(though  they  did  bet  on  their  ball-plays — a  custom  long  lost 
in  the  shadows  of  the  dim  historic  past)  there  was  one 
that  "hides  a  multitude  of  sins" — it  ts  their  care  for  and 
protection  of  their  orphans;  and  it  is  the  universal  testimony 
of  all  personally  acquainted  with  the  various  traits  of  Indian 
characteristics,  that  no  race  of  people,  of  whose  history 
there  is  any  record,  ever  excelled  the  North  American  In 
dians  in  this  particular  virtue.  Never  have  there  been  found 
among  the  Chickasaws  or  ChoctawTs  homeless  and  friendless 
orphan  children,  thrown  out  to  shift  for  themselves,  and  left 
"to  root  pig  or  die."  I  speak  from  a  personal  knowledge  of 
seventy-five  years  and  know  of  what  I  speak;  and  I  am  sus 
tained  in  the  assertion,  broad  as  it  may  seem,  by  the  united 
testimony  of  all  the  missionaries  who  labored  among  them 
east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  some  of  wrhom  came  with 
them  to  their  present  place  of  abode;  and  no't  only  does  this 
noble  and  God-approved  virtue  belong  to  the  Chickasaws  and 
Choctaws,  but  also  to  all  North  American  Indians,  and  the 
missionaries  among  them  everywhere  have  publicly  attested 
its  truth.  I  have  seen,  time  and  again,  in  many  families 
among  the  Chickasa\vs  and  Choctaws  from  one  to  four  adop 
ted  orphan  children;  and  they  were  adopted,  not  through 
mercenary  motives — the  hope  of  gain — but  in  the  true  spirit 
of  the  word,  actuated  by  the  divine  principle  of  justice  and 


494  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

compassion  for  the  fatherless,  motherless  and  homeless, 
.adopted  in  the  full  meaning-  and  sense  of  the  word,  to  be 
'  protected,  cared  for  and  loved,  not  to  be  enslaved  for  the  few 
•dollars  and  cents  that  anticipation  whispered  would  be  made 
out  of  them  by  adoption.  And  one  might  live  a  lifetime  in  a 
family  of  adopted  orphans,  and,  unless  told,  he  would  not 
even  suspect  but  that  all  the  children  were  of  the  same 
parentage. 

The  ancient  Chickasaw  divisions  of  the  tribe  were  called 
Yakissah,  (here  stops).  In  reference  to  family  connections 
in  marrying  they  were  the  same  as  the  Choctaws,  No  per- 
•sons  of  the  same  Yakissah  were  allowed  to  marry.  Also 
they  have  been  called  In  Chukka  Holhtenah  Hochifo,  most 
frequently  abbreviated  to  Inchukka  holhte  chifo,  his  house 
{or  clan)  is  numbered  and  named;  and  with  the  same  refer-1 
•ence  as  Yakissah,  and  also  Iksa  of  the  Choctaws.  If  a  man 
violated  the  law  by  marrying  a  woman  of  his  own  Yakissah 
{or  house),  he  forfeited  his  own  rights  and  privileges,  and 
also  his  children  of  the  same;  but  the  wife  forfeited  noth 
ing. 

The  Chickasaws,  like  their  brethren,  the  Choctaws, 
never  betrayed  any  trust  reposed  in  them.  No  matter  what 
whether  of  great  value  or  of  little  consequence,  was  left  in 
their  charge  to  be  taken  care  of,  that  confidence  was  never 
betrayed.  They  were  true  to  their  friendship,  never  being 
the  first  to  violate  its  sacred  ties;  yet  bitter  i»  their  ani 
mosity,  even  as  all  the  fallen  race  of  unfortunate  Adam. 
B^ut  like  all  their  race  of  the  long  ago,  they  too  possessed  but 
little  idea  of  compensation;  therefore  were  easily  made  the 
victims  of  unprincipled  white  traders  who  -well  knew  how  to 
•defraud  them,  and  had  no  compunctions  of  conscience  to  use 
that  knowledge  to  their  own  pecuniary  advantage',  though  to 
the- utter  impoverishment  of  the  Indian.  But  the  Chicka 
saws,  beginning  to  realize  that  they  received  very  little  in  re 
turn  for  a  very  large  amount  given,  adopted  a  very  proper 
plan,  as  they  thought,  to  test  the  honesty  of  all  white 
traders,  but  which  gave  them  completely  into  their  hands. 
It  was  this:  They  first  offered  for  sale  the  most  indiffer 
ent  article  they  had  in  whatever  the  line  of  barter  consisted, 
and  asked  a  higher  price  for  it  than  its  intrinsic  value;  and 
if  the  white  man  accepted  it  without  dispute,  it  was  sufficient 
evidence  to  them  that  he  did  not  design  to  wrong  them,  and 
their  confidence  in  his  integrity  was  firmly  established. 
But  if  the  trader  refused  to  make  the  purchase  in  harmony 
with  the  Chickasaw's  offer,  the  bargain  was  at  once  closed 
by  the  suspicion  that  the  white  man  intended  to  defraud 
them.  -  But  the  Whites  soon  learning  the  Chickasaws' 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  495 

method  of  testing-  their  honesty  (though  utterly  void  of  the 
virtue),  at  once  bought  the  first  article  offered  at  the  full 
price  set  upon  it  by  the  owner  without  a  whimper^  and  thus 
gained  their  confidence;  and  without  hesitation,  entered  the 
door  of  trade  thus  opened  and  continued  to  defraud  the  mis 
guided  Chickasaws. 

The  ancient  Chickasaws  had  four  laws  only;  all  of  which 
were  strictly  adhered  to  and  rigidly  enforced  throughout  the 
entire  Yakissahs  of  the  Nation.  First,  the  law  of  murder, 
which  placed  the  slayer  wholly  and  exclusively  inthe  hands  of 
of  the  oldest  brother  of  the  slain,  whenever  failed  to  execute 
the  law  whose  claims  were  thus  entrusted  to  his  care  and 
keeping,  the  standing  verdict  of  which  was  "An  eye  for  an 
eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth." — death.  In  case  the  deceased 
liad  no  brother  or  brothers,  then  one  of  the  next  nearest  and 
oldest  male  relative  became' the  self-appointed  executioner  of 
the  violated  law  in  which  no  delinquent  was  ever  found.  Nor 
did  anyone,  not  even  the  nearest  relations  of  the  slayer,  in 
terfere  in  the  matter  in  any  way  whatever— either  to  assist 
or  oppose.  If  the  slayer  fled,  which  was  very  seldom  if  ever 
the  case,  his  oldest  brother,  and  if  he  had  no  brother,  then 
the  next  nearest  and  oldest  relative  in  the  male  line  was 
slain  in  his  place;  after  which  he  could  return  in  safety  and 
without  the  fear  of  molestation,  but  to  be  ostracised  and  for 
ever  stigmatized  as  a  coward  wherever  he  went,  a  punish 
ment  more  to  be  dreaded  by  all  North  American  Indians 
than  a  hundred  deaths.  In  all  such  cases  a  woman  was  never 
slain  in  the  place  of  a  man.  On  account  of  this  rigid  and  in 
exorable  custom  of  dealing  with  him  who  had  slain  his  fel- 
lowman,  murders  were  very  few  and  far  between,  as  the 
slayer  well  knew  the  inevitable  consequence  that  would  follow 
unless  he  fled  to  parts  unknown,  which  would  be  attended 
with  eternal  disgrace  to  himself,  family  and  kindred,  at  the 
sacrifice  also  of  his  brother's  life,  or  next  nearest  male  rela 
tive. 

Second,  whipping  for  minor  offenses;  after  which  the 
culprit  was  reinstated  to  favor  without  any  disgrace  being 
attached  to  his  name  for  his  offense  or  punishment.  He  had 
violated  the  law,  but  had  paid  the  penalty  thereunto  attached. 
The  claims  of  the  law  were  satisfied  and  therefore  it  was  a 
thing  of  the  past,  to  be  mentioned  no  more,  and  it  never  was. 

Fourth.  The  property  of  deceased  parents  descended 
to  the  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  deceased,  and  not  to  their 
own  children. 

To  us  a  strange,  unjust  and  inconsistent  law;  but  of 
which  I  was  informed,  as  above  recorded,  by  Governor  Cyrus 
Harris,  in  1886,  who  was  regarded  as  among  the  best  posted 


496  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

of  the  Ghickasaws  in  regard  to  their  laws  and  customs  when 
living-  in  their  ancient  domains,  and .  whose  veracity  was 
never  questioned  by  all  who  knew  him,  either  among  his  own 
race  or  that  of  the  white. 

Up  to  the  time  the  Chickasaws  moved  west  (1836-'38), 
their  country  was  divided  into  three  districts,  viz:  Tisho- 
mingo,  Sealy  and  McGilvery.  At  the  time  of  their  exodus 
west  to  their  present  places  of  abode,  Tishomingo  (properly 
Tishu  Miko,  chief  officer  or  guard  of  the  king)  was  the  chief 
of  the  Tishu  Miko  district;  Samuel  Sealy,  of  the  Sealy  dis 
trict,  and  William  McGilvery,  of  the  McGilvery  district. 

The  Chickasaw  ruler  was  styled  king  instead  of  chief? 
and  his  chief  officer  was  called  Tishu  Miko. 

Ishtehotohpih  was  the  reigning  king  at  the  time  they 
left  their  ancient  places  of  abode  east  of  the  Mississippi 
river  for  those  west.  He  died  in  1840.  He  was  the  last  of 
the  Chickasaw  rulers  who  bore  the  title,  king.  After  his 
death  the  monarchical  form  of  government,  which  was 
hereditary,  as  I  was  informed  by  Governor  Cyrus  ^Harris, 
was  abolished,  and  the  form  of  Republicanism  adopted. 
^Tbe  power  of  their  kings  was  very  circumscribed,  being  only 
'about  equal  to  that  of  their  present  governor.  The  king's 
wife  was  called  queen,  but  clothed  with  no  authority  what 
ever,  and  regarded  only  as  other  Chickasaw  women. 

That  Tishu  Miko  was  a  wise  counselor  and  brave  war 
rior  among  the  Chickasaws  is  about  all  that  has  escaped 
oblivion,  as  little  has  been  -preserved  of  his  life  by  tradition 
or  otherwise.  He  was  the  acting  Tishu  Miko  of  Ishteho 
tohpih  at  the  time  of  the  removal  of  his  people  to  the  west. 
He  died  in  1839,  the  year  before  his  royal  master.  He  was 
appointed  during  life  as  one  of  the  chief  counselors  to  Ishte 
hotohpih  ;  and  when  he  advised  the  king  upon  any  mooted 
question,  so  great  was  his  influence  over  the  other  counsel 
ors,  as  Governor  Harris  stated,  that  they  at  once  unani 
mously  acquiesced  to  his  propositions,  but  invariably  with 
the  reiterated  exclamation,  "That's  just  what  I  thought! 
That's  just  what  I  that!"  while  the  king  said  but  little,  but 
generally  adopted  the  suggestions  of  Tishu  Miko. 

Tushkaapela  (Warrior-Helper)  was  a  former  Chickasaw 
king,  but  was  made  an  invalid  for  life  by  an  accident  which 
rendered  him  unable  to  walk  in  an  upright  position,  but 
slowly  crawled  about  by  means  of  a  buck's  horn  in  each 
'hand  extended  behind  him,  and  his  feet  thrust  forward,  pre 
senting  an  object  of  great  compassion.  His  wife  was  named 
Pakarli  (blossom),  corrupted  by  the  whites  Puc-caun-la. 

The  ancient  Chickasaws,  unlike  the  Choctaws,  buried 
their  dead  soon  after  life  became  extinct;  placing  in  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  497 

grave  with  the  corpse,  if  a  man,  his  clothes,  war  and 
hunting-  implements,  pipe  and  tobacco,  and  a  few  provisions; 
if  a  woman  or  child,  the  clothes  and  other  little  articles  the 
deceased  may  have  prized  in  life,  and  a  few  provisions.  A 
Chickasaw  widow  mourned  twelve  full  moons  for  her  de 
ceased  husband,  while  the  other  relatives  prolonged  their 
mourning  only  three;  at  the  close  of  which  a  Special  Cry 
was  appointed  at  night,  which  was  kept  up  until  the  break 
of  day;  then  the  end  of  the  hair  of  the  mourners  was  clipped 
and  a  string  handed  to  them  with  which  they  tied  up  their 
hair,  which  had  been  permitted  to  hang  loose  over  their 
shoulders  from  the  death  of  their  kindred  to  the  end  of  the 
three  moons,  the  appointed  time  for  mourning. 

Suicide  was  sometimes  committed  by  the  ancient 
Chickasaws,  but  very  seldom.  When  it  was, "  it  was  invari 
ably  done  with  their  favorite  instrument  of  death,  the 
rifle. 

Many  of  their  doctors  were  well  informed  in  the  medi 
cinal  properties  of  various  herbs  and  roots  found  in  nature's 
pharmacopoeia,  and  were  remarkably  successful  in  their 
practice,  especially  in  cases  of  common  fevers,  the  bite  of 
snakes,  and  many  other  ills  to  which  frail  humanity  is  so 
subject  everywhere;  they  were  more  skilful  years  ago  than 
at  the  present  day,  relying  principally  upon  the  white  doc 
tors  located  among  them. 

But  much  practical  sense  would  the  best  white  physi 
cians  of  the  long  ago  have  displayed,  and  much  useful  infor 
mation  'obtained  concerning  the  medicinal  virtues  of  many 
herbs  which  Nature  then  presented  in  her  wild  botanical 
garden  (now  forever  lost)  if  they  had  humbled  their  foolish 
pride  of  imagined  superiority  over  the  Indian  enough  to  have 
studied  his  pharmacy  a  little  more  attentively. 

When  living  in  the  ancient  domains  of  their  fathers  the 
Chickasaws  had  many  native  women  among  them  who  prac 
ticed  the  healing  art;  and  not  a  few  of  them  became  quite 
adepts  in  their  profession.  A  few  female  physicians  are  still 
found  among  them. 

^  Some  of  the  most  skillful  doctors  were  regarded  by 
their  people  as  being  not  only  wise  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
medicinal  properties  of  various  herbs  and  roots  which  their 
boundless  forests  furnished  so  abundantly,  but  also  gjfted 
with  the  power  of  making  it  rain  when  so  inclined;  but  they 
did  not  make  as  frequent  illustrations  of  that  power  bv  act 
ual  experiment,  as  did  some  of  the  Choctaws. 

As  a.nong  all  North  American  Indians,  .as  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  ascertain,  so  too  had  the  Chickasaws  those  priv 
ileged  personages,  the  Rain  Maker,  Medicine  Man  and  the 


498  HISTORY1  OF    THE   INDIANS. 

r 

Prophet,  or  Seer.  The  first,  in  seasons  of  protracted  drouth, 
was  invoked  to  exert  his  mysterious  power  to  bring-  about  an 
abundant  shower;  the  second  to  interpret  dreams  and  charm, 
away  spells,  and  the  third  to  lift  the  veil  from'  the   dim   and 
_  mystic   future.     But   in   this   they  differed  not  from   all  the 
"  human  race  whose  minds  had  not  been  illuminated  by  the  di 
vine  rays  of  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God. 

The   ancient   manner. of  Chickasaw   courtship  was   not 
very  taxing. upon  the  sensitiveness  pf  thebashful,  perspective 
groom;  since,  when  he  wished  to  make  known  to  any  young- 
lady  of  his  tribe   the  emotions  of  his  heart  in  regard  to  her, 
he  had  but   to  send  a  small  bundle  of  clothing-  carefully  tied 
up  in  a  large    cotton  handkerchief  (similar  in  dimensions  to  a 
medium-sized   table   cloth,  very  common  in   those  primitive 
days   of    ignorant   bliss,  when   fashion   and   folly   were 'un 
known)  by  his  mother  or  sister  to  the  girl  he  desired  to  make 
his  wife.     This   treasure  of  acknowledged   love    was   imme 
diately  taken  possession  of  by  the  mother  of  the  wished-for 
bride   and   kept  for  a  few  days  before   presenting   it   to  her 
daughter;  and  when   presented,  if  accepted,  it   was   a  bona 
fide  acknowledgement  on  her   part  of  her   willing-ness  to  ac 
cept  him  as  her  husband,  of  which  confession  he  was  at  once 
duly  notified;  if  otherwise,  the   subject  was   there   and  then 
forever   dropped,   and   the    disappointed    and     disconsolate 
swain  found  consolation  in  the  privilege  extended  to  all  such 
cases,  that  of  presenting  another  bundle  of  clothes  wrapped 
in  a  similar  mantle  of  cotton,  to  some  other  forest  beauty  in 
which  his   country-so   profusely  abounded.     But  best  of  all, 
the   swain,  whether   bold  or  timid,  was   always  spared  that 
fearful   and   dreaded  ordeal  of  soliciting   the    "yes"   of  the 
* 'old  folks,"  as   his   mother   took  that  imperative  and   obnox 
ious  duty  upon  herself,  and   was   almost   always  successful 
in   the   accomplishment   of   the   desired  object.     The  coast 
being  clear  of  all  breakers,  the  elated  lover   painted  his  face 
in  exact  conformity  to  the   latest   and   most   approved  style, 
donned  his  best  suit,  and  soug-ht  the  home  of  his  betrothed 
with  fluttering  heart,  who,  strictly  on   the  lookout,  met  him 
a  few   rods   from   the    door,  and    proudly  and   heroically  es 
corted  him   into   the   house   where   they,  themselves,  in  the 
presence  of  friends   and    relatives,  performed  the  marriage 
ceremony  by  the   man    presenting   the  woman  with  a  ham  of 
venison;  or  a  part  of  some  other  eatable  animal  of  the  chase; 
she  at  the   same  time  presenting  him  with  an  ear  of  corn,  or 
sack  of  potatoes,  all  of  which  betokened  the  man  should  pro 
vide  the  household  with   meat,  and   the   woman   with  bread. 
Thus  they  were   made   man  and  wife,  and  so  considered  by 
all. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  499 

The  Chickasaws,  as  all  the  human  race  in  all  ages  past, 
indulged  in  that  time  honored  amusement,  the  dance.  Their 
ancient  national  dances  were  the  same  as  the  Choctaws; 
Hoyopa-hihla  (war-dance);  Hakshup-hihla,  (scalp-dance); 
Tolih-hihla,  (ball-play  dance);  Tanschusi-hihla  (green  corn 
dance);  Yunnushhihla,  (buffalo  dance.)  Then  followed  the 
-social  or  fun-making  dances,  such  as  Akanka-hihla, 
(chicken  dance);  Issuba-hihla,  (horse  dance);  Shut-tun-nih- 
hih-la  (tick-dance);  all  of  which  excelled,  in  purity  of  senti 
ment,  many  of  the  civilized  exotics,  adopted  bv  us,  in  this 
Vefined  age  of  Christian  progress,  such  as  the  "round- 
dance,"  etc.,  if  all  be  true  that  is  stated  about  them  by  those 
who  still  retain  some  idea  of  decency  and  respect  for  its  just 
claims.  But  I  judge  only  from  hear-say,  never  having  wit 
nessed  the  "heart-refining  and  soul-elevatingN"  perform 
ances. 

In  a  few  only  of  their  social  dances,  all  of  which  were 
performed  in  the'open  air,  men  and  woman  participated  to 
gether.  Rarely  more  than  Sne  musician  at  a  time  engage^ 
in  that  department  of  the  entertainment,  whose  music  was 
of  that  quality  which  soon  satisfied  the  ear  of  even  the  most 
fastidious;  he  sat  sometimes  on  a  block  of  wood,  and  some 
times  on  his  mother  earth,  upon  whose  non-chiding  bosom 
the  dancers  also  as  recklessly  "tipped  the  fantastic  toe,"  as 
he  unyieldingly  beat  a  little  drum,  accompanied  its  monoto 
nous  tones  with  his  voice  in  a  chanting  kind  of  soothing  lul 
laby,  to  the  facinating  powers  of  which  the  dancers  gave 
joyous  heed. 

The  Chickasaws  had  two  dances  sacred  to  the  women 
alone  and  in  which  they  only  engaged.  One  was  called  Iti- 
lusahihla  (Blackwood  dance);  the  other,  Itakhalusahihla 
(Blackmouth  dance),  which,  no  doubt,  might  justly  dispute 
for  rivalship  with  their  pale-face  sisters,  when  in  their  part 
ners'  scientific  embrace  in  the  performance  of  the  fashion 
able  "round  dance" — at  least  as  far  as  external  appearance 
indicates — judging  only  from  "hearsay,"  however. 

They  also  had  a  dance  called  Tanspichifah  (crushed  or 
pounded  corn),  in  which  various  meats  were  mixed  and  cook 
ed,  now  called  Tarns-pe-sho-fah.  This  dance  was  only  per 
formed  before  the  door  of  a  house  in  which  lay  the  sick  and 
only  indulged  in  at  the  injunction  of  the  alikchi  (doctor)  who 
was  attending  the  sick;  this  ancient  dance  of  the  years  of 
the  long  past  is  still  kept  up  among  the  Chickasaws  by  some 
of  the  full  bloods. 

When  a  doctor  was  called  in  to  see  a  patient  if  after  ex- 
•  erting  his  skill  in  the  knowledge  of  the  medicinal  virtues 
known  in  nature's  pharmacy,  newfound  his  patient  gradually 


500  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

growing  worse,  he  ordered  a  Tanspichifah  hihla.  At  once 
it  was  announced  by  sending-  messengers  throughout  the 
neighborhood,  and  the  appointed  day  found  the  friends  as-" 
sembled.  Then  a  straig-ht  line  was  drawn  from  the  centre 
of  the  doorway  of  the  house  in  which  the  sick  was  confined, 
to  a  smooth  and  straight  pole  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  in  length,, 
gaily  decorated,  that  had  been  firmly  set  up  eight  or  ten- 
rods  from  the  door:  Two  guards  called  Tishu,  each  armed 
with  a  long- stout  switch,  were  each  stationed  at  the  oppo 
site  end  of  the  line,  whose  duty  was  to  prevent  anything-, 
man  or  beast  from  crossing-  the  mystic  line  either  way.  In 
the  meantime  a  fire  was  kindled  a  short  distance  to  one  side 
over  which  was  suspended  a  large  iron  vessel  filled  with 
pounded  corn  and  meats.  The  ground  having-  been  previ 
ously  and  cleanly  swept  for  a  little  distance  each  side  of  the 
line  from  the  door  to  the  erected  pole,  and  all  thing's  being- 
ready  for  the  dance,  the  bed  upon  which  the  patient  rested 
was  drawn  into  a  position  in  the  room  fronting-  the  door,  to 
g-ive  the  patient  full  view  of  the  m,erry  dancers,  see  the  gail}r 
decorated  pole,  and  hear  the  tones  of  the  little  drum  as  it 
responded  to  the  quick  and  vig-orous  strokes  of  the  musi 
cian;,  that  thus  the  thoughts- of  the  sick  might  be  diverted 
from  the  depressing  influences  of  the  mind  dwelling  too 
long  upon  the  malady  with  which  he  or  she  was  afflicted. 
Then  the  Alikchi  brought  out  two  women  from  the  house 
gaily  decorated  with  ribbons  and  beads  of  various  colors,  and 
alsohaving  thimbles  or  rattles  made  of  dry  luksihakshup  (ter 
rapin  shell)  attached  to  their  moccasins  or  the  skirts  of  their 
dresses,  and  placed  them  together  on  one  side  of  the  line, 
while  several  men  stationed  themselves  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  line;  then  the  Alikchi  returned  to  his  duties  in 
the  sick  room,  the  musician  started  his  favorite  tune  on  "his 
harp  of "  less  than  ''a  thousand  strings,"  and  the  dancing 
commenced;  the  men  confining  their  exercises  strictly  to 
one  side  of  the  line,  and  the  two  woman  to  that  of  the  other,, 
each  being  extremely  cautious  not  to  step  over  its  magic 
bounds.  From  one  to  two  women  only  danced  at  the  same 
time;  when  wearied  they  gave  place  to  others  to  whom  were 
handed  the  little  bells  or  luksi  hakshups  taken  from  their 
ankles  and  dresses,  which  the  fresh  dancers  attached  to 
their  persons  in  like  manner  as  the  others  had  done. 

The  leader  or  director  of  the  Tanspichifah  was  called 
Tikbahika  (going  first).  The  above  generally  commenced 
an  hour  or  two  before'  sun  down  and  continued  until  the 
shades  of  twilight  began  to  appear,  then  gave  place  to  the 
partaking  of  refreshments  fotind  previously  prepared  in  the 
iron  vessel  around  which  botn  dancers  and  spectators  gath- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  501 

. ' '' 

-ered  in  happy  merriment  and  partook  (if  so  inclined)  of  the 
'Tanspichifati  repast.  During- the, hours  devoted  to  the  dance, 
the  doctor,  true  to  his  trust,  had  been  attentive  to  the  fluct 
uating"  symptoms  of  his  patient;  administering-  atone  time 
a,  decoction  of  different  herbs;  at  another,  performing  his 
mystic  ceremonies,  among"  which  was  the  vigorous  rattling 
of  a  dr^  gourd,  into  which  had  been  placed  some  pebbles, 
over  the  head  and  around  the  body  of  his  confiding  patient, 
and  squirting  from  his  mouth,  at  different  intervals,  a  quan 
tity  of  the  decoction  upon  the  exposed  breast  of  his  patient. 
After  the  refreshments  the  dancing  was  resumed,  but  in  the 
house  instead  of  the  yard,  where  it  was  kept  up  until  a  late 
liour  pf  the  night,  all  spectators  being  without;  during 
which  the  monotonous  tinkling  and  rattling  of  the  thimble 
.bells  and  terrapin  shells,  in  discordant  harmony  with  the  in 
defeasible  little  drum,  which  gave  forth  its  tones  in  seem 
ingly  inexhaustible  quantities  to  the  measured  blows  of  the 
relentless  and  indefatigable  musician,  all  mingling  with  the 
voices  of  the  dancers  chanting,  E-yih-hah-heh!  E-yih-hah- 
lieh!  was  enough,  it  did  seem,  to  kill  or  cure;  or,  at  least,  to 
forever  put  to  flight  the  "Evil  Spirit"  which  the  worthy 
•disciple  of  Esculapius  had  declared  to  be  present,  and  baf- 
JBed  his  healing  skill  by  counteracting  the  efficacy  of  his 
medicines  and  mystic  ceremonies. 

However,  if  the  patient  recovered,  in  spite  of  all  the  din 
produced  by  the  contest  between  the  doctor  and  the  "Evil 
Spirit"  for  the  victory,  the  doctor  bore  off  the  palm;  and  his 
skill  was  deservedly  undisputed,  his  reputation  justly  estab 
lished  and  the  honor  of  his  profession  nobly  maintained. 
.But  if  otherwise,  and  the  "Evil  Spirit"  won  the  victory  by 
counteracting-  the  virtues  of  his  medicines  and  mystic  cere 
monies,  causing  the  death  of  his  patient,  the  doctor,  unwil 
ling  still  to  yield  the  palm  of  victory  to  the  "Evil  Spirit," 
readily,  as  a  worthy  guardian  of  the  reputation  of  his"  high 
calling,  found  a  more  honorable  cause  for  his  defeat  than 
that  by  an  "Evil  ^Spirit,"  and,  what  was  still  better,  more 
suitable  to  the  credulity  of  his  patrons — even  as  many  of  his 
pale-faced  brothers  of  like  profession;'  therefore,  he  solemnly 
and  with  great  gravity  announced  that  his  patient  had  been 
.shot  by  an  Isht-ul-bih  (Witch-ball)  from  an  invisible  rifle  in  t 
the  hands  of  an  invisible  witch  which  left  no  visible  signs  of 
its  mysterious  power;  but  the  secret  , effects  of  which  were 
beyond  the  skill  of  any  and  all  human  doctors,  to  which  his 
dupes. gave-ready  assent;  and  thus  the  reputation  of  the  in- 
;v;sible'  and  indefeasible  power  of  the  hattakyushpakummi 
.(Witch)  was  confirmed,  and  the  alikchi  was  enabled  to  come 


502  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

out  of  the  contest  with  a  reputation  unimpared,  to  his  entire 
satisfaction,  and  so  the  matter  ended/ 

The  ancient  Chickasaws,  like  the  Choctaws,  had  their 
specified  cries  over  the  graves  of  their  dead.  At  the  day 
appointed,  the  relatives,  friends  and  neighbors  assembled 
and  one  little  group  after  another  took  their  seats  on  the 
ground  in  a  circle  around  the  grave,  then  drew  thejr  shawls, 
and  blankets  over  their  heads  and  commenced  their  doleful 
lamentations,  which  must  be  seen  an4  heard  to  form  any 
just  idea  of  the  scene.  The  "cry"  continued  for  several 
days  and  nights,  then  terminated  with  a  feast;  after  which 
the  name  of  the  deceased  was  pronounced  no  more.  The 
dead  are  with  the  past;  for  them  how  fruitless  our  despair, 
was  their  final  and  just  conclusion.  / 

The  Chickasaw  mother,  as  her  Choctaw  sister,  was. 
blessed  in  one  particular  amid  all  her  trials.  She,  too,  was> 
exempt  from  the  curse  which  the  Sacred  Writings  declare 
was  imposed  upon  parturition;  and  the  necessity  of  a  doctor 
or  midwife  on  such  occasion  was  unknown.  A  woman,  about 
to  become  a  mother,  retired  to  some  private  place  alone,  and 
in  a  few  hours  returned  with  her  child,  and  quietly  jesumed 
her  occupations. 

The  ancient  Chickasaws,  unlike  their  kindred,  the  Choc- 
taws,  entertained  no  superstitious  views  in  regard  to  the 
eclipse  of  the  sun  or  moon;  regarding  it  as  a  phenomenon 
inexplicable,  and  to  be  th~e  height  of  folly  to  be  alarmed  and 
worried  over  that  which  they  had  no  control — a  sensible  con 
clusion  indeed.  They  called  an  eclipse,  either  of  sun  or 
moon,  hushi  luma  (sun  hidden).  Sometimes  a  total  eclipse  of 
the  sun  was  termed  hushi  illi  (dead  sun),  and  sometimes 
hushi  kunia  (lost  sun).  They  called  the  moon  hushi  ninak 
aya  (the  sun  of  the  night). 

The  traditions  of  the  Chickasaws  are  silent  in  regard  to 
the  flood;  at  least  nothing  has  been  preserved  upon  that  sub 
ject/  Rather  strange!  since  the  Choctaws,  to  whom  they 
were  so  closely  allied  by  consanguinity,  and  the  Cherokees, 
Muscogees,  Shawnees  and  many  other  tribes  spoke  of  it  in 
their  traditions. 

Paki'takohlih  (hanging  grapes),  from  which  the  present 
townTPontotoc,  Mississippi,  derived  its  name,  was  a  town 
known  to  the  French,  in  the  days  of  Bienville,  by  the  name 
Chikasahha;  and  afterwards  to  the  English  as  "Chickasaw 
Old  Town";  then  to  the  Americans  as  "The  Chickasaw  Old 
Fields";  and  was,  according  to  Chickasaw  tradition  (no  dout>t 
correct)  the  same  "Old  Town"  in  which  De  Soto  wintered 
with  his  army  in  1540,  and  over  whose  heads  the  Chickasaws 
burned  to  expel  him  from  their  territories,  after  his  insolent 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  503 

and  unjust  demand;  but  which  they  afterwards  rebuilt. 
The  venerable  "Old  Town"  was  known  to  the  Spaniards  at 
an  early  day  by  the  name  Chicaco;  and  truly  no  spot  of  ground 
in  the  Southern  States  has  deservingly  greater  military  fame 
than  "Old  Chicaco."  This  ancient  town  of  the  Chickasaws- 
was  located,  in  the  years  of  the  far  back,  upon  the  banks  of 
a  little  stream  to  which  they  also  gave  the  name  Pakitakoh- 
lih,  on  account  of  the  profusion  of  wild  grapes  that  hung  in 
tempting  clusters  upon  its  shady  banks;  and  though  nothing* 
now  remains  to  tell  where  the  ancient  "Chicaco"  once  stood, 
and  "Ilium  Fuit"  is  all  that  is  remembered  of  its  eventful 
history,  still  Pakitakohlih  continues  its  gentle  meanderings 
by  the  perished  city  of  the  dead,  as  the  only  imperishable 
monument  of  Chickasaw  patriotism,  gently  murmuring  its 
lowly  requiem  to  its  departed  shades,  while  the  winged  har 
monist  of  the  South  (hushi  bulbaha — mocking  bird)  is  still 
seen  lingering  around  the  scene  caroling  its  orchestral  hymns 
of  nature  that  once  waked  the  dark-eyed  Chickasaw  maiden 
to  inhale  the  morning  air  laden  with  the  sweet  perfumes  of  a 
world  of  flowers,  and  cheered  the  early  hunter  as  he  started 
on  the  dubious  chase. 

But  where  are  they,  the  once  numerous,  free  and  happy 
Chickasaws,  who,  in  the  years  gone  by,  stopd  alone  and 
maintained  their  independence  eighteen  years  against  the 
combined  efforts  of  the  French  and  their  Indian  allies  to 
carry  out  their  nefarious  designs,  ""Extermination  to  the 
Chickasaw  Nation,"  but  were  defeated  and  driven  back  as 
oft  as  they  put  their  hostile  feet  upon  Chickasaw  soil?  They 
too,  with  their  chivalry  and  glory,  have  passed  away  leaving 
no  trace  behind  them,  except  in  the  little  handful  that  still 
survives,  yet  retaining  to  the  last  the  same  chivalrous  un 
yielding,  and  unconquerable  spirit  of  their  noble  ancestors 
two  centuries  ago;  and  though 

"No  storied  urn,  no  sculptured  stone, 
No  marble  record  of  their  fame 

/  Tells  of  their  deeds;  but  not  unknown, 

Have  passed  away  without  a  name 
Those  heroes  bold,  for  every  stream 
That  murmurs  by,  with  scarce  a  motion,        _/ 
Like  the  sweet  memory  of  a  dream, 
Bears  a  soft  Indian  name  to  ocean, ' ' 

As  to*  the  Choctaws  two  years  before,  so  to  the  Chicka 
saws,  places  of  rendezvous  were  appointed  in  different  lo 
calities  at  which  they  were  commanded  to  congregate,  prep 
aratory  to  their  being  driven  off;  and,  like  flocks  of  sheep 
for  the  slaughter,  they  werexherded  together  in  little  groups 
under  the  guidance  of  their  respective  chiefs,  who,  one  after 


504  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

another,  moved  off  with  his  little  band  towards  the  setting 
sun,  cruelly  banished  from  their  ancient  homes,  and  with 
out  the  shadow  of  a  just  or  reasonable  cause.  Here.\vas 
seen  a  disconsolate  mother  calling-  her  unconscious  children 
from  their  childish  and  joyous  gambols  beneath  the  forest 
oaks  to  fall  into  ranks  writh  a  starting  group;  then,  as  she 
took  her  place  in  file,  turned  her  face  again  and  again  to  take 
one  more  long  lingering  look  upon  the  loved  scenes  of  her 
youth  and  advanced  years;  while  the  loud  laugh  of  the  white 
teamsters,  who  accompanied  them,  at  some  rough  remark 
made  by  some  one  of  their  number  when  driving  by,  jarred 
like  a  discord  in  some  mournful  tune  upon  that  mother's 
heart,  but  aroused  her  not  from  her  reveries. 

How  true  it  is  that  often  the  heaviest  burdens  of  life  are 
those  at  which  the  world  laughs,  but  of  jvhich  the  over 
weighted  heart  cannot  and  will  not  speak!  There  are  some 
misfortunes — some  sorrows — that  dwarf  all  others  ;  and 
such  indeed  were  those  of  the  Chickasaws  when  defrauded 
of  their  ancient  homes,  and  bade  depart,  they  knew  not  where. 
They  saw  only  merciless  force  behind  them,  and  blind 
chance  before  them;  which,  like  that  in  nature,  smites  with 
the  tornado  the  lonely  forest  or  the  peopled  country.  They 
had  the  courage  to  rush  to  arms  against  the  wrong  and  in 
defense  of  tfreir  rights,  but  knew  too  well  how  futile  would 
be  their  effort;  yet  they  felt  like  they  would  rather  even 
make  the  effort  to  push  back  an  avalanche  than  cower  before 
it.  But  alas,  the  dark  shadows  of  an  evil  future  never  before 
had  spead  over  them  as  now;  but  it  seemed  they  were  com 
ing  nearer  and  nearer,  closing  in,  remorseless  and  relent 
less,  stealing  upon  them  like  vindictive,  unpitying  foes.  It 
was  indeed  a  time  of  sad,  yet  cherished  memories  with  them 
— a  memory,  cherished  with  love  and  honor,  still  only  a  mem 
ory.  '  Truly,  where  else  is  there  so  human,  so  enthralling 
grief  that  so  wrings  the  spectator's  heart! 

There,  too,  was  seen  the  brave  warrior  and  fearless 
hunter,  as  he  turned  away  from  his  hunting  grounds  with 
its  many  objects  sacred  to  memory  and  dear  to  his  beart, 
taking  his  place  in  front  of  his  family  circle;  and  as  they 
bade  their  final  adieu  to  the  graves  of  their  ancestors,  their 
homes  and  native  land,  inherited  from  a  long  line  of  noble 
ancestry,  they  moved  off  in  silence  with  not  an  eye  mois 
tened  with  a  tear,  nor  emotion  depicted  on  a  counte 
nance.  And  though  it  belongs  to  the  Indian's  nature  to  con 
ceal  his  emotions  of  grief,  and  he  refrains  from  tears,  yet 
none  feel  more  deeply  or  are  subject  to  more  intense'  agony 
of  soul,  or  possess  deeper  affection  of  heart  than  the  North 
American  Indian.  I  speak  from  personal  knowledge  gained 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  505 

from  personal  acquaintance  and  association  during-  a  life  of 
over  seventy-five  years  with  the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws; 
and  what  is  said  of  them  may  be  said  with  equal  truth  of 
the  entire  North  American  Indian  race. 

The  Indian's  emotions  may  well  and  justly  be  compared 
to  the  hidden  fires  in  the  deep  caverns  of  the  volcano,  whose 
existence  is  not  known  -till  the  fiery  torrent  breaks  its  bounds 
and  the  consuming  streams  of  lava  roll  over  cities,  towns 
and  villages. 

In  all  that  assembled  throng-,  where  noble  forms  and 
fearless  hearts  sat  erect  and  silent,  with  stern  faces  and 
tearless  eyes,  there  was  not  a  single  Chickasaw,  man  or 
woman,  who  would  not  have  accepted  death  in  any  form,  or 
to  endure  in  any  degree — even  that  of  burning-  at  the  stake 
(a  bold  assertion,  yet  I  make  it  in  confidence  of  its  truth) — if 
by  such  a  sacrifice  or  suffering  he  or  she  could  have  rescued 
the  country  of  their  inheritance  and  the  home  of  their  na 
tivity  from  the  grasp  of  the  White  Race  and  given  it  as  a 
sure  possession  to  their  people.  Let  blissful  ig-norance 
smile  with  incredulity,  and  conceited  prejudice  sneer,  since 
nothing  more  nor  less  can  be  expected  of  such. 

And  I  know  also  that  they  would  have  resisted  to  the  last 
warrior,  the  arbitrary  power  that  drove  them  from  their  an 
cient  possession  had  but  a  ray  of  hope  promised  success. 
But  there  was  none,  not  even  a  feeble  glimmering-;  therefore 
they  bowed  submissively  to  the  decree  of  the  Great  Spirit 
(as  they  affirmed)  and  turned  from  the  land  dearer  than  life 
to  go  to  that  which  they  had  never  seen  and  did  not  love;  and 
the  grand  old  forest,  as  they  left  it  with  robes  of  g-reen  and 
autumnal  vesture  of  beauty  and  myriads  of  game  which  na 
ture  had  reared  and  fed  for  the  benefit  of  her  forest  chil 
dren,  soon  also  melted  away  before  the  white  man's' love  of 
destruction  of  all  that  is  public,  as  dry  stubble  before  the 
fire,  all — Chickasaws,  forests  and  game — disappeared,  to  be 
seen  no  more. 

But  did  they  leave  behind  them  the  religion  of  the 
World's  Redeemer  as  taught  them  by  the  faithful  mission 
aries?  Not  at  all.  They  took  it  with  them  as  their  most 
sacred  treasure,  and  worshipped  the  God  of  their  salvation 
under  the  canopies  of  the  forest  oaks  in  the  wilderness  of 
their  new  homes  for  a  few  years.  Then  arose,  here  and 
there,  amid  the  forests  alog  cabin  church  and  a  school-house, 
over  which  waved  the  defying  flags  bearing  the  motto, 
Onward,  and  upward,  with  undeviating  faith  and  un 
wearied  patience  from  this  dark  and  shadowy  vale  of  doubt 
and  fear  to  that  blissful  immortality  whence  comes  the 
Eternal  Truth. 


506  HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS. 

Next,  in  regular  succession,  comes  a  sufficiency  of  com 
modious  and  comfortable  churches  and  school-houses;  and 
186XJound  them  a  thoroughly  civilized,  Christianized,  pros 
perous,  contented  and  happy  people.  Then  came  our  civil 
war,  into  which  we  dragged  them,  vi  et  armis,  and  out  of 
which  we  sent  them,  stripped  of  everything.  Yet/,  Phoenix 
like,  again  they  arose  from  the  ashes  of  desolation  and  stood 
once  more  as  a  people  whose  indomitable  resolution  is  un 
surpassed  in  the  annals  of  mankind. 

But  still  not  satisfied,  we  again  have  entered  their  little 
garden  of  contentment,  with  the  determination,  this  time, 
to  divide  their  lands  in  severalty  as  the  introductory  wedge 
to  the  destruction  of  their  nationality  and  our  immediate 
possession  of  their  country,  hurling  them  headlong,  without 
chart  or  compass,  sail  or  rudder,  to  shift  for  themselves 
among  a  race  who  possess  but  one  characteristic  "get 
money,"  and  but  one  belief  "no  good  Indian  but  a  dead  In 
dian." 

But,  as  that  of  the  Choctaw  country,  so  it  may  equally 
and  truly  be  said  that  a  more  beautiful  and  richer  country 
could  not  be  portrayed  on  the  canvass  of  nature  than  was 
also  that  of  the  Chickasaws  .now  forming  the  north  half  of 
the  State  of  Mississippi.  They,  as  the  Choctaws,  annually 
burned  the  grass  of  their  forests  throughout  their  entire 
country;  and  thus  the  landscape  was  unobscured  by  any 
wood  undergrowth  whatever,  while  the  tall  forest  trees, 
standing  so  thick  as  to  shade  the  entire  ground,  spread  their 
giant  arms  over  the  thick  carpet  of  grass  beneath,  varie 
gated  with  innumerable  flowers  of  all  colors  arraying  the 
earth  in  wild  beauty,  and  filling  the  air  with  fragrance ;  while 
the  incessant  and  merry  warblings  of  their  untaught  orches 
tra  (nature's  dowry)  from  the  unwearied  throats  of  innu 
merable  and  gaily  plumaged  birds,  fascinated  the  scene  and 
made  the  heart  glad;  and  in  the  autumn  season,  the  Indian 
summer  of  those  days  of  seventy-five  years  ago,  when  the  sun 
rose  a  coppered  disk^  casting  no  shadow  until  risen  several 
degrees  above  the  horizon;  then,  as  it  declined  toward  the 
west,  passing  through  all  shades  from  a  bright  gold  to  blood 
red  and  becoming  invisible  an  hour  or  two  before  it  sank 
below  the  western  sky;  nature  was  still  not  without  its  at 
tractive  beauties,  though  the  foliage  had  changed  to  bronze 
by  the  kiss  of  winter  frosts;  on  every  side  grapes,  musca 
dines,  plums,  persimmons  of  excellent  flavor,  and  other 
autumnal  fruits  in  rich  profusion  greeted  the  eye  and  grati 
fied  the  taste  of  the  most  fastidious,  while  the  reproachful 
chatterings  and  nimble  gambols  of  the  numberless  squirrels 
that  gaily  sported  among  the  .extended  branches  of  their 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  507 

native  woods  ;  and  .the  herds  of  deer  and  flocks  of  turkeys 
that  roamed  o'er  the  uolands.  and  amid  the  tangled  cane- 
brakes  on  the  water  courses  where  the  bear,  panther,  cata 
mount,  wolf  and  innumerable  smaller  animals  made  their 
homes,  all  invited  the  hunter  to  the  enjoyment  of  an  endless 
variety  of  wild  and  fascinating-  amusement  unsurpassed  in. 
the  annals  of  a  hunter's  paradise.  Truly,  that  is  happiness 
which  breaks  not  the  link  between  man  and  nature. 

For  several  years  after  the  departure  of  the  Chickasaws 
not  a  vestige  of  change  was  seen;  no  sound  of  the  wroodman's 
ax,  or  even  the  distant  crowing-  of  the  domestic  cock  an 
nouncing-  the  approach  of  white  civilization,  broke  the  pro 
found  silence  of  the  vast  forests,  undisturbed  by  man,  yet 
swarming-  with  animal  life.  Travel  where  you  would,  though 
no  sig-n  indicating  the  presence  of  man  was  seen,  yet  you 
felt  not  alone;  above  you  countless  warblers  rendered  the 
air  resonant  with  the  wild  but  sweet  music  of  nature's  har 
mony;  before  you  the  wild  turkey  flapped  his  broaci  wings 
carelessly  and  seemed  only  to  change  his  position  that  he 
might  the  better  observe  the  actions  and  ascertain  the  inten 
tions  of  the  new  and  white-faced  intruders  upon  his  ancient 
heritage;  while  here  and  there  droves  of  deer  crossed  and 
re-crossed  your  path  at  different  intervals,  sometimes  run 
ning  with  fleetest  feet,  at  others  quietly  grazing,  then  gaily 
gamboling  in  the  tall,  waving  grass  which,  to  an  imaginative 
mind,  might  have  appeared  as  Naiads  sporting  upon  the 
wind-disturbed  bosom  of  some  enchanted  lake;  and,  as  even 
ing  let  her  curtains  down  and  twilight  shades  appeared,  the 
ancient  bird  of  the  goddess  Minerva  hooted  his  accustomed 
lays  of  wisdom,  as  a  reminder  that  familiarity  i>reeds  con 
tempt  and  sometimes  worse;  therefore,  in  commendable 
modesty,  sought  safety  in  prudential  distance,  leaving  you 
alone  to  your  reflections.  Such-scenes  and  sounds  greeted 
the  eye  and  regaled  the  ear  of  the  traveler  as  he  plodded  his 
way  through  the  wilderness  of  Chickasaw  and  Choctaw  for 
ests  as  handed  to  the  White  Race  seventy  years  ago  by  that 
noble  race  of  people  when  banished  to  the  West  by  arbi 
trary  power,  in  1832  and  '36,  and  where  their  condition,  for 
several  years,  was  little  better  than  that  of  the  hapless  sea 
men  who  had  been  put  ashore  by  their  comrades  upon  some 
desolate  island  far  out  in  the  ocean.  Yet  it  was  declared  to 
be  just  and  right,  since  the  "progress  of  Christianity  and 
white  civilization  demanded  it." 

Who  that  beheld  that  lovely  land  and  enjoyed  its  ro 
mantic  scenes,  but  still  delights  to  dwell  in  memory  upon 
its  former  charms,  as  it  then  lay  in  all-  its  primitive  loveli 
ness  and  glory,  fitted  up  and  bequeathed  by  the  Great 


.508  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

Spirit  to  his  Chickasaw  children  for  their  abode;  but  «out 
•of  which -they  were  cruelly  and  shamefully  defrauded  by 
the  United  States  in  a  treaty  concluded  October  20th,  1832. 
.at  the  Council  House  on  Pakitakalih  Creek  and  ratified 
March  1st,  1833,  by  the  United  States  Senate. 

This  treaty  having  the  same  designs  against  the  Chick- 
asaws,  and  as  effectually  accomplished  as  that  against  the 
Choctaws  two  years  before  on  the  banks  of  Bok  Clukfi  Luma 
Hihlah,  September  28th,  1830,  was  made  and  entered  into  by 
John  Eaton  and  John  Coffee,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
-and  seventy-three  members  of  the  Council,  on  the  part  of 
the  Chickasaw  Nation. 

There  were  four  Chickasaw  families  at  that  day,  as  I 
was  informed  by  Governor  Cyrus  Harris,  who  kept  their 
liouses  so  neatly,  and  their  yards  so  free  of  all  grass,  weeds 
and  rubbish  of  all  kinds,  that  they  were  called  by  the  whites, 
"The  clean  house  Indians."  Three  of  -the  heads  of  the  four 
families  were  brothers,  and  the  other  a  brother-in-law  t°  the 
three.  The  chief  or  the  head  man  of  the  four  families  was 
named  Chikasah  nana  ubih  (pro.  Chik-a-sah  nar-nar-ub-ih, 
and  sig.  A  Chickasaw  who  kills  anything),  and  his  two  broth 
ers,  the  one  Ishkitahah  (pro.  Ish-ke-tar-hah  and  sig.  No 
mother  or  mother  gone.)  The  other,  Innihtowa  (pro.  In-nih- 
to-wah,  sig.  Warm  the  ball,)  The  brother-in-law  was  named 
Aiyuka  ubih  (pro.  Ai-yu-kah  ubih  and  sig.  Each  one  Jail,  or 
to  kill  each  one). 

At  an  early  day  a  few  white  men  of  culture  and  of  good 
morals,  fascinated  with  the  wild  and  romantic  freedom  and 
simplicity  of  the  Chickasaw  life,  cast  their  lot  among  that 
brave  and  patriotic  nation  of  people. 

I  read  an  article  published  in  Mississippi  a  few  years 
ago,  which  stated  that  a.  man. by  the  name  of  Mclntosh, 
•commissioned  bv  British  authorities  to  .visit  the  Chickasaw 
Nation  and  endeavor  to  keep  up  its  ancient  hostility  to  the 
French,  was  so  delighted  with  the  customs  and  manners  of 
that  brave,  free  and  hospitable  people  that,  after  the  accom 
plishment  of  his  mission,  he  remained  among  them;  then 
marrying  a  Chickasaw  woman  he  became  identified  with  the 
tribe;  that  he  became  an  influential  character  among  the 
Chickasaws;  that  he  found  the  whole  Nation  living  in  one 
large  village  in  the  "Chickasaw  Old  Fields";  that  he  per 
suaded  them  to  scatter,  take  possession  of  the  most  fertile 
and  watered  lands,  and  live  where  game  was  more  plentiful; 
that  he  /planted  a  colony  at  a  place  called  Tokshish  (cor 
ruption  of  Takshi-pro.  Tark-shih,  and  sig.  Bashful)  sev 
eral  miles  south  of  Pontotoc;  that  this  colony  became  the 


\ 

HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  509' 

favorite  residence  of  the  white  renegades,  etc.     All  of  which 
is  without  even  a  shadow  of  truth. 

True,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Mclntosh  once  visited  the 
Chickasaw  Nation  as  stated;  but,  after  his  diplomacy  was 
accomplished,  departed  and  returned  no  more.  There  never 
was  a  Mclntosh  identified  in  any  way  with  the  Chickasaws  at 
that  early  day,  nor  has  there  been  one  from  that  day  to  this. 
The  only  white  men  adopted  and  identified  with  the  Chicka- 
saws  at  that  early  day  were  James  Gunn,  Logan  Colbert, 
John  Gilchrist,  Malcomb  McGee,  James  Allen  and  John  By- 
num,  and  their  descendants  are  still  among-  the  Chickasaws. 
An  aged  daughter  of  John  Bynum,  with  whom  I  am  person 
ally  acquainted,  as  also  with  her  children,  was,  in  1890,  still 
hovering  upon  the  stage  of  human  life, 'as  bright  an  example 
of  true  Christian  piety  as  ever  waited  for  the  Divine  Mas 
ter's  final  summons  to  a  blissful  immortality. 

At  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  the  Christian  Mis 
sion  among  the  Chickasaws  under  the  jurisdiction  of  that 
noble1  and  true  Christian  philanthropist,  Rey.  T.  C. 
Stuart,  Malcomb  McGee  (erroneously  published  as  Malcomb 
McGeche)  was  a  venerable  and  highly  venerated  character/ 
amftng  the  appreciative  Chickasaws  of  all  true  moral  worth. 
He  was  born,  according  to  his  own  statements,  of  Scotch 
parents  in  the  city  of  New  York  about  the  year  1757. 
vShortly^  after  his  parents  arrived  in  America,  his  father  en 
listed  in  the  Colonial  army  in  an  expedition  against  the 
French,  and  was  killed  at  the  storming  of  Ticonderoga,  only 
a  few  months  before  young  Malcomb  was  born. 

About  this  time  marvelous  rumors  of  the  vast  and  mag 
nificent  plains  of  Illinois,  covered  by  innumerable  heYds  of 
buffalo,  wild  horses,  deer  and  great  varieties  of  other  wild' 
animals,  excited  the  cupidity  of  the  adventurous,  and  a  com 
pany  of  enthusiasts  resolved  lo  go  to  that  imagined  earthly 
paradise,,  among  whom  was  the,  young  widow  McGee.  In 
those  days  of  the  distant  past,  to  reach  that  point  in  the  "far 
west"  from  New  York,  New  Orleans  had  first  to  be  reached 
by  sea;  thence  up  the  Mississippi  river  by  a  keel-boat  worked 
by  hand,  which  took  months  of  arduous  toil  and  great  priva 
tion  to  make  a  voyage  from  New  Orleans  to  St.  Louis.  The 
adventurous  journey,  .however,  was  undertaken  and  success 
fully  accomplished  by  those  lovers  of  the  romantic.  But  in 
that  then  world  of  wilderness  the  young  widow  McGee  soon 
found  herself  reduced  to  extreme  poverty,  with  none  near 
who  were  able  to  assist  her.  At  this  time  a  man  by  the 
name  of  Mclntosh  visited  the  .distant  little  colony  on  the 
Illinois  river;  learning  her  distressful  situation,  and  moved 
with  pity,  he  advised  her  to  let  him  adopt  young  Malcomb 


510  HISTORY    OF   THE  'INDIANS. 

as  his  own  son  under  the  promise  of  being-  a  father  to  the 
boy  in  raising- and  educating- him.  t  In  her  extreme  poverty 
and  feeble  prospects  of  doing  anything-  for  him  in  regard  to 
an  education,  she  finally  consented,  but  with  great  reluc 
tance,  and  gave  Malcomb,  then  about  ten  years  of  age,  to  the 
care  and  guardianship  of  Mclntosh.  JBut  what  an  ordeal  for 
that  mother's  heart  and  that  orphan  boy,  who  had  never  seen 
his  father,  as  cruel  fate  now  decrees  their  separation  (which 
proved  a  final  one),  the  one  to  remain  in  the  wilderness  of 
the  west ;  the  other  to  go  with  a  stranger  to  a  wilderness  far 
in  the  east,  to  the  land  of  the  Muscogees,  among  whom  Mc 
lntosh  had  selected  his  future  home;  and  afterwards  marry 
ing  among  them  was  adopted  and  became  one  of  that  war 
like  people,  whose  descendants  from  that  day  to  this  have 
been  a  prominent  family  among  the  Muscogees,  now  known 
as  the  Creeks. 

.  How  different  were  those  white  men  of  that  early  day 
who  cast  their  lot  among  the  southern  Indians  from  those 
who,  of  later  years,  have  sought,  and  still  seek,  citizenship 
among  that  people!  The  former  sought  the  moral  advance 
ment  of  the  people  among  whom  they  had  cast  their  lot;  and 
who,  when  followed  by  the  self-sacrificing  missionaries,  did 
all  they  could  to  assist  them  in  the  promulgation  of  religion 
and  education  among  their  newly  adopted  people — being  like 
them  free  of  all  avarice;  the  latter  being  influenced  Wholly 
through  selfish  motives,  without  a  thought  or  care  for  the 
good  of  the  Indians,  have  ever  been,  and  still  are,  a  wither 
ing  blight  upon  the  labors  of  the  missionaries — a  mildew 
upon  their  hopes  and  a  curse,  in  the  plurality  of  cases,  to 
the  Indians  upon  whom  they  intrude,  as  far  as  virtue  and 
morality  are  concerned.  Alas!  through  what  an  ordeal  has 
the  Red  Race  of  the  I^orth  American  continent  been  forced 
to  pass  since  first  made  acquainted' with  the  White. 

But  true  to  his  trust,  the  generous  Mclntosh  proved  a 
father  and  faithful  friend  to  the  homeless  orphan  Malcomb, 
and,  a  few  years  after  his  return  to  the  Muscogees,  took 
him  to  Mobile,  then  occupied  by  the  French,  and  placed  him 
in  a  school  under  the  jurisdiction  of  a  French  family,  who, 
shortly  after  his  guardian  had  left  became  so  tyrannical, 
oppressive  and  abusive,  that  young  Malcomb  resolved  to 
free  himself  from  their  cruelty  by  bidding  them  an  in 
formal  adieu  which  would  place  him  forever  beyond  their 
power;  and  soon  he  embraced  the  opportunity  presented,  to 
put  his  resolutions  into  effect,  by  some  Indian  traders  visit 
ing  Mobile,  to  whom  he  attached  himself  on  their  return, 
and  thus  was  enabled  to  rejoice  again  in  the  freedom  of  a 
forest  home,  among  that  race  of  people  who  never  forsook  a 


-<•  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  511 

homeless  and  friendless  orphan.  He  did  not,  however,  re 
turn  to  his  former  home  under  the  roof  of  his  benefactor, 
Mclntosh,  but  stopped  among-  the  Choctaws  with  whom  he 
remained  several  years,  during-  which  he  married  a  Choctaw 
maiden  by  the  name  of  Kanah  hoyo  (a  seeker  for  somebody). 
He  lived  happily  with  Kanahhoyo  for  several  years,  who 
then  dying1,  he  returned  to  the  Chickasaws,  his  old  friends, 
and  solicited  citizenship  which  was  readily  and  cheerfully 
granted.  After  living- with  them  a  few  years,  he  married  a 
Chickasaw  widow,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Harris,  who  was  the  old 
est  daughter  of  Molly  Oxberry,  and  the  mother  of  Governor 
Cyrus  Harris,  of  the  Chickasaw  Nation. 

Malcomb  McGee  acted  interpreter  to  the  Chickasaws  in 
all  their  negotiations  with  the  United  States  for  nearly  forty 
years.  He  was  greatly  attached  to  the  Rev.  T.  C.  Stuart, 
and  when  the  Chickasaws  were  driven  from  their  homes  to 
their  present  ones  Malcomb  McGee  resolved  to  remain  with 
Mr.  Stuart;  and  in  his  yard  he  lived  nearly  twelve  years  in  a 
neat  little  log  house  erected  by  his  noble  missionary  friend 
for  his  special  use  and  benefit.  But  about  the  year  1848  his 
daughter  and  her  husband  paid  him  a  visit  from  their  wes 
tern  home,  and  on  their  return  persuaded  him  to  return  with 
them  to  their  western  home,  but  he  survived  only  a  year  af 
ter  his  arrival.  He  died  in  the  ninety-second  year  of  his  age 
and  was  buried  at  Old  Boggy  Depot,  in  the\land  of  the  Choc- 
taws,  also  his  long  and  faithful  friends;  and  of  Malcomb  Mc- 
gee  and  his  Chickasaw  and  Choctaw  friends,  it  well  may  be 
said: 

'  'He  that  does  the  best  his  circumstances  allow, 
"Does  well;  acts  nobly;  Angels  could  do  no  more." 

James  Gunn,  whose  name  is  co^nmemorated  in  that  of  a 
town  called  Gunntown,  situated  in  Lee  county,  Mississippi, 
was  one  among  the  six  white  men  previously  mentioned, 
who  at  an  early  day  cast  their  lot  of  life  among  the  Chicka 
saw  people,  preferring  the  happy  freedom  of  that  heroic 
nation  of  people  to  all  that  was  offered  among*  their  own 
race.  James  Gunn  was  a  native  Virginian,  and  also  a  fear 
less  and  indomitable  loyalist,  who  stood  for  the  crown  in  the 
troubled  days  of  Charles  the  First  and  the  Roundheads  ;  and 
•when  £he  revolution  proved  triumphant,  and  the  rising  glory, 
of  these  United  States  had  been  announced,, and  also  seemed 
summoned  to  take  their  position  among  the  great  nations  of 
earth,  the  old  royalist,  disdaining  the  society  of  successful 
rebels,  "bade  an  adieu  forever  to  the  home  of  his  youtl),  and 
sought.a  more  congenial  one  among  the  true  native  sons  and 
freemen  of  North  America.  He  secured  a  wife  among  the 


512  HISTORY    OF'  THE   INDIANS. 

wild  forest  flowers  of  the  noted  Chickasaw  beauties  of  that 
long"  ago,  selecting*  one  named  Okashuah  (Stinking"  Wa 
ter);  a  name,  thoug-h  not  of  classic  fame  or  enviable  signifi 
cation,  it  is  reasonable  to  presume,  yet  did  not  detract  from 
her.  merits  as  an  amiable  and  devoted  wife  and  ^mother  in 
any  particular  whatever.  They  had  only  one  daughter,, 
named  Molly,  who  married  a  Cherokee  warrior  named  Ox- 
berry,  anil  her  oldest  daughter  by  this  marriage  was  named 
Elizabeth,  who  became  the  mother  of  Governor  Cyrus  Har 
ris;  and  another  of  her  daughters,  by  the  same  marriage, 
was,  in  1890,  living  near  Colbert  Station,  Chickasaw  Nation, 
I.  T.,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-six,  and  is  known  as. 
Grandma  Alberson.  Molly  was  also  the  mother  of  the  cele 
brated  Chickasaw  beauty  named-  Rhoda.  James  Gunn  died, 
in  1826  ;  his  age  has  not  been  preserved;  but,  it  is  said,  he- 
was  a  very  old  man  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

Many  young  white  sprigs  who  visited  the  Chickasaw" 
Nation  with  the  view  of  speculation,  when  they  saw  Rhoda, 
the  Chickasaw  belle,  the  fairest  rose  that  bloomed  in  the  for 
ests  wild  of  that  romantic  age,  felt  their  visions  of  lands, 
negroes,  mules,  cotton  bales  and  speedy  fortunes  vanish-  as 
mists  before  the  morning  surfy  and  though  they  sighed  and 
wooed,  gazed  in  meditative  solitude  at  the  moon  and  stars, 
and  in  hours  of  thoughtful  mood  gave  birth  to  imaginative 
verse  on  the  Chickasaw  nymph, 

"Whose  glossy  locks  to  shame  might  bring 
"The  plumage  of  the  raven's  wing," 

and  in  humble,  yet  loving,  attitude,  with  promises  many  and 
fair,  solicited  her  heart  and  hand,  but  'twas  all  in  vain.  The 
inexorable  Rhoda  could  not  fancy  those  sprigs  of  white  no 
bility,  nor  judge  a  single  one  of  them  as  a  better  substitute 
for  a  husband  than  many* of  the  Cfyickasaw  youths  who  had 
never  felt  the  blighting  curse  of  avarice,  noi;  would  sacrifice 
a  friend  at  the  shrine  of  its  demands;  therefore  turned  away 
from  them  and  gave  her  youthful  heart  to  one  of  her  own 
race,  Samuel  Colbert,  a  son  of  Major  James  Colbert;  the  ex 
odus  of  her  people  soon  following  her  nuptial  day,  she,  with 
them,  bade  a  final  adieu  to  the  fair  scenes  of  her  joys  and 
soon  the  loveliness  of  the  forest  flower  passed  from  the  mem-'" 
ory  of  its  former  admirers  as  the  evening'  star  behind  the 
western  hills — to  be  thought  of  "Never  More."  She  became 
the  mother  of  one  daughter,  but  after  living  several  years 
with  her  husband  a  final  separation,  from  some  unknown 
cause,  took  place  between  her  and  her  husband.  Several 
years  after  which  she  married  a  man  by  the  name  of  Joseph 
Potts,  who  took  a  dose  of  strychnine  through  mistake  for 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  513 

quinine,  in  1862,  while  at  the  house  of  Governor  Cyrus  Har 
ris,  and  died  from  its  effects  in  half  an  hour.  A  son  of  Gov 
ernor  Harris  found  the  vial  of  strychnine  in  the  road  a  few 
rods  from  the  house  and  brought  it  in,  believing-  it  to  be  a 
vial  of  quinine  some  one  had  accidentally  dropped,  and  hence 
the  fatal  and  lamentable  result. 

BIOGRAPHICAL     SKETCH     OF     CYRUS     HARRIS,      EX-GOVERNOR     OF 
THE    CHICKASAW    NATION. 

Cyrus  Harris,  who  was  of  the  House  Emisha  taluyah 
(pro.  E,  we,  mish-ar,  beyond,  ta-larn-yah,  putting-  it  down) 
was  born,  as  he  stated  to  me,  three  ,  miles  south  of 
Pontotoc,  Mississippi,  on  the  22nd  of  August, .  1817.  He 
died  at  his  home  on  Mill  Creek,  Chickasaw  Nation.  He 
lived  with  his  mother  until  the  year  1827,  when  he  was  sent 
to  school  at  the  Monroe  Missionary  Station,  at  the  time  that 
Rev.  Thomas  C.  Stuart,  that  noble  Christian  missionary  and 
Presbyterian  minister,  had  charge  of  the  school,  and  in 
which  many  Chickasaw  youths,  both  male  and  female,  were 
being- educated.  In  1828,  he  was  taken,  to  the  state  of  Ten 
nessee  by  Mr.  Hugh  Wilson,  a  minister  also  of  the  Old 
School  Presbyterian  faith  and  order,  and  placed  in  an  Indian 
school  located  on  a  small  stream  called  Roberson  Fork,  in 
the  county  of  Giles.  This  humble  little  Indian  school  was 
taught  by  a  man  named  William  R.  McNight.  Cyrus,  at 
the  close  of  the  year  1829,  had  only  been  taught  the  rudi 
ments  of  an  English  education,  to  spell  in  the  spelling-book 
and  read  in  the  New  Testament.  In  the  early  part  of  the 
year  1830,  he  took  up  the  study  of  geography  and  reading  in 
the  first  and  second  readers,  which  terminated  his  school 
boy  days,  as  he  returned  home  that  year  and  never  attended 
school  again.  When  he  returned  to  his  home  he  found  it  va 
cated;  but  learned  that  his  mother  had  moved  to  a  place 
near  a  little  lake  then  known  as  .Ishtpufahaiyip  (pro.  Isht- 
poon-fah,-Horn,  haiyip,  lake),  eighteen  miles  south-west  of 
the  present  .city  of  .Memphis,  Tennessee.  ^Thither  he  at 
once;turned  his. steps,  and  soon  found  his  mother  in  her  new 
home,  where  he  remained  but  a  :short  time  (then  thirteen 
years,  of.  age),  as  he  was  soon  sent  to  stay  a  while  with  art  old 
lady  as  company  for  her,  whose  husband  a  short  time  before, 
had  been  killed  by  a  Choctaw  who  had  been  adopted  by  the 
.  Chickasaws.  •  ,  r..-r  ,  : ;  . :.  •;-,-.  !•  ,• 

Cyrus  remained  a  few  months  with  the  bereaved  widow, 
but  .he  became, ;so  lonely^  there  ,being:no  neighbors,  nearer 
than  tfrree, miles,  that -his  boyish  heart  could  .endure  tit  no 
longer;  though  he  amused  himself. the  best  he^ould  by  hunt 
ing. and  shooting  rabbits,  squirrels  and  birds  .with  his.  bow 


514  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.       ' 

and  arrows,  often  visiting-  his  mother  living-  a  few  miles 
distant.  He  again  returned  to  his  mother  but  to  remain  a 
short  time  as  before;  as  his  uncle  by  marriage,  Martin  Col 
bert,  a  most  excellent  man  employed  him  to  come  and  assist 
him  with  his  stock. 

Cyrus  Harris  who  spoke  both  the  Chickasawand  English 
languages,  having1  learned  from  a  friend  that  there  was  a  de 
mand  for  interpreters,  sought  at  once  the  land  office  estab 
lished  at  Pontotoc,  three  miles  from  the  home  of  his  birth, 
and  fortunately  succeeded  in  securing  a  position  as  clerk  in 
a  dry  goods  store,  and  also  to  interpret  for  one  John  Bell, 
who  was  then  Surveyor  General,  but  kept  a  trading  house. 
He  remained  only  a  short  time  as  clerk,  for  he  soon  obtained 
a  more  lucrative  position  in  that  of  acting  as  interpreter  for 
the  deputies  of  John  Bell  and  one  Robert  Gordon  who  were 
partners  in  buying  lands.  At  this  time  the  United  States 
Agent  and  the  Chickasaw  commissioners  were  busy  in  locat 
ing  lands.  Land  speculators  followed  up  the  agent  and  com 
missioners,  that  no  opportunity  might  be  lost  in  which  a 
profitable -speculation  might  be  made. 

Cyrus  Harris  now  became  an  indispensable  personage  in 
the  firm  of  Bell  &  Gordon.  In  1839  the  land  sales  were 
brought  to  a  close  and  the  Chickasaws  were  then  informed, 
without  equivocation,  that  their  room  was  more  desired  than 
their  presence;  and  as  nothing  more  could  be  made  out  of 
them,  they  could  now  go  West  or  to  the  devil,  it  made  no  dif 
ference  which,  so  they  were  expeditious  in  the  matter.  Cy 
rus  Harris  was  appointed  as  one  of  the  interpreters  to  in 
form  the  Chickasaws  to  meet  at  once  in  council  and  appoint 
the  day  in  which  they  would  depart  from  their  ancient  heri 
tage,  now  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Philistines;  and  the 
long  cherished  and  loved  scenes  that  make  life  doubly  dear 
to  the  heart.  The  Whites  having  now  no  longer  need  of  the 
cloak  of  friendship  and  good  will  to  hide  the  hideous  defor 
mity  of  their  hypocrisy,  hurled  it  from  them  with  unassum- 
ed  disgust  and  stood  forth  in  their  native  ugliness.' 

The  Chickasaws  at  once  took  up  their  line  of  march 
westward,  feeling  that  rather  than  abide  such  a  tempest  of 
rascality  as  was  daily  exhibited  before  their  eyes  in  the  wild 
and  crazy  scuffle  for  a  few  acres  of  earth  by  wliich  to  quench 
their  raging  thirst  for  gain,  they  would  flee  even  from  heaven 
did  such  a  stream  of  strife  and  corruption  threaten  an  en 
trance  there. 

On  the  first  of  November,  1837,  Cyrus  Harris,  with  his 
mother  and  a  family  of  friends,  left  forever  their  homes  and 
native  couiftry,  now  in  the  clutches  of  their  assumed  friends, 
the  Whites,  to  join  the  emigration,  then  awaiting  transp^rta- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  515 

tion  at  Memphis,  Tennessee,  which  soon  arrived,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  Chickasaws,  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
one  A.1  Upshaw,  the  emigration  agent,  left  for  Fort  Coffee, 
Choctaw  Nation,  Indian  Territory,  by  way  of  steamboats. 
Cyrus  Harris  and  mother,  with  a  few  other  families,-  went 
through  by  land  to  Fort  Coffee.  When  they  had  arrived 
there  they  learned  that  their  friends  were  encamped  near 
Schullyville  (Schully,  a  corruption  of  the  word  Tuli — the  full 
word  being  Tuliholisso— money  paper,  or  paper  money;  a 
place  where  the  Government  paid  them  their  annuities),  but 
the  "ville"  part  of  it  is  unquestionably  English. 

Harris  remained  in  camp  at  Schullyville  about  two 
weeks;  then,  with  'several  families,  started  to  find  a  desira 
ble  place  for  settling,  and  finally  located  on  Blue  river. 
This  was  in  1838.  While  living  there  he  was  induced  to 
" -enter  the  political  arena  of  his  country.  In  1850  a  council 
was  convened  at  Boiling  Springs,  in  Ponola  (Cotton)  county, 
in  which  he  was  appointed  to  accompany  Edmond  Pickens 
to  Washington  City  to  arrange  some  national  business,  which 
proved  ineffectual  from  some  injudicious  recommendation. 

On  returning  home -Mr.  Harris  sold  his  place  on  Blue 
river  and  settled  at  Boggy  Depot.  He  resided  there  a  year, 
and  again  sold  out  and  moved  to  a  point  on  Pennington 
Creek,  about  a  mile  west  of  Tishomingo,  where  he  remained 
until  November,  1855.  Not  satisfied  there,  he  once  more 
sold  and  moved  to  a  place  on  Mill  creek,  where  he  still  lived 
in  1884.  In ;  1854  he  was  again  appointed  a  delegate,  with 
several  others,  to  Washington  City.  In  1856,  after  the  adop 
tion  of  the  Chickasaw  Constitution,  he  was  elected  governor 
of  the  Chickasaw  Nation.  Having  served  two  years,  with 
commendable  discretion  and  sound  judgment,  he  was  re- 
elected,  and  filled  the  gubernatorial  chair  for  two  more 
years,  sustaining  himself  with  equal  credit  and  honor,  after 
which  he  was  elected  two  more  terms,  serving  his  people 
with  the  same  integrity.  During  his  four  terms  of  eight 
years,  peace,  harmony  and  prosperity  prevailed  throughout 
the  Chickasaw  Nation. 

In  1876  ex-Governor  Cyrus  Harris  'was  again  brought  be 
fore  the  Chickasaw  people  as  a  candidate  for  the  office  of 
Governor,  but  was  defeated  by  his  opponent,  B.  F.  Overton, 
who  served  his  people  faithfully  and  satisfactorily  through 
his  first  term,  and  at  the  next  election  was  re-elected.  In 
1880  Cyrus  Harris  was  again  brought  out  by  his  friends,  con 
trary  to  his  wishes,  and  was  pronounced  elected  by  the  Leg 
islature,  but,  it  was  said,  votes  were  counted  out  just  enough 
to  illegally  elect  his  friend,  B.  C.  Burney,  a  man  highly  es 
teemed  by  the  people.  Ex-Governor  Harris  then  and  there 


516  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

announced  that  he  had  forever  withdrawn  frorn^  the  political 
field,  and  he  has  strictly  adhered  to  his  determination. 

Since  writing  the  above  the  sad  tidings  of  the  death  of 
ex-Governor  Cyrus  Harris,  that  noble  patriot  and  true  phil 
anthropist,  was  announced  in  the  following  obituary: 

"Died  at  his  residence,  Mill  Creek,  Chickasaw  Nation, 
Friday,  the  6th,  Cyrus  Harris,  ex-governor  of  the  Chicka- 
saws.  He  was  buried  on  the  7th  inst.  at  the  family  ceme 
tery  in  Mill  Creek." 

"To  record  the  passage  from  life  to  eternity  is  the  sad 
dest  and  gravest  duty  that  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  journalist. 
..The  more  so,  when  he  announces  the  death  of  one  whose; 
loss  will  be  deeply  and  widely  regretted;  one  beloved  of  all 
men,  whose  place  can  never  be  filled  in  the  homes  anci  hearts- 
•of  his  people.  In  recording  the  death  of  ex-Governor  Har- 
'ris,  we  are  fully  aware  of  this  fact;  for  not  within  the  range 
of  man's  recollection  has  any  member  of  the  Chickasaw 
tribe  impressed  himself  so  favorably,  so  deeply  and  effect 
ually  upon  his  generation. 

"His  public  and  private  character  were  wrought  in  the 
same  mould;  both  equally  incorruptible.  The  low,  the 
base,  the  avaricious,  were  elements  foreign  to  his  existence, 
Awhile  the  chambers  of  his  heart  were  ever  lighted  for  the 
reception  of  such  warm  impulses  and  philanthropic  ideas  as 
are  rarely  met  with,  save  in  natures  of  the  noblest  type. 
Despite  his  progressive  ideas,  Cyrus  Harris  was  an  Indian 
in  the  truest  sense,  a  patriot  and  a  leader  of  his  people.  His 
country  was  his  greatest  care;  so  whether  engaged  in  legis- 
ture,  in  administration,  or.  dwelling  peaceably  in  his  humble 
cottage,  his  heart  and  brain  were  alike  harnessed  to  his 
country's  welfare.  His  generosity  and  his  self-sacrifice 
were  finely  displayed  in  his  last  executive  act.  His  election 
by  the  people  being  disputed  by  the  House,  in  order  to  avoid 
Apolitical  trouble,  he  withdrew  and  retired  into  private  life. 

"There  is  no  reward  in  this  world  for  that  which  is  in 
corruptible;  naught  save  the  approbation  of  the  good  and 
the  wise.  But  how  meager  that  reward,  after  a  lifetime  of 
unselfish  labor.  Therefore,  may  the  wish  grow  spontane 
ously  in  .every  sorrowing  heart,  that  a  new  and  everlasting 
recompense  lies,  within  reach  of  the  departed  chief. 

"To  the  grief-stricken  relatives  of  Governor  Harris,  and 
to  the  Nation  that  mourns  a  true  friend  and  a  wise  Counsel 
lor,  the  Independent  offers  its  most  sincere  and  lasting,  sym 
pathy." 

Verily,  .that  no  truer  words  than  the  above  eyer, formed 
an  obituary,  may  safely  be^said,  is  the,, universal  response  ctf 
all  who  were  personally  acquainted  with"  him  who  forms- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  517 

this  subject,  a  ,man,  though  a  North  American  Indian,  of 
whose  race  ignorance  and  egotism  declare  there  is  none 
good  but  those  dead,  yet  unsurpassed  in  noble  virtues,  moral 
stamina  and  social  graces;  and  whom  neither  flatteries,  nor 
censures,  proffered  wealth. nor  homes,  could  seduce  from 
the  path  of  virtue  and  honor. 

Logan  Colbert  married  a  native  Chickasaw  woman  by 
whom  he  had  four  sons,  George,  John,  William  and  Levi; 
all  of  whom  arose  to  prominence  and  exerted  a  salutary  in 
fluence  among  their  people,  and  became  men  of  authority 
and  distinction.  He  also  had  another  son  by  a  second 
marriage,  named  James,  who  fell  not  behind  his  dis 
tinguished  brothers. 

Why  Logan  Colbert  came  to  cast  his  lot  at  so  early 
an  age  and  so  far  from  the  land  of  his  nativity,  among  the 
people  so  remoterfrom  all  the  English  settlements,  are  prob 
lems  that  never  will  be  solved,  though  it  may  be  conjectured 
with  some  show  of  probability,  that  he  came  with  some  of 
the  early  English  traders  and  adventurers  who  assisted  the 
Chickasaws  in  their  wars  against  the  French.  At  an  early 
day  he  was  a  renowned  -leader  among  them,  and  to  that  de 
gree  of  ce'lebrity,  that  one  of  the  names  given  to  the  Missis 
sippi  river  by  the  early  French  writers,  during  the  days  of 
their  wars  with  that  people  with  whom  he  had  identified 
himself,  was  Rivere  de  Colbert  sustaining  the  conjecture, 
that -Logan  Colbert  was  the  name  of  the  most  famous  chief 
among  the  Chickasaws;  who  at  that  time  swayed  the  sceptre 
of  absolute  authority  over  the  country  alono"  the  east  banks 
of  the  Mississippi  river  to  the  great  annoyance  and  danger  of 
the  French  in  ascending  and  descending  that  mighty  stream. 
Though  little  else  of  the  life  of  Logan  Colbert  has  escaped 
oblivion,  except  he  lived,  he  died;  yet  his  name  has  been 
handed  down  to  posterity  in  that  of  his  noble  line  of  descend 
ants,  who  figure  upon  the  pages  of  Chickasaw  history  as  be 
ing  among  the  influential  families  of  that  Nation. 

Colonel  George  Colbert,  in  the  prosperous  days  of  the 
Chickasaw  people,  lived  three  or  four  miles  west  of  what  is 
now  known  as  the  town  of  Tupelo,  Mississippi,  (Tupelo  is  a 
corruption  of  Tuhpulah — To  call  or  shout).  George  Colbert 
became  to  be  the  most  wealthy  of  the  four  brothers  and  was, 
in  his  personal  appearance  and  manners,  very  prepossess 
ing.  He  did  not  act  in  any  public  capacity,  yet  he  exerted  a 
.great  personal  influence  as  a  private  citizen.  He  was  a  true 
conservative  in  sentiment  and  in  spirit.  He  regarded  his 
people,  the  Chickasaws,  uninfluenced  by  the  Whites  and  un- 
contaminated  by  their  vices,  as  having  reached  the  point  of 
national  progress  most  favorable  to  virtue  and  earthly  hap- 


518  HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS. 

piness;  therefore,  he  opposed  all  innovations  as  an  evil  which 
wisdom,  virtue  and  patriotism  loudly  disapproved;  and  seem 
ingly  with  much  justice,  since  the  Chickasaws  (like  the  Choc- 
taws)  were  a  virtuous  people  before  the  Whites  came  and  in 
troduced  their  vices  among"  them;  therefore,  he  was  an  out 
spoken   enemy  to  missions,  to  schools,  to  whiskey,  in  short, 
to  all  the  good  as  well  as  the  evils  that  were  being   imported 
into  his  then  happy  country,  having  learned  by  experience 
and  observation  that  the  evil  introduced  by  the  tVhites  coun 
terbalanced  the  good  in  point  of  amount 'as  five  to  one;    yet 
he  failed  to   shape   the   policy  of  his  Nation  in  accordance 
with  his  views,  for  the   missionaries  came  and   introduced.  * 
Christianity  and   established  it  upon  a  firm  basis  in  spite  of 
the  whiskey-traders  and  others  who  followed  closely  in  their 
wake,  with  all  their  concomitant  vices,  who  seemed  to  delight 
in  thwarting  the  noble  efforts  of  those  devoted  and  self-sac 
rificing  men  of   God   (even  as  they  do  at  the  present  day), 
that  they  might  the  more  easily  drag  the  Indians   down  to 
their  own  degraded  level. 

To  escape  the  demoralizing  influences  of  such  degraded 
characters,  and  not  the  missionaries,  did  George  Colbert 
advocate  the  emigration  of  his  people  to  the  remote  wilds, 
of  the  west,  where  he  hoped  and  believed  the  evil  tide  of 
innovation  would  be  arrested  which  threatened  to  engulf  his 
people,  if  they  remainedun  their  ancient  domains,  and  sweep 
away  in  its  mighty  current  of  iniquity  all  the  Chickasaw  old 
land  marks  of  their  moral  foundations.  In  that  distant  land, 
so  remote  (then  considered)  from  the  whites,  he  fondly  cher 
ished  the  belief  that  his  nation  would  throw  off  the  manners 
and  customs  of  the  whites  which  they  had  already  adopted, 
and  return  to  the  old  paths  of  that  simplicity  of  life  in  which 
their  progenitors  had  walked  for  ages  unknown.  But  he 
was  doomed  to  disappointment,  for  not  only  the  missionaries 
went  with  his  people  to  their  new  homes  to  be  found  in  the 
west,  but  the  whiskey  peddler  and  his  congenial  spirits,  not 
to  be  thus  cheated  out  of  their  victims,  soon,  followed  on 
their  track  with  the  zeal  of  their  master,  the  devil,  where  . 
they  have  been  hovering  around  the  outskirts  of  the  Chicka 
saw  Nation,  and  often  sneaking  within,  from  that  day  to  this, 
as  they  have  been  doing  around  in  the  territories  of  all  In 
dians;  and  though  the  Chickasaw  people,  alike  with  all  their 
race,  have  had  to  fight  the  devil  and  his  imps  in  an  unequal 
contest,  being  hampered  by  the  government  of  the  United 
States  in  its,  laws  regarding  its  worthy  sons  of  freedom, 
whose-proclivities  lead  them  to  indulge  their  "glorious  inde 
pendence"  regardless  of  all  laws  and  every  principle  of 
truth,  justice  and  honor,  in  regard  to  whiskey  in  particular;, 

1 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  519 

yet  the  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws  have  made  that  wilder 
ness,  to  which  they  were  banished,  blossom  as  the  rose, 
while  Georg-e  Colbert  sleeps  beneath  the  soil  under  the 
shades  of  the  forest  trees  in  the  present  country  of  his 
noble  people,  the  Chickasaws.  He  lived  and  died  firmly  ad 
hering"  to  the  principles  which  he  believed  to  be  the  greatest 
interest  to  his  country.  He  was  a  true  patriot,  and  loved 
the  simple  manners  of  the  olden  times,  and  could  not  yield 
them  to  give  place  to  modern 'customs  with  their  accompany 
ing  vices;  and  who  can  blame  him?,  Alas!  the  Indians, 
everywhere  on  this  North  American  continent,  have  been 
compelled  to  pay  a  higher  price  for  the  few  crumbs  of  Chris 
tianity  that  they  have  been  allowed  to  pick  up  and  convert 
to  the  use  of  their  starving-  souls  than  any  race  of  people 
that  ever  lived,  since  the  divine  command  of  the  world's 
Redeemer  bade  his  apostles,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  my  Gospel." 

General  William  Colbert  was  a  man  of  a  military  turn  of 
character,  and  in  that  capacity  rose  to  considerable  dis 
tinction  in  the  "Creek  War"  of  1814.  He  won  the  confidence 
of  General  Andrew  Jackson  in  that  war,  by  his  manly  bear 
ing  and  noble  conduct,  and  was  presented  by  Jackson,  as  a 
testimonial  of  his  esteem,  with  a  fine  military  coat  made 
after  the  American  style,  which  Colbert  carefully  kept  to 
the  close  of  his  life  as  one  among1  the  most  highly  treasured 
relics  of  the  past,  and  only  wore  it  on  important  national 
occasions.  He  lived  a  few  miles  south  of  a  little  place  then 
known  as  Tokshish  a  corruption  of  the  word  Takshi,  (bash 
ful).  He  died  in  1826,  honored  by  his  people  while  living-, 
and  mourned  by  them  when  dead  as  an  irreparable  national 
loss.  . 

Major  Levi  Colbert  resided  near  a  place  then  known  as 
Cotton  Gin.  He  was  truly  a  man  wise  in  the  councils  of  his 
Nation  and  valiant  in  defense  of  his  Nation's  rig-hts.  In 
early  manhood,  or  rather  in  boyhood,  he  was  elevated  by  an 
act  of  gallantry  to  the  high  position  of  "Itta  wamba  micco," 
as  has  been  so  oft  published  by  diif erent  writers,  and  mean 
ing,  as  given  in  the  wisdom  of  their  interpretation,  "Bench 
Chief,  or  King  of  the  Wooden  Bench."  There  is  no  such' 
word  in  the  Chickasaw  language  as  "Itta  wamba  micco,"  and 
it  can  be  but  the  fabrication  of  imaginative  ig-norance.  The 
Chickasaw  words  for  Bench  Chief  (if  there  ever  was  such  a 
personage  among  them)  would  be,"Aiobinili  (a  seat)  falaia 
(long)  Miko  (chief)  >^ro.  Ai-ome-bih-ne-lih-far-li-yah  :Meen- 
koh,  The  chief  on  the  long-  seat  .or  bench — in  our  phrase 
ology,  O^he  Chief  in  the  Chair  of  State. 

Major  Levi  Colbert's  act  of  gallantry,  by  which  he  was 


520  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

at  once  elevated  to  the  high  position  of  chief,  consisted  in 
having  defeated,  when  but  a  youth,  a  war  party  of  Mus- 
cogees  who  had  invaded  the  Chickasaw  Nation,  at  a  time 
when  all  the  warriors  of  the  invaded  district  were  away 
from  home  on  a  hunting  excursion.  Young'  Levi  at  once 
collected  the  old  men  and  boys  and  formed  them  into  a  war 
company  and  started  for  the  depredating  Creeks,  whom  he 
successfully  drew  into  an  artfully  planned  ambuscade,  by 
which  all  the  Muscogees  were  slain,  not  one 'being  left  to  re 
turn  to  his  own  country  and  tell  of  their  \  complete  destruc 
tion!  '  'The  little  'stream  upon  whose  banks  the  battle  took 
place  was  afterwards  called  (so  says  a  writer  in  one  of  his: 
published  articles)  "Yahnubly,"  and  gives  its  signification 
as  "All  killed";  buf  unfortunately  for  his  erudition,  no  such' 
word  is  known  in'the  Chickasaw  language.  There  is,  how 
ever,  the  word  yanubih  (pro.  yarn-ub-ih)  in'  their  language 
but  its  signification  is  iron-wood.  While  the  Chickasaw 
words  for  "All  killed"  (same  as  the  Choctaw)  are  moma- 
ubih;  the  land  or  place  where  all  were  killed. 

x  When  the  warriors  returned  from  their  hunt  and  learn 
ed  of  the  battle  and  to  whom  the  safety  of  their  families  was 
due,  and  also  the  honor  of  the  victory,  a  council  'was  imme-- 
diately  called  and  the  young  hero  summoned  to  attend;  when/ 
he  appeared  and  the  statement  of  facts  had  been  laid  before 
them,  they,  without  a  dissenting  voice,  and  "as  men  who 
quickly  discerned  true  merit  and  knew  how  to  appreciate  it, 
elevated  him  to  the  responsible  position  of  a  chief  in  their 
Nation. 

The  following  publication  appeared  a  few  years  ago  as  a 
valuable  piece  of  Chickasaw  history:  "Ittawamba  was  the 
name  of  an  office.  The  word  signifies  King  of  the  Wooden 
Bench.  The  individual  who  held  the  high  title  was  elected 
by  the  national  council.  A  part  of  the  imposing  ceremony 
by  which  the  officer  elected  was  initiated  was  as  follows: 
'At  a  given  signal  he  jumped  from  a  wooden  bench  to  the 
floor  in  the  hall  of  state  where  the  magnates  of  the  Nation 
sat  in  conclave.  At  the  moment  his  feet  touched  the  earth 
the  whole  of  tire  assembly  exclaimed  Ittawamba!  The  hon 
ored  individual  who  heard  this  voice  became  the  second  mag 
istrate  of  the  Nation.  Thus  he  received  the  orders  of  Chick 
asaw  Knighthood,  Ittawamba  micco,  or  Bench  Chief." 

No  doubt  of  it.  But  the  greater  mystery  is,  how  anyone 
could  jump  "from  a  wooden  bench  to  the  floor  in  the  hall  of 
state,"  and  ''the  moment  his  feet  touched  the  earth,"  not  to 
become  instantly  a  notorious  "Bench  Chief."  Verily,  a  prob 
lem  that  must  be  left  for  solution  to  the  unprecedented  wis 
dom  of  the  author  of  the  above  historical  piece  of  informa- 


HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS.  521 

:ion.  But  the  whole  article  is  such  an  exhibition  of  pitiable 
nonsense,  that  in  reading-  it  to  some  Chickasaw  friends,  they 
ill  exclaimed':  "What  a  fool!" 

The  most  ridiculous,  absurd  and  utterly  false  articles 
ire  continually  appearing  in  print,  in  regard  to  the  Indians, 
from  the  pens  of  those  whose  knowledge  of  that  unfortunate 
people,  against  whom  lies  enough  have  been  fabricated  and 
published  to  satisfy  the  devil,  is  about  as  much  as  might  be 
expected  to  be  found  in  an  African  Bushman. 

But  be  what  "Ittawamba"  may,  nevertheless  the  young 
initiate.,  Levi  Colbert, .after  his  initiation  into  its  wonderful 
mysteries,  proved  himself  worthy  to  be  not  only  a  "king  of 
the  wooden  bench,"  but  also,  by  his  talents,  purity  of  prin 
ciples,  energy  and  force  of  character,  a  king  upon  a  regal 
throne  to  bear  rule  over  a  natiem.  For  several  years  he 
shaped  the  policy,  and  presided  over  the  destinies  of  the 
Chickasaw  people  with  wisdom  and  discretion.  , 

On  the  27th  and  28th  of  September,  L830,  the  Choctaws, 
by. a  .treaty  with  John  Coffee  and  John  Eaton,  United  States 
commissioners,  ceded  their  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi; 
river  to  the  United  States.  Major  Levi  Colbert,  having 
heard  what  they  had  done,  immediately  called  upon  his 
friend,  Mr.  Stephen  Daggette,  and  asked  him  to  calculate 
the  interest  for  him  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  at 
five,  six,  seven  and  eight  per  cent.  The  Cboctaws  had  taken- 
government  bonds  at  five  per  cent. ;  Major  Colbert  at  once 
seeing  that  they  had  been  badly  and  most  outrageously 
swindled,  exclaimed  in  a  loud  and  highly  excited  tone  of 
voice,  "God!  I,  thought  so."  He  then  -informed  .Mr.  Dag 
gette  that  he  was  anxious  to  obtain  the  calculation,  that  he 
might  :be  enabled  to  explain  it  to  his  people  in  their  own  lan 
guage.  He  also  stated  to  Mr.  Daggette  that  "the  United 
States  would  soon  make  an  effort  to  buy  the  lands  of  the 
Chickasaws  also,  and  I  want  to  be  ready  for  them." 

This  conversation  between  Levi  Colbert  and  jVTr.  Dag 
gette  took  place  two  years  before  the  treaty  with  the  Chick 
asaws,  which  was  mafre  on  the  20th  of  October,  183^,  at  the 
house  of  a  Chickasaw  called  Topulka — a  corruption  of  Tah- 
pulah;  (to  halloo  or  make  a  noise),  but  was  known,  says  a 
writer  of  the  yahnubbih  and  Ittawamba  order  of  expounders, 
in  his  publication,  as  "Pontaontac,"  which  he  also  interprets 
as  signifying  "Cat  Tail  Prairie";  but  unfortunately  for  him 
also,  the  Chickasaw  words  for  his  classic  name  "Cat  Tail 
Prairie"  aVeKutus  HasimbishOktak  (pro.  Kut-oos  (cat)  Har- 
sim-bish  (tail)  Oke-tark  (prairie);  therefore  he  also  must 
seek  elsewhere  than  in  the  Chickasaw  language  for  his  "Pon- 
laontac"  and  its  signification  "Cat  Tail  Prairie,"  as  there  is 


522  HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS. 

; 

no  such  word  in  the  Chickasaw  language,  nor  in  any  other 
North  American  Indian  language,  it  is  reasonable  to  sup 
pose.  Pontotoc,  the  name  of  a  town  in  north  Mississippi, 
is  a  corruption,  as  has  been  before  stated,  of  the  words  Pa 
id  Tukohli — :grapes  hung  up;  hanging  grapes. 

But  such  are  the  gross  and  ridiculous  errors  made  by 
those  of  the  present  age  who  not  only  prove  their  terrible 
ignorance  by  their  unmerciful  butchery  of  the  Indian  lan 
guages,  but  equally  so  in  the  exhibition  of  their  shame 
ful  prejudice  unreasonably  cherished  against  that  unjustly 
persecuted  people,  concerning  whom,  in  every  particular, 
they  assume  to  be  infinitely  wise;  and  though  totally  ignor 
ant  of  the  subject,  presume  to  talk  and  write  about  them 
with  arrogant  duplicity  to  the1  infinite  injury  of  the  Indians 
and  disgrace  of  their  languages. 

When  the  United  States  had  resolved  to  gobble  up  the 
Chickasaw  country  also,  as  they  had  the  Choctaws'  two 
years  before,  John  Coffee  was  sent  to  the  Chickasaw  Nation 
to  order  Ben  Reynolds  (the  Chickasaw  Agent)  to  imme 
diately  assemble  the  chiefs  and  warriors  in  council  to  effect 
a  treaty  with  them. 

Three  treaties  (or  rather  articles)  were  drawn  up,  but 
were  promptly  rejected  by  the  watchful  and  discerning 
Chickasaws.  Then  the  fourth  was  written  by  the  persist 
ent  Coffee  ;  but  with  the  following  clause  inserted  to  catch 
the  noble  and  influential  chief,  Yakni  Moma  Ubih,  the  incor 
ruptible  Levi  Colbert,  which  read  as  follows;  "We  hereby 
agree  to  give  our  beloved  chief,  Levi  Colbert,  in  considera 
tion  pf  his  services  and  expense  of  entertaining  the  guests 
of  the  Nation,  fifteen  sections  of  land  in  any  part  of  the 
country  he  may  select."  "Stop!  Stop!  John  Coffee!"  shout 
ed  the  justly  indignant  chief  in  a  voice  of  thunder,  "I  am  no 
more  entitled  to  those  fifteen  sections  of  land  than  the  poor 
est  Chickasaw  in  the  Nation.  I  scorn  your  infamous  offer, 
clothed  under  the  falsehood  of  'our  beloved  chief,'  and  will 
not  accept  it,  sir."  A  frown  of  disappointment  momentarily 
rested,  no  doubt,  upon  the  face  of  Coffee. 

Then  a  fifth  treaty  was  written  out  by  Coffee,  and  the- 
council  again  called  together  to  consider  upon  its  merits; 
and  which,  after  due  deliberation,  was  finally  accepted. 
The  Chickasaws  agreed  (to  take  United  States  bonds,  but 
were  unable  to  satisfactorily  comprehend  the  six  per  cent 
promised  them,  until  their  interpreter,  Ben  Love,  illustrated 
it  as  a  hen  laying  eggs.  That  one  hundred  dollars  would 
lay  six  dollars  in  twelve  months,  which  they  at  once  fully  un 
derstood.  But  Ah!  had  that  old  hen  inconsiderately  roosted 
one  night  in  or  near  the  Great  Temple  of  American  Liberty ~ 


*    HISTORY    OP   THE   INDIANS.  523 

•here  would  she  have  appeared  ere  the  dawn  of  the  return- 
ig  morn?  Echo  but  answers,  "Gentle  shepherd -tell  us 
•here"! 

Ishtehotopa,  the  king,  first  walked  up  with  a  counte- 
ance  that  betokened  the  emotions  of  one  about  to  sign  his 
juntry's  death  warrant,  and  with  a  sad  heart  and  tremb- 
ng  hand  made  his  mark.  Then  Tishu  Miko  advanced 
•ith  solemn  mien  and  did  likewise;  then  the  other  chiefs 
ith  countenance  sad  and  forlorn;  and  last  of  all,  the  pure, 
le  noble  Levi  Colbert,  whom  gold  could  not  buy,  or  cause  to 
3ver  from  the  path  of  honor. 

Soon  after  the  treaty  had  been  signed,  Major  Levi  Col- 
ert  stated  to  Mr.  Daggette  he  was  not  satisfied  with  some 
lauses  in  the  treaty  which  he  did  not  at  first  correctly  un- 
erstand.  Mr.  Daggette  advised  him  to  go  immediately  to* 
Washington  and  get  it  changed  to  his  satisfaction  before  it 
•ras  confirmed  by  the  Senate.  Colbert,  with  other  delegates, 
tarted  immediately  to  Washington  City,  but  only  got  as  far 
s  his  son-in-law,  Kilpatrick  Carter's,  in  Alabama,  where  he 
•as  taken  sick  and  died,  to  the  great  sorrow  and  loss  of  the 
hickasaw  Nation.  The  other  delegates  continued  their 
Durney  to  Washington,  and  secured  the  desired  alteration, 
i  the  treaty. 

What  attractive  pictures  for  an  art  gallery  would  the 
cenes  presented  at  that  treaty  between  the  Chickasaw  Na- 
:on  and  the  United  States  in  1832,  at  the  humble  home  of 
^ahpulah,  and  the  one  two  years  before  between  the  Choc- 
aws  and  the  United  States.  The  United  States,  a  great  and 
owerful  nation,  professing  to  be  governed  in  all  its  actions 
y  the  principles  alone  of  Christianity.  The  Chickasawvand 
fhoctaw  Nations,  weak,  poor  and  unlettered,  making  no  pro- 
essions  to  intellectual  attainments  whatever.  The  former 
sing  its  skilled  ingenuity  in  deception,  misrepresentation 
nd  falsehood  to  defraud;  the  latter,  sustained  by  truth  and 
onor,  watching  and  deliberating  how  best  to  successfully 
leet  the  dire  attack  and  come  out  of  the  unequal  contest 
/ith  that  alone  that  justice  awards.  The  one  representing- 
he  people  of  civilization,  and  Christianity;  the  other,  the  ^ 
-eople  of  unpretending  and  unsophisticated  nature.  The 
ne  offering  bribes:  the  other  refusing  to  be  bribed.  The 
ne  called  Christian;  the  other  called  heathen.  But  God  is 
he  judge. 

But,  injustice,  it  must  and  shall  be  said  of  the  Chicka- 
aw  Agent  of    1832,   Benj..  Reynolds,,  that  he  was  an  honest 
aan.     As   agent   to   the   Chickasaw  people   for   the    United1 
-tates  Mr.  Reynolds  annually  paid  them    twenty   thousand 
iollars   for  several  consecutive  years  as  annuity.     Previous 


524    -  HISTORY    OF  .THE   INDIANS. 


to  the  treaty  Mr.  Daggette  affirms  he  assisted  Mr.  Reynolds 
in  paying  to  the  Chickasaws  their  annuities,  and  that  Mr. 
JReynolds  distributed  the  last  cent  among"  them,  giving1  to 
each,  his  or  her  dues  honestly  and  justly,  though  every  op 
portunity  was  offered  to  defraud  them,  and  lived  and  died  an 
honest  and  pure  man;  and  then,  no  doubt,  went  above  to  re 
ceive  the  glorious  welcome,  "Well  done,  thou  good  and  faith 
ful  servant."  Such  a  government  agent  to  the  Indians  at  the 
present  day  of  boasted  civilization  and  progress  would  be  a 
national  prodigy,  and  ought''to  be,  if  possible  to  be  found, 
set  up' in  a  glass  case  at  all  the  expositions  the  world  over  as 
worthy  to  be.  ranked  with  ;the  Eight  Wonders  of  the  world 
.as  the  meritorious  Ninth/  t. 

James  .Colbert,  the  youngest  of  Logan  Colbert's  sons, 
was  also,  as  his  renowned  brothers,  a  man  of  great  integ 
rity  and  firmness  of  character.' '  He  acted,  for  many  years, 
in  the  capacity  of  the  .national secretary'.*  The  archives 
of  the  Chickasaw  Nation  were  placed  in  his  hands  for  safe 
keeping,  the  majority  of  which  being  in  his  own  hand  -writ 
ing;  and  truly  it  may  be  said,  antiquaries,' in  coming  years 
of  the  far  future,  may  decipher  with  much  interest  and 
profit,  the  documents  written  by  James  Colbert. 

Thomas  Love,  who,  at  an  early  day,  also  identified 
himself,  with  the  Chickasaw  people  by  marriage,  had  six 
sons,  viz:  Henry,  Benjamin,  (who  acted  in  the  capacity  of 
interpreter  for  the  Chickasaws  for  many  years)  Isaac. 
Slone,  William  and  Robert.  All  of  whom  have  died,  except 
Robert,  who  was  known  as  Bob  Love. 

The  Chickasaws,  in  common  with  all  the  Indians  of  the 
South,  possessed  many  fine  orators  whose  orations  were 
eloquent,  persuasive  and  full  of  animation;  and  it  is  a  ques 
tion  of  great  doubt  if  the  White  Race  ever  found"  among 
their  uneducated  citizens  a  single  orator  who  could  respect 
ably  compare  with  hundreds  of  unlettered  orators  among 
the  Indians  of  the  South,  or  even  of  any  of  the  North  Ameri 
can  Indians.  As  a  race  of  people  the  Chickasaws  were  tall, 
elegantly  proportioned,  erect  and  muscular,  with  a  square 
forehead,  high  cheek  bones,  compressed  lips  and  dark  peney 
trating  eyes.  In  their  councils  (like  all  other  Indians)  grave 
and  dignified,  and  never  indulged,  under  any  circumstances, 
in  noisy  harangues;  they  spoke  slowly,  distinctly  and  to  the 
point.  It  is,  and  has  always  been,  the  universal  declaration 
and  belief  of  the  Whites  that  the  North  American  Indians 
are  taciturn,  grave,  and  never  smiled  or  indulged  in  merri 
ment  or  laughter  under  any  circumstances.  This  is  a  great 
error,  and  but  a  repetition  of  the  same  old  edition  of  the 
same  old  story,  which,  like  all  else  said  and  written  and  pub- 


HISTORY    OF    THK   INDIANS.  525 

lished  about  the  North  American  Indians,  was  begotten  by 
ignorance,  conceived  in  duplicity  and  brought  forth  in  pre 
judice — to  say  the  least  of  it.  Never  did  a  more  jovial,  good 
natured  and  light  hearted  race  of  people  exist  upon  earth 
than  the  North  American  Indians.  True,  they  were  grave 
and  taciturn  in  the  presence  of  strangers,  and  the  reason  is 
obvious.  The  white  people  (excepting  the  old  missionaries 
of  the  long  ago),  in  all  their  actions  among  them,  and  in  all 
their  conduct  toward  them,  have  ever  and  everywhere  as 
sumed  an  air  of  superiority  over  them,  which  the  Indians 
have  ever  justly  denied;  and  which  justly  created  in  their 
minds  pity  for  the  foolish  self-conceit  and  egotism  of  the 
Whites,  which  seemed  to  them  a  lamentable  weakness  un~ 
known  and  unseen  before  in  the  human  race;  and  also  cre 
ated  equal  contempt  for  such  a  display  of  presumption  and 
evident  want  of  sound  judgment,  or  rather  of  common 
sense;  the  natural  consequences  of  which  were  taciturnity 
and  gravity  when  in  the  presence  of  such  self-imagined  au 
gust  specimens  of  humanity. 

Even  many  ministers  of  the  gospel,  sent  among  the 
Indians  by  the  various  denominations  of  the  states  to  preach 
to  them,  preach  themselves  instead  of  Christ,  by  indulging 
in  unmistakable  bantam  rooster  airs  of  the  superiority  of 
the  whites  over  the  red,  detailing  their  opinions  concerning 
the  progressive  renovation  that  would  have  certainly  ensued 
in  every  department  of  their  national  and  social  affairs  had 
the  Indians,  from  their  first  acquaintance  writh  the  White 
Race,  had  the  good  fortune  to  have  enjoyed  the  advantages 
of  their  ethical  wisdom  and  profound  theological  erudition. 
Often  have  I  been  an  eye  witness  to  many  such  exhibitions 
of  clerical  imbecility  during  my  frequent  sojourns  among 
the  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws  within  the  last  ten  years;  and 
though  as  loquacious  as  Brazilian  parrots,  yet  "Pretty  Poll 
wants  a  cracker"  was  in  substance,  the  climax  of  their  ser 
mons,  as  Self  was  so  highly  esteemed  a  personage  that  they 
were  oblivious  to  all  else. 

But  such  was  not  the  style  of  men,  who  in  1815-20,  pro 
claimed  the  glad  tidings  of  great  joy  to  the  Southern  Indians. 
Far  from  it.  They  were  men  of  deep  piety;  of  firm  resolu 
tions;  of  Christian  humility;  of  self  sacrificing  zeal;  of  humble 
submission  to  the  will  of  God;  of  unshaken  faith  in  the 
promise,  "Lo!  I  am  with  you  even  to  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth";  of  indefatigable  energy  to  lead  the  Red  Race, 
long  wandering  in  the  path  of  moral  darkness,  into  the  fold 
of -Christ;  of  unalloyed  loye  for  their  souls  and  desire'  for 
their  salvation;  of  unassumed  sympathy  for  them  as  ljuman 
beings  to  whom  the  knowledge  of  maiiV  Redemption 


526  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

through  the  Son  of  God  had  never  been  proclaimed;  of  ad 
miration  for  their  many  virtues  unsurpassed  by  any  nation 
of  people  upon  earth,  to  whom  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ 
had  never  been  preached.  Therefore,  they  visited  them  at 
their  homes  in  their  humble  log-  cabins;  sat  down  among 
them  in  the  family  circle  upon  the  bear  skins  spread  upon 
the  cleanly  swept  dirt  floor;  and  there  proclaimed  to  them 
concerning-  Him  of  whom  Moses  and  the  prophets  wrote; 
slept  upon  their  bear  and  panther  skins  in  humble  grati 
tude  for  as  much,  when  remembering-  their  Savior  had  not 
where  to  lay  his  head;  ate  of  their  venison,  tafulatobi 
ibulhto  (hominy  mixed  with  beans),  and  botahkapussa  (cold 
flour). 

They  sang-  and  prayed  with  them  in  the  morning;  then 
went  with  them  to  their  little  fields  of  growing  corn  and  in 
structed  them  in  the  art  of  agriculture  and  imparted  to  them 
new  ideas  of  home  comforts.  Thus  they  taught  them  every 
where  and  on  all  occasions,  both  by  precept  and  example. 
They  acknowledged  them  as  human  beings;  and  for  them 
also  Christ  purchased  salvation  upon  the  cross.  Self  was 
not  in  all  their  thoughts,  only  to  preserve  it  for  usefulness  in 
the  cause  of  their  Divine  Master  in  bringing  the  Red  Race 
of  the  south  into  his  fold.  What  was  the  result  ?  Mutual 
confidence  and  disinterested  love  and  friendship  prevailed 
everywhere  between  the  appreciative  Indians  and  those  mis 
sionaries,  men  and  women,  all  true  servants  of  God;  and 
the  five  civilized  tribes  (as  they  are  now  called)  stand  today 
as  living  monuments  of  the  salutary  effects  of  the  teachings 
of  those  self-sacrificing  men  and  women  of  seventy- five 
years  ago — true  and  devoted  servants  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
salvation  of  their  fellow  men  found  and  acknowledged  in  the 
North  American  Indians. 

The  ancient  Chickasaws  were  the  most  famous  trailers 
of  all  the  southern  Indians.  Their  skill  in  this  art  was  truly 
astonishing,  and  seemed  almost  superhuman.  I  call  it  an 
art;  and  it  is  as  much  so  as  is  painting  or  sculpture,  while 
almost  as  few  become  proficient  in  it  as  in  the  handling  of 
brush  or  chisel.  Art,  or  by  whatever  name  it  may  be  called, 
yet  it  requires  constant  practice  and  much  knowledge  of 
nature,  in  all  its  variations,  to  learn  it  thoroughlv ;  and  I  be 
lieve  it  more  natural  for  an  Indian  to  become  a  trailer  of 
man  or  beast  than  a  white  man,  as  they  seemed  to  acquire 
by  intuition  what  the  white  has  to  learn  from  a  life-time  of 
study.  Here  and  there,  I'll  admit,  a  white  man  may  be 
found  who  becomes  an  expert,  yet  the  boasted  leaders  of 
civilization  fall  far  behind  the  natural-born  trailers,  the  North 
American  Indians.  Who  could  learn,  through  the  medium 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  527 

of  books  or  any  other  way  pf  instruction,  but  that  of  a  life 
time  experience,  to  determine  the  age  of  a  trail  of  man  or 
beast  correctly,  or  tell  the  number  of  an  enemy  and  how 
long"  since  they  had  passed  the  spot  which  you  may  be  ex 
amining-?  Yet  the  ancient  Chickasaw  warrior,  in  his  palmy 
days  seventy-five  years  ago,  could  do  it,  and  even  what  tribe 
of  Indians  had  made  a  given  trail,  its  age,  and  all  the  partic 
ulars  as  correctly  as  though  he  had  seen  them  pass.  Truth 
fully  did  an  Indian  once  exclaim  : 

"White  man  travel  with  his  eyes  shut  and  mouth  open," 
alluding  to  his  propensity  to  talk.  "Indian  travel  all  day; 
say  nothing,  but  see  everything."  How  true!  Nothing  es 
caped  his  observation,  whether  alone  or  with  others;  while 
the  white  man  talks  incessantly  and  sees  nothing  but  the 
general  features  of  the  things  he  is  passing;  therefore,  can 
scarcely  retrace  his  steps  for  any  great  distance  in  a  country 
he 'has  never  traveled  before;  while  it  is  impossible  to  lose  an 
Indian  in  any  country,  no  matter  how  strange  or  new.  No 
matter  how  difficult  or  circuitous  has  been  the  route  by  which 
he  has  arrived  at  any  place,  the  Chickasaw  would,  with  ease, 
find  his  way  back  whence  he  started  without  hesitating  a 
moment  which  course  to  pursue.  When  asked  how  he  did  it 
he  may  reply,  Siah  (I  am)  a  chuffa  [one)  kutah  (who)  ikhanah 
(remembers);  though  often  he  would  make  no  reply.  No 
matter  how  loquacious  he  may  have  been  at  home  or  else 
where,  when  upon  the  warpath  or  the  chase  he  was  silent. 
The  North  American  Indian  was  nearly  as  certain 
in  predicting  the  weather,  as  a  barometer,  and  his 
knowledge  of  the  characteristics  of  the  wild  animals  of  his 
ancient  forests  would  be  a  prize  indeed  to  the  naturalist. 

As  warriors  and  hunters  the  Chickasaws  of  seventy-five 
years  ago  had  few  equals,  but  no  superiors,  among  the  North 
American  Indians.  They  were  unerring  marksmen  with 
the  rifle  and  capable  of  enduring  seemingly  incredible  fa 
tigue.  They  would  follow  the  tracks  of  their  game  and  the 
signs  left  by  their  human  enemies  for  hours,  where  the  eyes 
of  the  white  man  would  not  detect  any  sign  of  a  foot-print 
whatever.  When  hunting  or  upon  the  war-path,  if  they 
came  upon  deserted  camp-fires  or  human  foot-prints  they 
could  tell  to  what  tribe  they  belonged  and  whether  friends 
or  foes. 

As  an  illustration  of  their  skill  in  discerning  and  inter 
preting  landmarks  and  signs,  I  will  here  relate  a  little  inci 
dent  proving  the  wonderful  skill  and  ingenuity  displayed 
in  ascertaining  facts  with  regard  to  anything  of  which  they 
desired  to  inform1  themselves. 

In  the  years  of  long  ago,  a  Chickasaw  had  a   ham  of  veni- 


528  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

son  taken  from  his  little  log"  hquse  in  which  he  kept  his  stock 
of  provisions  during-  the  absence  of  himself  and  family. 
He  described  rthe  thief  as  being- a  white  man,  low  stature, 
lame  in  one  leg1,  having-  a  short  gun,  and  accompanied  by  a 
short-tail  dog.  When  requested  to  explain  how  he  could  be 
so  positive,  he  answered:  "His  track  informed  me  he  was  a 
white  man  by  his  shoes,  Indian  wear  moccasins;  he  stood  on 
the  toes  of  his  shoes  to  reach  the  venison  ham,  which  told 
me  he  was  a  low  man;  one  foot  made  a  deeper  and  plainer 
impress  upon  the  ground  than  the  other  as  he  walked,  which 
told  me  he  was  a  lame  man;  the  mark  made  by  the  breech  of 
a  gun  upon  the  ground  and  the  one  made  by  its  muzzle  upon 
the  bark  of  the  tree  against  which  it  had  leaned,  told  me  he 
had  a  gun  and  it  was  a  short  gun;  the  tracks  made  by  a  dog 
told  me  of  his  presence;  and  the  impress  he  made  where  he 
sat  upon  the  ground  to  the  end  of  that  made  bv  his  tail,  as 
he  wagged  it,  was  but  a  finger's  length  which  told  me  the 
dog's  tail  was  short."  What  white  man  would  ever  have 
thought  to  look  for,  or  discovered  such  evidences  in  identi 
fying  a  thief? 

Among  the  ancient  Chickasaws,  descent  was  established 
in  the  female  line  ;  thus  the  ties  of  kinship  converged  upon 
each  other  until  they  all  met  in  the  granddaughter;  and 
thus  every  grandson  and  granddaughter  became  the  grand 
son  and  granddaughter  of  the  whole  tribe,  since  all  the  un 
cles  of  a  given  person  were  considered  as  his  fathers  also  ; 

.and  all  the  mothers'  sisters  were  mothers;  the  cousins,  as 
brothers  and  sisters;  the  nieces,  as  daughters;  and  the 
nephews  as  sons.  They,  as  all  their  race,  believed  in  the 

/existence  of  one  great,  everywhere-present  and  over-ruling 
spirit,  whom  they  held  in  the  highest  reverence,  and  de 
voutly  worshipped;  as  to  him  were  attributed  the  gifts  of 
peace,  prosperity  and  happiness,  abundant  harvests  of  corn, 
beans,  pumpkins  and  success  in  war  and  the  chase.  They 
also  equally  believed  in  the  existence  of  an  evil  spirit,  to 
whom  they  attributed  the  cause  of  all  misfortunes  ;  and  here 
came  in  the  power  and  innnence  of  the  wonder-working 
"medicine  man,"  or  "prophet,"  who  professed  to  have  at 
tained  texa  thorough  knowledge  of  both  good  and  evil  spirits, 
and  also  the  ability  to  command  their  influence  for  good  or 
evil,  by  fasting  and  prayer  and  mystic  ceremonies. 

However,  the  usages,  manners,  customs,  beliefs  and 
habits  of  life,  national  and  social  amusements  of  the  Chicka 
saws  were,  in  many  respects  the  same  as  the  Choctaws,  and 
what  may  be  said  of  the  one,  may  with  equal  truth  be  said  of 
the  other. 

Among   the   ancient   Chickasaws    and    Choctaws    there 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  529 

was  a  tradition  concerning-  the  origin  of  a  little  lake 
in  Tibih  swamp.  Oktibihha  county,  Mississippi.  This 
isolated  lake  which  I  have  oft  visited  on  fishing-  excur 
sions,  has  long  been  known  as  Greer's  lake,  and  is  about 
a  half  a  mile  long  and  one  hundred  feet  or  more  wide.  The 
tradition  is  as  follows:  In  the  years  of  the  long-  past, 
many  generations  before  the  advent  of  the  White  Race,  a 
Chickasaw  hunter  and  his  wife,  with  two  little  children, 
(a  boy  and  girl)  were  camped  in  the  Tibih  swamp  near  a 
little  hole  of  water  formed  by  the  roots  of  a  fallen  tree.  One 
morning-  the  hunter  and  his  wife  went  out  in  pursuit  of 
game  leaving*  their  children,  as  usual,  in  camp.  On  their 
return  late  in  the  evening,  they^  were  stupified  with  horror 
and  amazement  to  find  that  their  camp  was  swallowed  up  by 
the  earth,  and  this  lake  lay  stretched  over  the  spot.  But 
while,  gazing  upon  the  scene  perplexed  and  terrified,  they 
beheld  two  enormous  snakes  swimming  upon  the  newly 
formed  lake  and  coming  directly  towards  them,  which, 
caused  them  to-  flee  from  the  spot  in  great  consterna 
tion.  The  sudden  formation  of  the  lake  was  ascribed  by 
them  to  some  miraculous  agent,  and  by  the  same  power, 
their  children  had  been  transformed  into  the  two  great 
water  snakes;  and  such  was  the  credulity  of  the  Chickasaws 
and  Choctaws  in  the  account  given  of  the  wonderful  event 
by  the  Chickasaw  hunter  and  his  wife,  that  down  through 
all  subsequent  years,  even  to  the  time  of  their  emigration 
west,  the  lake  and  its  immediate  surroundings  were  held  in 
superstitious  awe.  Nor  would  they  live  nor  approach  any 
where  near  it.  Varied  and  many  were  the  views  concerning 
its  strange  and  sudden  formation;  all,  however,  agreeing 
that  it  was  brought  into  existence  by  the  wrath  of  the  Great 
Spirit,  and  became  the  abode  of  evil  spirits  ever  after 
wards. 

The  ancient  Chickasaws  once  practised  the  custom  ofex- 
tinguishing  the  fire  in  every  house  in  their  Nation  at  the  close 
of  every  year,  and  let  them  so  remain  during  three  succes 
sive  days  and  nights,  while  the  occupants  retired  to  the 
woods  where  they  remained.  By  this  means  they  believed 
they  would  rid  themselves  of  all  witches  and  evil  spirits; 
since,  when  they  came  three  successive  nights  and  found  no 
fire  they  would  conclude  the  family  had  left  their  former 
place  of  abode  to  return  no  more;  therefore  they  also  would 
depart  to  never  return.  Then  all  the  Chickasaws  returned 
to  their  homes,  built  new  fires  and  were  happy,  being  freed 
from  the  fear  of  witches. 


THE  NATCHEZ. 

On  February  llth,   1700,   De  Iberville,  Bienville,  Perri- 
caul  and  Tonti  ascended   the  Mississippi  river  as  far  west  as 
the  present  city  of  Natchez.     They  were  kindly  received  (so 
states  the  journalist)  by  the  great  chief,  or   sun,    as  he  was 
termed,  surrounded  by  six  hundred  of  his   warriors,  who, 
according-  to  their  own  account,  had  formerly  been  a  great 
nation.     On  the  13th  the  party  left  Natchez  and   visited    the 
villages  of  the   Taensas,  the   customs   and   habits  of  whom 
were  the  same  as  the   Natchez,  being  evidently  a  branch  of 
the  latter.    .During   their  stay  the   sacred   temple  of  these 
Indians  was  struck  by  lightning  and  burned   to  ashes.     To 
appease    the   Sun  God,  the   poor,  infatuated  women   threw 
themselves,  anci  parents,  their   children,  into^the  consuming 
flames  of  the   burning  temple.     Perricaul,  who  was  one  of 
the   witnesses  of  the   fearful  scene,  thus  wrote  of  it:    "We 
left  the  Natchez  and   coasted   along  to  the   right,  where  the 
river  is  bordered  with  high,  gravelly  banks  for  a  distance  of 
twelve  leagues.     At   the  extremity  of  these  bluffs  is  a  place 
called  Petit  Gulf,  on  account  of  the  whirlpool  formed  by  the 
river   for   the   distance  of  a  quarter  league.     Eight  leagues 
higher  up  we   came  to  Grand  Gulf,  which  we  passed  a  short 
distance  above,  on  the  right  hand  side.     We  landed  to  visit  a 
village   four  leagues    in  the   interior.      These   Indians   are 
called  the  Taensas.     We  were  well  received,  but  I  never  saw 
a  more  sad  sight,  frightful  and  revolting  spectacle  than  that 
which   happened  the   second    day,   16th  of  April,    after  our 
arrival  in  the  village.     A  sudden  storm  burst  upon  us.     The 
lightning  struck   the  temple,  burned    all  their   idols  and  re 
duced  the  whole  to  ashes.     Quickly  the   Indians   assembled 
around,  making  horrible    cries,  tearing*  out  their  hair,  eleva 
ting  their  hands   to  heaven,  their   tawnv   visages   turned  to 
ward   the  burning   temple,   invoking   their    Great  Spirit   to 
come    down   and   extinguish    the    flames.     The  fathers   and 
mothers  then  brought  their  children,  and  after  having  stran 
gled  them,  threw  them  into  the  flames.     M.  De  Iberville  was 


HISTORY    OF    THK    INDIANS.  531 

horrified  at  seeing-  such  a  cruel  spectacle,  and  gave  orders 
to  stop  it,  by  forcibly  taking  from  them  the  little  innocents; 
but  with  all  our  efforts  seventeen  perished  in  this  manner, 
and  had  we  not  restrained  them,  the  number  would  have 
been  over  two  hundred." 

Father  Le  Petit,  Superior  of  the  Jesuits,  in  speaking  of 
the  Natchez  Indians,  whom  he  had  visited  at  an  early  day, 
says:  "They  inhabited  a  beautiful  country,  and  were  the 
only  tribe  that  seemed  to  have  an  established  worship.  This 
temple  resembled  an  earthen  oven,  or  the  back  of  a  tortoise, 
and  was  one  hundred  feet  in  circumference.  They  entered 
it  by  one  small  door,  and  there  was  no  window. .  Above,  on 
the  outside  of  the  roof,  were  three  wooden  eagles  painted 
red,  yellow  and  white.  In  front  of  the  door  was  a  shed 
where  the  guardian  of  the  temple  kept  watch.  All  around 
was  a  circle  of  painted  pickets,  capped  with  the  skulls  of 
their  enemies  who  had  fallen  in  battle.  The  interior  was 
lined  with  shelves  on  which  were  baskets,  holding  the  bones 
of  their  favorite  followers,  who  had  been  strangled,  to  at 
tend  their  masters  in  the  spirit  world,  made  of  bark,  pro 
vided  by  the  patriarchs  of  the  tribe.  No  woman,  except 
the  mother  and  sisters  of  the  Great  Sun,  was  allowe'd  to 
^nter  the  sacred  edifice.  The  common  people  dared  only  to 
approach  the  threshold.  The  sun  was  their  deity;  their 
great  chief  was  called  by  the  same  name,  and  he,  in  turn, 
called  the  sun  his  brother.  Every  morning  at  dawn,  attend 
ed  by  his  retinue,  the  chief  ascended  a  mound  to  ^converse 
with  his  celestial  brother.  As  soon  as  the  sun  appeared  in 
the  heavens,  the  chief  saluted  with  a  long  howl,  and  then 
waved  his  hand  from  east  to  west,  and  directed. what  course 
he  should  travel!  When  this  personage  dies,  they  demolish 
his  house  arid  throw  up  a  mound,  and  on  that  they  build  a 
d welling for; the  brother  of  the  sun." 

Perieault,  who  was  at  Natchez  in  1703,  and  at  which  time 
the  Great  Female  Sun  died,  says:  "She  was  really  the  Great 
Sun  in  her  own  right.  Her  husband,  who  was  not  of  the 
blood  royal,  was  strangled  by  their  eldest  son,  so  that  in 
death,  as  in  life,  he  might  be  her  submissive  attendant  and 
howl  to  her  ghost!  On  the  ontside  of  her  house  they  placed 
all  her  effects  on  a  scaffold  and  on  these  they  deposited  the 
two  corpses.  They  likewise  put  there  the  bodies  of  twelve 
children  whom  they  had  just  strangled.  These  children  had 
been  brought  by  their  parents,  by  order  of  the  eldest  son  of 
the  deceased,  who  had  the  right,  as  her  successor,  to  put  to 
death  as  many. as  he  thought  necessary  to  wait  on  her  in  the 
land  of  spirits.  Fourteen  other  scaffolds  were  erected, 
decorated  with  vines  and  rude  paintings.  These  were  in- 


532  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

tended  for  the  bodies  of  the  victims,  whose  nearest  rela 
tives,  dressed  irr  festive  robes,  surrounded  them  with  looks: 
arid  gestures  expressive  of  satisfaction.  They  then  in  pro 
cession  marched  to  the  great  square  in  front  of  the  temple 
and  began  to  dance.  Four  days  thereafter  they  again  form 
ed  in  procession  an^d  began  what  is  called  the  'March  of 
Death' from  the  square  to  the  house  of  the  deceased.  The 
fathers  and  mothers  of  the  strangled  children  held  the  bodies 
in  their  arms.  The  oldest  of  these  did  not  appear  to  be  over 
three  years.  The  relatives  of  these  infants,  with  their  hair 
closely  shaven,  began  to  howl  in  the  most  frightful  manner. 
But  the  adults  who  were  about  to  die  danced  around  the 
house  of  the  dead  princess,  until  finally  it  was  set  on  fire 
by  her  eldest  son  and  successor.  All  then  marched  to  the 
great  temple.  .The'  parents  who  carried  their  strangled  in 
fants  then  threw  them  on  the  ground  and  began  to  dance. 
When  the  body  of  the  deceased  princess  was  deposited  in 
the  temple,  the  intended  victims  were  undressed  and  seated 
on  the  ground.  A  cord  with  a  noose  was  passed  around  each 
of  their  necks  and  deer  skins  thrown  over  their  heads.  The 
relatives,  who  were  the  executioners,  then  stood  to  the  right 
and  left  of  each  victim  and,  at  a  given  signal,  all  were  stran 
gled.  The  bodies  were  placed  on  scaffolds  and  the  bones, 
when  dry,  were  deposited  in  baskets  in  the  temple,  and  con 
stituted  a'  sort  of  patent  nobility.  It  was  a  privilege  and  an 
honor  to  die  with  the  Sun." 

Even  as  late  as  1730  the  Natchez  had  their  temple  in 
which  were  kept  their  sacred  fire  continually  burning.  Ac 
cording'  to  their  traditions,  Du  Pratz  says:  ''Their  territo 
ries  extended  to  the  River  Manchos,  or  Iberville,  which  is 
about  50  leagues  from  the  sea,  to  the  River  Wabash,  which 
is 'distant  from  the  sea  about  450  leagues,  and  that  they  had 
about  800  suns,  or  princess." 

The  Natchez,  if .  tradition  may  be  believed,  also  came 
from  Mexico  where  thev  had  lived  for  centuries;  and  after 
the  fall  of  the  Montezuma  Empire,  to  which  they  were  allies, 
they,  alike,  with  the  Choctaw,  Chickasaw  and  Muscogee, 
fled  from  Spanish  tyranny.  They,  too,  followed  the  rising 
sun  from  west  to  east,  continuing  a  wandering  life  for  many 
years,  and'  nnalty  reached  the  Mississippi  river,  which  they 
crossed,  and  settled  at  a  point  on  the  river  where  the  city 
Natchez  now  stands,  which  was  named  for  them.  At  that 
time  they  were  a  numerous  people,  occupying  a  territory 
extending  from  Natchez  to  Wabash,  and  claiming  many 
hundred  sons,  or  members  of  the  royal  family.  In  1716, 
the  French  built.  Fort  Rosalie  upon  the  bluff  upon  which 
Natchez  now  stands,  in  which  they  quartered  a  company  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  533 

soldiers.  In  1720,  DePratz  visited  the  Great  Sun  of  the 
Natchez,  and  was  informed  by  him,  that  the  Natchez  were 
-once  a  great  people  extending-  over  a  vast  region  of  country, 
and  ruled  by  many  suns;  that  one  of  the  keepers  of  the 
Temple  let  the  holy  fire  go  out,  and  in  his  fright  substituted 
profane  fire,  thus  endeavoring  to  conceal  his  negligence;  but 
which  caused  them  to  be  visited  by  a  dreadful  disease  which 
ravaged  their  country  for  many  years,  sweeping  thousands 
of  their  people  into  an  untimely  grave.  As  the  ancient 
Persians,  the  Natchez  kept  a  perpetual  fire  burning  in  their 
iemples,  which  was  never  permitted  fora  moment  to  be- 
-come  extinguished.  It  is  stated  by  some  of  the  early 
writers,  that  the  Taensas  and  Mobelians,  who  were  eventu 
ally  merged  into  the  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  nations,  also 
kept  a  perpetual  fire  burning  in  their  temples,  when  known 
by  the  Europeans  in  1*721.  It  is  said  of  the  Natchez,  "that 
the  sight  was  never  shocked  by  .the  appearance  of  deformity," 
such  as  are  so  frequently  observed  among  the  White  Race; 
and  with  equal  truth,  the  same  may  be  said  of  all  the  North 
American  Indians.  As  all  their  race,  so  the  Natchez  used 
"the  bow  and  arrow  as  their  instrument  of  offense  and  de 
fense,  which  they  used  effectively  against  their  enemies  .in 
war,  and  supplying  themselves  with  the  flesh  of  the  great 
variety  of  wild  animals  in  which  their  endless  forests  then 
abounded.  They  were  also  skilled  in  the  art  of  dressing  the 
.skins  of  animals,  and  thus  provided  themselves  with  comfort 
able  clothing,  suitable  for  both  summer  and  winter,  using  as 
needles  for  sewing  purposes,  the  sharp  bones  of  birds,  and 
for  thread  the  sinews  of  small  animals.  Their  houses,  as 
those  of  all  their  race,  were  made  of  rude  materials,  with 
one  door  for  ingress  and  egress,  without  floor  or  chimney, 
but  a  little  hole  left  in  the  roof  about  the  centre  of  the  room, 
through  which  the  smoke  might  pass  out,  if  so  disposed. 
The  Natchez  women  are  said  to  have  been  very  proficient 
in  making  earthen  ware  for  their  domestic  purposes,  such 
as  pots,  cups,  bowls,  etc.;  and  also  very  skillful  in  the  art 
of  dying  the  skins  of  animals,  their  favorite  colors  being  red, 
yellow,  white  and  black,  used  in  alternate  stripes,  The 
men  were  skilled  in  managing  their  canoes,  some  of  which 
measuring  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  in  length,  by  two br 
three  in  width.  In  short,  what  has  been  said  in  regard  to 
the  ancient  manners  and  customs  of  the  Choctaw  and  Chick 
asaw,  Cherokee,  Muscogee  and  Seminole  Indians  is  equally 
applicable  to  the. Natchez,  differing  only  (as  all  others, .-how 
ever)  in  their  traditions  of  the  origin  of  man,  the  flood, 
funeral  ceremonies  and  burial  of  the  dead. 

In  regard   to  the   origin   of  man,    the   tradition   of   the 


534  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

Natchez  affirms  that  the  Great  Spirit  molded  the  first  man 
out  of  clay,  similar  to  that  out  of  which  they  made  their 
earthen' ware,  and  being1  pleased  with  his  work,  breathed 
life  into  it.  After  the  first  man  was  created,  he  Cthe  man) 
suddenly  was  taken  with  a  violent  paroxysm  or  fit  of  sneez 
ing-,  when  suddenly  a  strange  something  jumped  from  his 
nose  to  the  ground,  where  it  commenced  to  hop  and  dance 
about,  growing  larger  and  larger,  until  it  soon  assumed  the 
form  of  a  woman  and  finally  grew  to  be  a  perfect  woman. 

.  '  They  also  had  another  tradition  in  substance,  as  follows: 
In  ancient  times  a  man  and 'woman  appeared  among  them  who 
descended  from  the  sun.  They  were  so  dazzlingly'bright  that 
human  eyes  could  not  look,  upon  them.  The  man  informed 
them  that  he  had  seen  their  wretchedness  and  inability  to 
properly  govern  themselves,  and  hacl  been  influenced  through 
compassion  toleave  his  bright  abode  in, the  sun  and  descend 
to  earth  that  he  might  instruct  them  how  they  might  live 
happily.  H'e  therefore  gave  them  some  moral  pirecepts, 
among  the  most  important  were,  first — not  to  kill  a  man.  but 
in  self-defense;  second — to  have  but  one  living  wife;  third— 
to 'be  truthful;  fourth — to,  be  strictly  honest;  fifth — to  be 
temperate;  sixth — to  be  generous;  seventh — to  be  charita 
ble;  eighth — to  help  the  poor  in  their  distress. 
1  The  stranger's  appearance  and  moral  precepts  inculca 
ted  greatly  impressed  the  Natchez,  and  they  at  once  conven 
ed  in  solemn  council  during,  the  quiet  hours  of  the  night  and 
resolved,  upon  due  deliberation,  to  request  the  man  to  be 
their  chief;  and  the  next  morning,  with  much  pomp  and  cere 
mony,  proceeded  to  the  house  to  which  the  stranger  and  his 
wife  had  been  consignee]  for  the  night  and  earnestly  solicited 
him  to  become  their'chief.  He  at  first  declined  their  intend- ' 
ed  honor,  assigning  as  his  reason  that  he  knew  they  would 
not  conform  to  his  teachings,  and  in  so  doing,  he  was  grieved 
to  state  to  them,  the  Natchez  would  work  their  own  destruc 
tion,  terminating  in  utter  extermination.  But  the  Natchez, 
earnestly  pressing  their  request,  the  stranger  finally  yielded 
to  their  solicitations,  but  with  the  following  proviso:  That 
they  would  emigrate  to  a  country  which  he  would  also  lead 
them,  where  they  would  be  more  prosperous  and  happy; 
and  tjiat  they  would  strictly  yield  obedience  to  the  laws  and 
regulations  he  would  establish,  for  them,  and  that  their  fu 
ture  chiefs  should  be  chosen  from  his  descendants.  To  all 
of  which  they  acceded.  He  then  commanded  fire  from  the 
sun  which  he  gave  them  with  positive  ins'tructions  to  keep  it 
burning1  in  two  temples  by  the  use  of  walnut  wood  stripped 
of  its  bark  as  fuel,  which -temples  were  to  be  built  at  the  two- 
extreme  boundaries  of  the  territory,  to  be  inhabited  by 
" 


HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS.  535 

them.  Eight  men  were  selected  by  his  instruction  to.. serve 
as  priests  for  each  temple,  whose  imperative  duty  was  to 
guard  the  sacred  fire  by  regular  turns,  and  death  was  to  be 
the  punishment  of  him  who  should,  upon  his  watch,  let  the 
fire  go  out;  since  their  mysterious  law-giver  and  chosen 
chief  predicted  to  them  the  most  dreadful  calamities  if  the 
fire  ever  was  extinguished  in  both  temples  at  the  same  time. 
And  more,  if  by  accident  or  otherwise,  the  fire  should  be 
come  extinguished  in  one  of  the  temples  the  keepers  were  to 
quickly  relight  it  by  obtaining  fire  from  the  other  temple, 
and  from"  nowhere  else;  still  the  guardians  of  the  temple  in 
which  the  fire  had  been  suffered  to  go  out  should  not  be  per 
mitted  to  obtain  it  from  the  other  temple  peacefully,  since 
blood  must  be  spilt  on  the  floor  of  the  temple,  as  an  atoning 
sacrifice  to  the  offended  spirits;  therefore,  the  one  should  re 
sist  the  other  in  obtaining  the  desired  fire,  and  the  other 
should  obtain  it,  even  at  the  ,cost  of  shedding  blood.  Im 
plicit  obedience  was  ever  given  to  their  foreign  chief — the 
Lycurgus  of  the  Natchez — who  lived!  to  an  unusual  old  age, 
and  made,  and  was  ever  regarded  as  the  founder  of  their  laws 
and  institutions.  After  his  death  they  gave  his  descendants 
the  title  of  Suns,  from  their  supposed  origin,  who  ever  after 
wards  ruled,  without  opposition,  in  the  inherited  and  prom 
ised  right  of  their  great  progenitor — the  mysterious  law 
giver  from  the  sun. 

Their  tradition  of  the  flood  was:  In  ages  past  a  mighty 
flood  of  waters  destroyed  mankind,  but  a  few  who  escaped 
to  a  very  high  mountain,  and  by  them  the  earth  was  again 
repeopled.  They  believed  in  a  Great  Spirit,  the  creator  and 
ruler  of  the  world,  whom  they  regarded  as  being  so  good, 
kind  and  benevolent,  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  do 
wrong  or  to  harm  anything,  even  if  he  desired  to  do  so.  They 
believed,  however,  in  a  multiplicity  of  evil  spirits,  by  whom 
all  evil  in  the  world  was  produced ;  that  once  a  mighty  chief 
ruled  over  these  spirits,  and  he  committed  so  much  mischief 
in  the  world  among  mankind  that  the  Great  Spirit  chained 
him  in  a  dark  prison;  and  the  evil  spirits,  his  subjects,  have 
not,  since  the  loss  of  their  chief,  manifested  so  great  desire 
to  do  .mischief  in  the  world,  especially  when  humbly  peti 
tioned  by  respectful  prayers. 

They  had  many  great  national  festivals,  partaking  much 
of  a  religious  character,  since  they  were  instituted  and  ob 
served  with  a  special  view  of  returning  thanks  to  the  Great 
Spirit  for  his  continued  care  and  protection. 

They  reckoned  time  by  moons.  Their  year  began  in 
March  and  was  divided  into  thirteen  moons;  this  being  done 
that  the  course  of  that  planet  might  correspond  with  that 


536  HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS. 

of  the  sun,  thus  completing-  the  year.  At  each  new  moon  a 
great  feast  was  celebrated,  which  was  named  from  the  fruits 
peculiar  to  that  season,  or  the  particular  game  that  was 
hunted  during-  that  moon.  They  celebrated  the  beginning 
of  the  new  year  (March)  with  the  moon  festival,  called  the 
deer;  tq.them  one  of  their  greatest  and  most  important  festi 
vals,  as  resting-  upon  an  ancient  tradition  which  was:  In 
the  far  distant  past,  a  great  sun,  hearing-  an  unusual  tumult 
in  a  distant  part  of  his  village,  hastened  to  the  spot  to  learn 
its  cause,  and  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  warriors  of  a  hos 
tile  nation  who  had  made  an  unexpected  attack  upon  his  vil 
lage,  having-  taken  it  completely  by  surprise.  His -people 
soon  recovering,  however,  from  their  momentary  confusio'n 
arising-  from  the  unexpected  attack,  and  frantic  by 'the  wild 
cry  that  was  heard  throughout  the  village  that  their  chief 
had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies,  rushed  in  a  solid' 
body  to  his  rescue,  and  soon  routed  them  with  fearful 
slaughter,  and  rescued  their  chief.  In  commemoration  of 
this  great  achievement  so  honorable  in  the  archives  of  their 
nation's  history,  the  warriors,  at  the  new  moon  of  the  deer, 
engaged  in  a  sham  battle,  in  which  the'Great  Sun  took  an 
active  part.  Dividing  themselves  into  two  companies,  the 
one  representing  the  warriors  of  the  Great  Sun,  and  the 
other  that  of  the  enemy,  the  former  desi^iated  by  a  white 
feather  in  the  head-dress,  the  latter  by  a  red.  They  con 
cealed  themselves  in  ambush  in  close  proximity  to  the  house 
of  the  Great  Sun.  The  warriors  of  the  red  feathers,  under 
the  leadership  of  a  chief  renowned  for  deeds  of  daring,  first 
crept  from  their  place  of  ambush  and  stealthily  advanced 
toward  the  house  of  the  Great  Sun.  As  soon  as  they  came 
in  view,  they  rushed  upon  it  with  fearful  yells.  Then  the 
Great  Sun  rushed  from  his  house,  assuming  great  bewilder 
ment,  as  if  suddenly  awakened  from  sleep;  shouting  their 
fearful  war-whoop,  the  assumed  enemies  rush  upon  the  be 
wildered  chieftain  and  triumphantly  carry  him  off.  At  this 
juncture  the  warriors  of  the  white  feathers  rush  from  their 
place  of  concealment  with  deafening  yells  to  the  rescue  of 
their  chief,  in  which  were  combined  the  wildest  tones  that 
could  express  the  passions  of  the  human  heart,  and  threw 
themselves  with  terrific  desperation  upon  the  warriors  of 
the  red  feather,  and  then  and  there  was  exhibited  a  wild 
scene  of  mimic  warfare  indescribable  by  words;  and  in 
which  even  the  Great  Sun  himself  was  not  an  idle  spectator, 
for  his  voice  arose  above  the  fearful  din  in  words  of  cheer  to 
his  warriors,  while  his  wooden  tomahawk  was  seen  gleaming 
in  ascending  and  descending  mimic  strokes  amid  the  strug 
gling  throng,  apparently  performing  deeds  of  valor  worthy 


HISTORY    OF   THE  INDIANS.  537 

the  Great  Sun.  Finally,  the  warriors  of  the  red  feather 
seemingly  began  to  waver,  then  fled  in  wild  confusion  worse 
confounded,  hotly  pursued  by  those  of  the  white  feather 
many  miles;  then  they  of  the  white  feather  returned  to  the 
village,  bearing-  their  chief  amid  shouts  of  victory  and  glad 
ness.  In  speaking  of  these  mimic  battles,  the  French  wri 
ters,  who  were  eye  witnesses  of  the  novel  scene,  state  that 
they  were  true  to  nature  in  all  their  particulars,  producing  a 
complete  illusion. 

The  second  (April)  was  called  the  moon  of  strawberries, 
in  which  the  women  and  children  gathered  this  delicious 
fruit.  The  third  (May)  was  called  the  moon  of  old  corn,  in 
which  they  feasted  upon  the  corn  made  the  year  before, 
cooked  in  many  different  ways.  The  fourth  (June),  was 
called  the  moon  of  watermelons,  the  fifth  (July)  was  called 
the  moon  of  peaches.  The  sixth  (August)  was  called  the 
moon  of  blackberries.  The  seventh  (September)  was  called 
the  moon  of  new  corn.  The  eighth  (October)  was  called 
the  moon  of  the  turkey.  The  ninth  (November)  was  called 
the  moon  of  the  buffaloes.  The  tenth  (December)  was 
called  the  moon  of  the  bears.  The  eleventh  (January)  was 
called  the  moon  of  the  geese;  then  followed  February  the 
moon  of  the  walnuts,  chestnuts  and  other  nuts.  At  each  re 
turns  of  these  moons  they  indulge  in  festivals  of  feasting 
and  dancing,  contributing,  at  the  same  time,  a  full  share  of 
all  the  delicacies  to  their  honored  chief,  the  Great  Sun. 

That  they  might  perpetuate  the  blood  of  the  Great  Suns 
in  all  its  purity,  as  given  to  them  Jav  the  mysterious  stranger 
of  traditional  lore,  the  Natchez  established  as  the  funda 
mental  law  of  their  nation,  that  the  right  of  succession  to 
the;  exalted  position  of  Great  Sun  must  descend  to  the  men 
through  the  female  line  alone.  Thus  the  female  descend 
ants  of  the  Great  Sun  held  the  title  of  nobility,  and  the 
honor  of  giving  birth  to  the  chief;  and  the  grandson  of  a 
Great  Sun  held  a  medium  place  in  rank,  and  his  great 
grandson  ranked  with  the  common  people. 

But  alas  for  the  poor  Natchez!  An  evil  day  brought  the 
pale-faces  among  them  in  the  year  1716,  who  built  the  fort 
Rosalie  among  them  and  in  it  garrisoned,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  a  body  of  soldiers  as  a  protection  in  their  intended 
aggressions  upon  and  usurpations  of  the  Indians'  rights; 
and  from  that  day  the  sun  of  the  Natchez's  happiness  began 
to  wane,  but  to  speedily  set  forever  in  the  oblivion  of  utter 
extermination.  As  an  introduction,  Cadillac,  on  his  way  up 
the  Mississippi  river  to  search  for  gold  and  silver,  stopped 
at  Natchez.  As  soon  as  the  Indian  chiefs  learned  of  his  ap 
proach  they  marched  out  in  state  to  meet  him,  and  according 


538  HISTORY    OF,  THE   INDIANS. 

to  their  custom,  presented  the  calumet  of  peace  to  him  in 
token  .of  their  desired  friendship  with  him..'  Cadillac  be 
came  greatly  offended  at 'what  he  regarded  as  presumption 
of. the  Indians  in  supposing-  that  he  would  contaminate  his 
pure  patrician  lips  with  the  touch  of  their  vile  pipe.  He  ac 
cordingly  treated  the  peace  desiring  Indians  as  uncouth  ani 
mals  thrusting  themselves  into  his  august  presence;  and  un 
ceremoniously  departing  without  having  consented  to  smoke 
with  them,  he  impressed  the  Natchez  who  could  not  compre 
hend  his  rough  manners  toward  them,  or  understand  the 
nature  of  his  pride,  with  the  belief  that  he  meditated  war 
upon  their  tribe  and  was  secretly  preparing  to  make  an  at 
tack  upon  them;  and  finding  a  few  French  strolling  about 
in  their  village  .after  the  departing  of  Cadillac,  and  regarding 
them  as  spies,  they  killed  them.  Hence  the  origin  of  the 
first  misunderstanding  between  the  Natchez  and  the  French. 
',"  Then  following  in  the  wake  of  Cadillae,  came  Bienville 
on  the  24th  of  April,  with  a  company  of  soldiers  and  en 
camped  on  an  island,  situated  in  the  Mississippi  river,  oppo 
site  a  village  of  the  Tunica  Indians,  fifty  miles  from  the 
Natchez.  Without  delay  he  sent  a  Tunica  warrior  to  the 
Natchez  with  the  information  that  he  was  coming  to  estab 
lish  a  trading  post  among  them,  to  exchange  with  them 
English  goods  for  their  furs.  Bienville  had  been  informed 
that  the  Natchez  were  ignorant  of  the  fact,  that  he  knew  of 
their  killing  the  Frenchmen  a  short  time  before,  therefore 
he  assumed  to  have  come  to  them  as  a  friend  and  would  be 
benefactor,  that  he  might  the  better  accomplish  his  precon 
certed,  nefarious  designs  against  them.  Gayarre,  in  his 
history  of  Louisiana,  Vol.  I.  p.  140,  says:  "Three  Natchez, 
as  delegates  representing  their  tribe,  came  to  Bienville  on 
the  27th  of  April,  1716,  and  tendered  to  him  the  calumet,  as 
the  ensign  of  peace."  But  Bienville  refused  to  smoke  with 
them,  and  pretended  to  consider  himself  as  not  being 
treated  with  that  respect  to  which  he  was  entitled,  since 
their  great  chief  had  not  come  in  person  to  welcome  him,  the 
chief  of  the  French.  "I  see,"  said  he,  "that  your  people  are 
not  pleased  with  the  idea  of  my  forming  a  settlement  in 
their  territory,  for  the  purpose  of  "Trading  with  them. 
Otherwise  they  would  have  expressed  their  satisfaction  in  a 
more  becoming  manner.  Be  it  so.  If  the  Natchez  are  so 
thankless  for' what  I  meant  to  be  a  favor,  I  will  alter  my  de 
termination,  and  give  my  preference  to  the  Tunicas,  who 
have  always  shown  themselves  such  great  friends  to  the 
French."  What  an  artful  dissembler! 

After  this  speech,  to  hide   his   treachery  the   more   suc 
cessfully,  Bienville  caused  the  three  envoys  to  be  feasted  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  539 

treated  with   the  greatest  hospitality  and  respect ;.  and  on 
their  return  to  their,  villages   sent  a  Frenchman  with   them 
with  instructions    to   extend   an   invitation    to  the   Natchez 
chiefs  to  a  conference  on   the   island   on   which   he   was  en 
camped.     This  greatly  embarrassed    the  Natchez  since  they 
were  at  a  loss   as    to  the  best  course   to   be   pursued.     Some 
were  of  the   opinion   that   it  would  be  imprudent   for   their 
chiefs,  to  thus  place  themselves   in   the  hands  of  the  French, 
who  might  have  heard  of  the  killing  of  the  Frenchmen,  and 
had  now  come  under  the  assumed  garb  of  peace  and  friend 
ship  to  entrap  their  chiefs  and  wreak  vengeance  upon  them. 
Others  on  the  other  hand  argued  that,  from   the  fact  of  the 
French  having- come  in  such  a  small  number,  was  sufficient' 
proof   that   they   were   still  ignorant   of    the  death  of  their 
countrymen,   and   did   not  intend   to  act   as  enemies.     Fur-, 
thermor.e,  that  the  chiefs,  by  refusing1  to   accept  Bienville's. 
invitation,  would  incur  his  displeasure,  and   he  would  estab 
lish  a  trading1  post  among-  the  Tunicas,  and  thus  enrich  their 
rivals,  to  the   great  injury  of  the   Natchez.     This  argument 
prevailed,  and  in  an   evil  hour  for  the   Natchez  chiefs,  their 
visit  to  Bienville's  camp  was  resolved  upon,  and  too  late  they 
learned,  even  as  all  their  race  have  learned  from   that  day  to 
this,  tnat  for  hypocrisy  and  treachery  the   pale-faces  cannot 
be  surpassed,  and   from   that  hour   a  system  of  oppression 
was  inaugurated  by  the   French   against   the   Natchez  to  ex 
terminate  them,  unequaled   only  by  that  adopted  and  prac 
ticed  by  the  Americans  for   the   effectual   destruction  of  the 
entire  Indian  race  upon  the  North  American  continent,  pros 
ecuted  with   unrelenting  vigor   to   the   present  day  upon  the 
still  surviving  little  remnant,  with  an  assumed  Christian  zeal 
for  their  civilization  and  happiness   that  is   truly  astonishing 
since  so  utterly  void  of  reality. 

In  1725  a  son  of  onef  of  the  Natchez  chiefs  was  murdered 
by  a  French  sergeant  which  caused  the  Indians  to  kill  a 
Frenchman  named  M.  Guenot,  in  retaliation,  a  reconcil-  , 
iation,  however,  was  soon  made,  but  was  not  satisfac 
tory  to  Bienville.  He  therefore  hastened  from  Newr  Orleans 
with  500  men,  attacked  the  Natchez  wherever  met,  burned 
their  towns  and  destroyed  their  fields,  upon  which  a  war  was 
inaugurated,  resulting  in  the  defeat  of  the  Indians,  who  sued-' 
for  peace.  This  was  granted  on  their  giving  up  one  of  their 
chiefs  to  be  executed,  who  was  accused  by  the  French  of  be 
ing  the  chief  instigator  of  the  war.  He  was  at  once  slain, 
and  thus  ^closed  the  second  war  of  .the. French -with  the  Nat 
chez.  In  1726  Bienville  returned  to  France,  and  Perier  suc 
ceeded  him  as  governor  in  1727.  Bienville,  by  his  cruelty 
and  oppression,  had  entailed  the  hatred  of  the  Natchez  upon. 


«>40  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

all  Frenchmen;  in  this  they  were  encouraged  by  the  Chick- 
asaws  who,  it  has  been  said,  had  also  projected  a  general 
confederation  of  all  Indian  tribes  to  drive  th£  French  from 
their  territories. 

In  1729  an  officer  by  the  name  of  Chopart  was  comman 
der  of  the  French  settlement.  Chopart  was  naturally  of  a 
haughty  and  tyrannical  disposition — a  fit  subject  to  lord  it 
over  a  helpless  people.  But  his  oppressive  tyranny  became 
so  great  that  it  could  not  be  longer  endured  with  any  degree 
of  patience  by  the  colony;  therefore,  complaint  was  made  to 
Governor  Perier  at  New  Orleans  who  summoned  Chopart 
into  his  presence.  He  was  tried  and  found  guilty  of  great 
abuse  of  power,  and  would  have  been  justly  punished  but  for 
the  interference  of  influential  friends  (always  found  by  such 
characters  even  at  the  present  day)  who  secured  his  pardon 
from  the  governor.  The  pardoned  tyrant  returned,  of 
course,  to  his  colony,  and  in  as  much  as  he  then  acted  with 
justice  and  humanity  toward  the  French  who  had  resources 
to  a  higher  authority,  the  more  did  he  oppress  and  abuse  the 
Indians  who  had  no  higher  power  to  which  they  could  appeal. 
At  this  time  the  Indian  company  gave  instructions  to  Gover 
nor  Perier  to  induce' the  Indians  to  remove  to  a  greater  dis 
tance  from  the  French  colony,  assigning  as  a  reason,  that 
further  collisions  with  the  Whites  might  thus  be  obviated. 
But  why  not  induce  the  intruding  French  to  remove  to  a 
greater  distance  to  obviate  further  collisions  with  the  In 
dians?  Yes,  why?  What  a  system  of  injustice!  Yet  prac 
ticed  to  the  letter  from  that  day  to  this  by  the  Whites  against 
all  .Indians. 

Chopart,  exulting/  in  the  prospects  of  being  able  to 
avenge  his  wounded  pride  upon  some  one,  now  emptied  the 
,bottles  of  his  long  smothered  wrath  upon  the  devoted 
heads  of  the  unfortunate  Natchez,  treating  them  with 
•every  insolence  he  could  devise,  and  heaping  upon  them 
every  outrage  and  insult  that  he  could  suggest,  hoping  thus 
to  force  them  to  leave  their  country  and  homes  to  the  quiet 
possession  of  the  French,  a  successful  plan  of  robbery 
.adopted  to  get  possession  of  the  Indians'Jands.  One  day 
he  summoned  the  Great  Sun  to  his  presence,  and,  with  a 
haughty  contemptuous  demeanor,  informed  him  that  he  had 
been  iustructed  by  Governor  Perier  to  take  possession  of 
the  White  Apple,  one  of  their  most  beautiful  towns,  situated 
five  or  six  miles  from  Fort  Rosalie;  and  for  them  to  re 
move  somewhere  else  out  of  the  way  of  the  plans  of  the 
French,  at  the  same  time,  giving  the  command  in  the  most 
insolent  and  authoritative  tone  of  voice.  The  chief  turned 
his  eyes  full  upon  Chopart  with  a  calm  but  inquisitive  gaze 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  541 

of  astonishment,  and  said:  "My  white  brother  cannot  be  in 
earnest,  but  only  desires  to  try  the  temper  of  the  Indians.' 
Is  my  white  brother  .ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the  Natchez 
built  that  village  many  thousand  moons  ago,  and  have  lived 
there  ever  since"?  "Insolent  barbarian"!  exclaimed  Cho- 
part,  'in. utter  contempt.  "Call  me  not  brother.  Between 
thy  race  and  mine  there  are  no  kindred  ties;  nor  do  I  parley 
with  any  of  your  race.  Let  it  suffice  you,  that  when  I  com 
mand,  you  must  obey."  The  noble  chief,  concealing  his 
em.otions,  with  a  calm  manly  voice,  replied:  "Brother^  such 
language  was  never  before  addressed  to  me;  nor.have  your 
people  ever  before,  taken  our  property  from  us  by  force. 
What  .they  wished  of  ours,  we  freely  gave  or  they  pur- 
chafed!.  We  prefer  peace. to  war  with  your  nation.  There 
are  other  lands  of  ours  which  we  ca'h  spare  to  your  people; 
take  them!  What  more  can  we  do?  In  the  centre  of  the. 
White  Apple  is  our  temple,  in  which  the  bones  of  our  ancest 
ors  .have  reposed  since  we  came  from  the  far  west  to  live  on 
the  banks  of  the  Great  River,  and  it  is  dear  to  our  hearts.'7 

:"No  more  of  your  foolish  talk  to  me,"  replied  the  inso 
lent .  Chppart.  "Soon  a  vessel,"  he  continued,  "from  our 
great  town  down  the  river  will  arrive,  and  if  the  village  of . 
the  White  Apple  is  not  given  into  my  possession  by  the  time 
the  vessel  arrives,  I  will  send  you  bound  in  chains  to  our, 
great  chief.  I  have  no  more  to  say.  Go."  "Tis  well,"  re 
sponded  the  Indian ;  "and  I  go  to  my  people  and  speak  the 
words  before  their  old  and  wise  'men  in  council."  The  com 
mand  of  their  mighty  chief  to  convene  in  council  was  hastily 
obeyed;  and  when  he  laid  before  them  the  insolent  and  out 
rageous  demands  of  Chopart,  the  greatest  indignation  was- 
manifest 'upon  every  face,  though  no  outward  expression  of 
words  portrayed  the  slumbering  hatred  that  now  rankled 
in,  their,  breasts  against  their  insolent,  domineering  and  op 
pressive  intruders.  What  was  the  result  of  the, council?  .  A 
resolution  w£s  unanimously  passed  to  invite  the  Yazoos, 
Choctaws,  Chickasaws  and  other  contiguous  tribes,  who  had 
also  experienced  the  insolence  and  oppression  of  the  pale 
faces,  to  bury  their  former  animosities  for  the  sake  of  the 
common  good,  and  unite  in  one  grand  alliance  and  great 
brotherhood  against  their  common  foe,  and  by  one  united 
effort  free  their  country  from  the  oppressive  yoke  and 
cruel  tyranny  of  the  pale-face  strangers.  ~ ^ 

Without  delay  embassadors  were  sent  to  all  the  sur 
rounding  tribes  to  lay  their  proposition  before  their  wise 
men  convened  in  solemn  council.  The  embassadors  carried 
little  bundles  of  an  equal  number  of  sticks,  and  to  each  tribe, 
who  should  adopt  the  resolution,  a  bundle  of  the  sticks  was 


542"  HISTORY  OF  THE  INDIANS;- 

I 

given  .with  instructions  to  withdraw  a  stick  from  the  bundle 
daily,  and  the  last  stick  was  to  designate  the  day  that  the 
combined  attack  upon  the  French  was  to  be  made  through 
out  their  entire  country.  This  manner  of  keeping"  any  ap 
pointed  day  was  anciently  practiced  by  all  the  southern  In 
dians.  In  a  few-days  the  embassadors  returned  with  the  in 
formation  that  not  a  single  tribe  to  which  they  had  been  sent 
had  refused  to  accept  the  proposition,  and  all  would  make  the 
attack  on  the  day  appointed.  Unfortunately  for  the  Natchez 
the  uncommon  movements  and  unusual  activity  of  their  war 
riors  aroused  the  curiosity  of  the  women.  Unfortunately, 
also,  for  the  Natchez  the  mother  of  the  then  ruling  Great 
Sun'  cherished  an  uncommon  friendship  for  the  French,  and 
her  curiosity  had  become-  greatly  excited  by  the  frequent 
secret  meetings  of  all  the  wise  men  of  the  Nation  and  also 
'  by  the  going  and  coming  of  the  embassies  who  had  departed 
in  and:  returned  from  all  directions,  and  she  had  determined 
to  solve  the  mystery;  and  in  the  accomplishment  of  her  res 
olution  she  proved  herself  a  successful  Delilah.  Alas,  who 
can  outwit  a  woman's  excited  curiosity!  for  this  Indian 
queen  mother  so  artfully  wrought  upon  her  kingly  son  that 
he  disclosed  the  whole  plot,  even  the  most  important  secret 
for  the  successful  accomplishment  of  her  treasonable  de 
signs,  where,  in  the  Great  Temple  was  concealed  the  chron 
ometer  of  the  Natchez,  the  bundle  of  sticks,  her  knowledge 
of  which  proved  the  successful  overthrow  of  her  chieftain 
son,  as  the  secret  obtained  by  Delilah,  that  of  Samson. 

To  conceal  her  feelings  from  her  unsuspecting  son,  she, 
of  course,  readily  and  easily  assumed  to  enter  heartily  into 
the  plot,  though  she  had  determined  to  warn  the  French  of 
their  impending  danger,  if  it  could  be  done  without  the  be 
trayal  of  herself.  More  than  once  she  shrewdly  managed  to 
get  word  to  Chopart  of  the  threatened  storm,  but  he  regard 
ed  the  admonitions  as  idle  stories  purposely  circulated  by 
the  Indians  to  drive  them  from  the  resolution  oirseizing  their 
village,  the  White  Apple.  The  French  manifested  by  their 
conduct  no  knowlege  of  their  fast  approaching  doom,  not 
withstanding  her  warnings  sent  them,  the  queen-mother, 
unrelenting  in  her  efforts  to  save  them,  secretly  entered  the 
temple  and  withdrew  several  of  the  sticks  from  the  bundle, 
and  thus  destroyed  the  concert  of  action  agreed  upon  among 
the  tribes,  by  bringing  on  the  attack  of  the  Natchez  at  an 
earlier  day.  The  traitoress  hoped  by  this  means  that  a  few 
French  might  escape  and  warn  the  rest  of  the  colony.  But 
in  spite  of  all  the  warnings  received  by  Chopart,  he  still  ad 
hered  to  the  same  fatal  incredulity,  applying  the  insulting 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  543 

epithet  of  cowardice  to  those  who  spoke  to  him  of  the  rumors 
that  were  afloat. 

The  next  day  after  the  convening-  of  the  grand   council 
of  the  Natchez,    the  Great   Sun  presented  himself  at   Fort 
Rosalie,  and  expressed  a  willingness  to  Chopart   to  comply 
with  his  oraer  to  evacuate  the  village  of  the  white  people;  but 
humbly   requesting  a  little  more  time  to  select   a  place   to 
which  they  might  transport  their  effects;   to  which    Chopart 
acceded,    allowing  him  until   the   latter  part  of  December, 
but  with  this  proviso,  that  the   Natchez    should  pay   to  him 
(Chopart),  during  the  interval,  one  barrel  of  corn,   a  certaiti. 
number   of  fowls,   a  certain  quantity  of  furs  and  bear's  oil> 
for  each  cabin  of  the  White  Apple  village.     The   Great   Sun 
and  Chopart  then  parted;   the  one   elated  with   his   prospect 
of  gain,  the    other  with  his   prospect  of  revenge.     But  the' 
fatal  day,  the  29th  of  November  1716,  came,  and   ere  the  sun 
had  reached  the  meridian,  the  French   were  involved    in  one 
common  destruction;  in  one  short  hour  the  work   was   com 
plete;  and  with  the  loss  of  only  twelve  warriors,   the  Natchez 
slew  two  hundred  and   fifty  of  their  merciless   French  in 
truders  and  haughty  oppressors.     Chopart,  the  last  to  re-' 
ceive  his  just  reward,   fled   to  his  garden  hoping   there  to. 
conceal  himself;  but  he  was  found,  dragged  forth  and  handed, 
over  to  the  lowest  class  of  the  Natchez  warriors,  who  beat 
him  to  death  with  their  war  clubs,  the  highest  taking  no 'part 
in  his  death,   as  they  considered  it  dishonorable   to  imbue, 
their  hands  in  the  blood  of  so  contemptible  a  wretch.^  Two 
men  only  were  spared,  one  a  tailor,  and  the  other  a  wagoner,, 
and  three  hundred  women  and  children.     The  Natchez,  still 
ignorant' of  the  queen-mother's  theft  of  the  sticks,  and   that, 
their  attack  was   premature, -and   believing  that   the  other 
tribes  had  acted   in  concert  with  them,   consequently  the' 
French  throughout  their  entire  country  were   cut  off,  gave 
themselves  up  to  feasting  and  dancing. 

In  the  wide  extended  arrangement  of  the  plot  to  destroy, 
the  French,  the  destruction  of  New  Orleans  had  been  as 
signed  to  the  Choctaws,  and  the  destruction  of  the  little 
French  forts,  scattered  here  and  there  over  the  country,  had 
been  assigned  to  the  weaker  tribes.  Thus  fhe  extermina 
tion  of  the  French  would  have  been  complete  but  for  the 
concert  of  action  being  destroyed  by  the  stolen  sticks  from, 
the  chronometer  of  the  Natchez. 

A  few  days  after  the  destruction  of  the  French  at  White 
Apple  the  Choctaws  sent  an  embassy  to  the  Natchez  to  learn 
the  cause  of  the  premature  attack  upon  the  French,  thus 
causing  a  failure  of  concerted,  action  against  their  common 
foe.  When  they  arrived  at  the  White  Apple  they  angrily  . 


544  HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS. 

demanded  of  the  Natchez  an  explanation  of  their  strange 
and  incomprehensible  conduct  and  breach  of  faith.  To 
which  the  Natchez  replied  .that  they  had  made  the  attack  on 
,  the  very  day  indicated  by  the  last  stick,  and  that  if  any  one 
had  violated  their  word  it  was  the  Choctaws  in  not  making- 
the  attack  also  at  the  time  they  themselves  had  made  it ;  at 
the  same  time  intimating-  cowardice  on  the  part  of  the  Choc- 
taws  as  a  reason  for  their  failure.  To  which  insinuation  the 
Choctaw  deputation  took  great  offense,  and  at  once  departed,, 
telling  the  Natchez  that  henceforward  and  forever  they 
would  have  no  further  alliance  with  them,  but  ever  consider 
themv.as'unworthy  of  trust,  while  the  Natchez  hurled  back 
upon  them  .the  accusations  of  perfidy  and  cowardice. 
.  '  In  a  few  days  after  the  departure  of  the  first  Ctiickasaw 
embassy  another,  one  came  from  a  different  district  of  the 
Choctaw  Nation,  and  were  as  much  dissatisfied  in  their  in 
terview  with  the  Natchez,  regarding  the  explanation  of  their 
premature  attack  upon  the  French  as  the  former.  But 
learning  that  the  Natchez  contemplated  killing  the  two  men 
and  the  three  hundred  women  and  children  whom  they  still 
held  as  prisoners,  the  Choctaw  embassy  boldly  marched  in  a 
body  to  the  public  square  and  struck  the  red  post — a  chal 
lenge  of  defiance  among  all  Indians — boldly  declaring  that 
the  Choctaws  would  no  longer  be  the  allies  of  the  Natchez, 
but  would  henceforward  be  the  allies  of  the  French,  and  if 
they  dared  kill  a  single  one  of  the  French  prisoners  then  in 
their  hands,  every  warrior  of  their  great  Nation  would  come 
in  a  body  against  them.  This  defiant  threat  brought  the 
Natchez. to  due  reflection  and  the  two  men  and  three  hundred 
wromen  and  children  were  saved.  Having  given  this  salutary 
advice  to  the  Natchez,  the  Choctaws  departed,  leaving  the 
seemingly  unfortunate  Natchez  in  a  state  of  great  perplex 
ity  as  to  the  proper  step  they  should  take  in  so  dubious  a 
state  of  affairs. 

When  Governor  Perier  learned  of  the  destruction  of  the 
French  at  Fort  Rosalie  he  immediatel}r  sent  a  courier  to  the 
Choctaws  with  instructions  to  inform  them  that  Governor 
Perier  desired  to  have  a  talk  with  them.  The  Choctaws  at 
that  time  were  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  tribes,  and  great 
doubts  were  entertained  by  them  in  their  then  critical  state 
of  affairs,  as  to  the  course  the  Choctaws  would  pursue,  and 
it  was  highly  important  that  their  friendship  should  be  se 
cured.  The  destruction  of  Fort  Rosalie  by  the  Natchez  had 
thrown  the  French  into  great  excitement,  consternation  and 
dread,  filling  their  minds  with  fear  as  rumor  whispered  to 
their  excited  imaginations  the  uprising  of  the  Indians  in  one 
grand  concert  of  action  against  them.  And  Governor  Perier 


HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS.  54S 

states:  "So  great  was  the  fear  that  the  Chauaches,  a  little 
tribe  of  only  thirty  warriors,  dwelling  a  few  miles  above 
New  Orleans,  were  even  a  subject  of  dread  to  the  French.. 
This  induced  me  to  have  them  destroyed  by  our  negroes,, 
who  executed  the  mission  with  great  promptness  and  se 
crecy,  setting  an  example  before  the  small  tribes  higher  up 
the  river  that  held  them  in  check.  If  I  had  been  so  disposed 
I  could  have  destroyed  all  those  nations,  which  are  no  service 
to  us,  by  the  negroes;  but  who,  on  the  other  hand,  may  in 
fluence  our  blacks  to  revolt."  But  he  might  the  more  truth 
fully  have  said  that  he  caused  the  innocent  and  harmless. 
Chauaches  to  be  murdered  by  the  negroes,  that  he  might, 
create  an  enmity  between  the  negro  and  Indian  race,  as  he 
no  doubt  had  misapprehensions  as  to  the  negroes  remaining 
quiet  in  the  then  excited  state  of  affairs,  and  not  attempt,  by 
joining  the  Indians,  to  assert  their  rights  to  freedom.  What 
a  volume  of  oppression,  wrong  and  cruelty  towards  the 
North  Americans,  from  first  to  last,  might  be  written  from 
the  sentiment  expressed  in  Governor  Perier's,  "which  are 
no  service  to  us!  " 

On  the  16th  of  January,  1717,  Perier's  fears  and  anxie 
ties  were  greatly  quieted  when  he  was  informed  that  Le 
Sueur,  a  French  officer,  with  seven  hundred  Choctaw  war 
riors,  was  on  his  march  against  the  Natchez.  Alas,  for  the. 
Natchez!  Dame  fortune  seemed  to  frown  upon  them  from 
every  side,  and  to  have  consigned  them  to  a  speedy  destruc 
tion,  for  they  seemed  unable  to  resist  the  temptation  of  en 
joying  the  rich  booty  taken  from  the  French,  though  appre 
hensive  of  the  storm  that  was  gathering  around  them,,  and 
whose  muttering  thunders  in  the  distance  might  have  been 
audible  had  not  every  sense  been  swallowed  up  in  the  indul 
gence  of  feasting  and  dancing,  oblivious  to  all  else.  Alas, 
how  quickly  does  sorrow  oft  tread  upon  the  heels  of  joy  I 
Unfortunate  and  inconsiderate  Natchez!  On  the  27th  of  Jan 
uary,  1730,  while  indulging  in  feasting  and  dancing;  on  the 
banks  of  a  small  creek,  in  thoughtless  security,  Le  Sueur 
with  his  seven  hundred  Choctaws  broke  suddenly  and  un 
expectedly  upon  them  and  turned  their  merriment  into  wail 
ing  by  killing  sixty,  taking  captive  twenty  and  rescuing  fifty 
four  French  women  and  children  ere  they  could  rally  and  re 
treat  to  two  forts  they  had  erected  in  expectation  of  a  storm 
which  they  felt  would,  sooner  or  later,  burst  with  great  fury 
upon  them.  But  this  was  only  the  prelude  to  what  the 
Natchez  least  expected  would  follow. 

On  the  8th  of  February,  part  of  the  French  forces,  ren 
dezvousing  among  the  Tunicas,  arrived  at  Natchez  under 
the  command  of  Loubois  and  united  with  the  Choctaw  under 


546  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

LeSueur,  followed  by  the  remainder  on  the  next  day.  Or 
the  14th,  the  united  forces  of  the  Choctaws  and  French 
made  an  assault  upon  the  two  forts,  which  were  bravely  de 
fended  by  the  Natchez.  The  French  brought  four  pieces  ol 
artillery  to  bear  upon  the  two  little  forts,  which  they  had 
succeeded  in  planting  on  an  eminence  five  hundred  yard^ 
distant,  and  for  six  consecutive  hours  hurled  their  balls 
against  the  two  forts  with  no  effect  whatever,  the  Natchez 
responding  with  two  pieces  of  artillery,  taken  in  the  capture 
of  Fort  Rosalie,  with  like  effect.  The  total  failure  of  the 
French  to  produce  any  effect  upon  the  fo.rts,  was  humiliat 
ing  to  the  French  commander,  but  a  source  of  amusement 
to  the  Choctaws;  as  he  had  promised  them  that  he  would 
knock  down  the  two  forts  over  the  heads  of  the  Natchez  in 
two  hours.  The  ineffectual  cannonading  was  kept  up  seven 
days;  the  Choctaws,  in  the  meantime,  laughing  and  deriding 
theincompetency  of  the  tanapoh  chitoh  (big  guns);  becom 
ing  wearied  at  noise  without  effect,  the  Choctaws  threaten 
ed,  on  the  morning  of  the  23d,  to  return  home  if  the  affairs 
of  the  siege  were  not  prosecuted  in  a  better  manner.  This 
threat  of  the  Choctaws  had  the  desired  effect;  and  on  the 
24th,  the  four  pieces  of  artillery  were  brought  to  oear  upon 
the  two  little  forts  at  a  distance  of  three  hundred  yards,  and 
then  the  Natchez  were  told  that  it  was  determined  to  blow 
them  up,  even  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  French  captives  in 
their  possession. 

The  near  proximity  of  the  artillery,  together  with  that 
of  the  threat,  so  intimidated  the  Natchez  that  they  sent  a 
female  captive  to  make  propositions  of  peace,  who  remained, 
without  any  response  being  returned  to  the  Natchez.  .  On 
the  25th  a  flag  was  hoisted  by  the  Natchez  as  a  token  of 
peace.  Upon  seeing  this,  a  Choctaw  chief  went  near  to 
one  of  the  forts,  and  cried  out  to  the  Natchez,  ;'Who 
ever  knew  before  that  the  Choctaws  encamped  around 
the  fort  of  an  enemy  for  many  weeiks?  Learn  from  this  how 
great  is  the  friendship  of  the  Choctaws  for  the  French.  It 
is  folly  for  you  who  are  so  much  less  in  numbers  than 
the  Choctaws  to  still  refuse  to  give  up  to  the  French  their 
women  and  children.  I  and  my  warriors  have  determined 
to  stay  here  and  keep  you  in  those  two  forts  until  you  perish 
by  hunger."  Upon  hearing  this  the  Natchez  promised  to 
deliver  all  their  French  prisoners  to  the  Choctaws,  on  the 
condition  that  the  French  would  remove  to  the  bank  of  the 
river  with  their  artillery.  The  French  assenting  to  this 
proposition,  the  following  stipulations  were  agreed  upon  by 
the  two  belligerent  parties:  That  the  French  were  to  with 
draw  to  the  banks  of  the  river;  the  Natchez  to  deliver  their 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  547 

French  captives  to  the  Choctaws,  and  be  allowed  to  remain 
in  quiet  and  peaceable  possession  of  their  country  and 
homes.  All  of  which  was  agreed  upon  on  the  26th,  and  thus 
terminated  the  siege,  the  French  having  lost  fifteen  men  in 
the  affair. 

Still  the  French  commander,  not  regarding  himself  in 
honor  bound  to  the  adherence  of  his  word,  like  thousands  at 
the  present  day,  when  given  to  an  Indian,  had  determined, 
as  soon  as  he  had  released  the  French  captives  in  the  hands 
of  the  Natchez,  to  recommence  hostilities  against  the 
Natchez  to  their  utter  extermination. 

But  the  Natchez,  having  learned  by  sad  experience  to 
rely  no  more  upon  the  promises  of  the  French,  had  deter 
mined  to  retreat.  On  the  morning  of  the  27th  they  handed 
over  all  the  French  women  and  children  to  the  Choctaws, 
who,  in  turn,  delivered  them  to  the  French,  and  on  the  same 
day  the  Choctaws  departed  for  their  homes.  But  on  the 
29th,  when  the  French  commander  again  appeared  before 
the  two  forts  to  execute  his  infamous  determination  against 
the  Natchez,  he  found  them  empty,  and  their  former  occu 
pants  flown. 

Thus  was  finished  this  expedition  against  the  unfortu 
nate  Natchez,  for  the  succcessful  and  speedy  termination  of 
which  the  honor  (if  honor  there  be)  is  due  to  the  Choctaws; 
for  they  alone  influenced  the  Natchez  to  yield;  and  to  the 
Choctaws  only  would  the  Natchez  consent  to  deliver  their 
French -prisoners,  and  then  made  good-  their  retreat  with 
honor  to  themselves  and  without  loss;  bidding  an  eternal 
adieu  to  their  native  hills  and  ancient  possessions  to  seek  a 
place  of  rest  they  knew  not  where,  and  leaving  their  aban 
doned  homes  to  the  possession  of  the  French. 

The  different  tribes,  acting  in  the  beginning  of  the  war 
as  allies  to  the  Natchez,  returned  to  their  former  allegiance 
with  the  French,  and  assisted  them  in  destroying  the 
Natchez  wherever  found.  "Since  their  flight,"  said  Perier, 
'•'P  have  had  fifty  of  them  killed  or  taken  prisoners..  I 
buried  here  six  of  them,  four  men  and  two  women." 

At  this  exhibition  the  whites  seemed  as  proud  of  the, 
horrid  scene,  as  the  ancient  Romans  were  of  the  mutila 
tion  of  human  beings  by  wild  beasts  in  the  arena,  above 
which  sat  civilization  in  the  shape  of  Governor  Perier,  prov 
ing  human  nature  to  be  the  same  at  bottom,  however  modi 
fied  at  the  surface,  whether  it  remains  in  the  original  naked 
ness  of  barbarism,  or  conceals  itself  under  the  varied 
garments  of  civilization,  as  is  so  well  established  in  the  op 
pression  and  cruelty  perpetrated  by  the  American  people  of 
the  19th  century  upon  the  Red  Race  of  this  continent. 


548  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

Was  not  this  savage  act  of  cruelty,  perpetrated  by  those 
who  assumed  to  be  Christians,  regarded  by  the  Indians  as 
an  approval  of  their  custom? 

Soon  after  this  act  of  the  French,  a  band  of  Tunica 
warriors  brought  to  New  Orleans  a  poor  Natchez  woman 
whom  they  had  .captured  .while  lingering  amid  the  scenes  of 
her  youth,  that  called  up  in  memory  the  loved  ones  then  scat 
tered  to  be  united  no  more,  and  Governor  Perier  had  her 
burned  to  death  on  a  high  platform  erected  especially  for  the 
ceremon}',  and  to  witness  which  all  New  Orleans  again  turn 
ed  out  in  state.  While  slowly  being  consumed  and  suffering 
tortures  most  intense,  that  forlorn  Natchez  woman  far  away 
from  kindred  and  friends- and  alone,  shed  not  a  tear  nor  ut 
tered  a  groan,  but  bore  her  tortures  with  Indian  fortitude; 
yet  reproached  her  captors,  the  Tunicas,  who  stood  around 
in  bitter  epithets  declaring  the  speedy  destruction  of  their 
people.  The  dying  woman's  prediction  proved  true;  for  the 
Tunicas  returned  home  but  to  be  surprised  by  a  band  of 
the  homeless  Natchez  and  their  nation  in  turn  nearly  exter 
minated. 

To  what  a  state  of  utter  desperation  must  the  Natchez 
have  been  reduced,  to  perform  such  deeds  of  daring,  and  to 
manifest  such  a  thirst  for  revenge!  But  for  what  else  had 
they  to  live?  Their  country  gone,  kindred'ties  severed  never 
to  be  reunited,  their  people  scattered  as  autumn  leaves  be 
fore  the  gale.  But  why  thus?  The  pale-face  saw  their 
Eden,  coveted  it;  and  because  they  dared  fight  for  their  God 
inherited  right  as  God  approved  heroes,  they  must  abide  the 
decree — extermination. 

The  Tunicas  were  destroyed  by  a  brave  and  resolute 
band  of  the  Natchez,  who  had  found  a  temporary  asylum 
among  the  generous  Chickasaws,  though  the  exterminating 
French  believed  that  all  the  Natchez  had  sought  refuge  west 
of  the  Mississippi  river.  But  this  heroic  and  indomitable 
people,  scattered  in  detached  bands  here  and  there,  did  not 
fail  to  continually  give  satisfactory  notice  to  the  French  that 
they  were  not  all  exterminated.  Therefore,  Governor  Pe 
rier  resolved  that  they'  should  be;  and  in  accordance  with 
that  resolution  he,  on  the  4th  of  January,  1731,  personally 
took  command  of  his  army,  which  had  been  instructed  to 
rendezvous  at  the  mouth  of  Red  river.  But  where  to  find, 
the  place  where  the  Natchez  had  concealed  themselves  was  a 
problem  which  presented  itself  before  him  not  easy  of  solu 
tion.  As  delay  would  accomplish  nothing  towards  gratify 
ing  his  thirst  for  Indian  blood,  he  immediately  ascended  the 
Red  river;  thence  into  Black  river;  thence  into  a  stream 
then  known  as  Silver  river;  thence  into  a  small  lake,  near 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  549 

which  he  had  heard  the  Natchez  were  concealed,  where  he 
arrived  on  January  19th.  Again,  fortune  frowned  upon  the 
poor  persecuted  Natchez,  for  on  the  next  day  a  Natchez  boy, 
wandering-  too  far  in  his  eager  pursuit  of  the  chase,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  his  merciless  foes,  and,  under  the  fear  of  terri 
ble  threats,  betrayed  the  retreat  of  his  people  ;  and  on  the 
21st  the  unfortunate  Natchez  found  themselves  completely 
surrounded;  and  on  the  24th,  fearing  the  little  fort  which 
they  had  constructed,  and  in  which  their  women  and  chil 
dren  were  placed  would  be  stormed,  and  in  that  case  they 
would  be  left  to  the  mercies  of  a  brutal  soldiery,  made  over 
tures  of  peace,  to  which  Perier  replied,  "That  he  would  hold 
no  parley  with  them,  unless  they  would  first  give  up  the 
negro  slaves  they  had  in  their  possession,  and  their  chiefs 
would  then  come  out  half  way  between  the  fort  and  the 
French  to  have  an  interview  with  him." 

Twenty  negroes  were  at  once  given  up.  After  much 
hesitation,  and  how  well  founded  the  sequel  will  show,  the 
Great  Sun,  the  Little  Sun,  and  a  subordinate  chief  came  out 
of  their  little  fort,  at  4  p.  m.  and  advanced  to  the  half-way 
ground  and  there  met  Perier  with  whom  .to  have  a  consulta 
tion.  After  a  few  words  had  been  exchanged,  a  rain  com 
menced  falling;  upon  which  the  perfidious  Perier  suggested 
the  propriety  of  entering  a  vacant  cabin,  near  by,  to  which 
they  readily  consented  but  the  moment  they  entered  they 
were  made  prisoners  by  a  company  of  soldiers  concealed 
therein.  As  night  came  on  the  rain  increased,  and  during 
the  night  became  a  fearful  tempest;  during  which  the  subor 
dinate  made  good  his  escape.  On  the  next  day  (25th)  forty- 
five  men  and  four  hundred  and  fifty  women  and  children 
surrendered  to  the  mercies  of  their  foes  during  the  day. 
But  the  night  following  being  again  dark  and  rainy,  the  rest 
about  two  hundred,  fortunately  made  their  escape.  Perier 
began  his  return  on  the  28th.;  and  in  his  dispatches,  as  our 
great  Indian  butchering  generals,  the  uheroic"  Sheridan  and 
Sherman,  did  not  forget  the  indispensable  "Too  much 
praise  cannot  be  awarded  the  officers  and  men  for  their  gal 
lant  conduct  against  fearful  odds  and  under  adverse  circum- 
•stances";  but  forgot  to  mention,  even  as  his  "gallant"  coun 
terparts  of  the  present  era,  the  base  treachery  he  adopted 
to  get  the  Indian  chiefs  into  his  hands.  When  he  returned 
to  New  Orleans,  he  took  his  Natchez  prisoners  with  him 
numbering  forty-five  men  and  four  hundred  and  fifty  women 
and  children,  besides  the  Great  Sun  and  Little  Sun,  whom 
he  so  treacherously  got  into  his  hands,  and  then  sent  every 
one  of  them  to  St.  Domingo,  and  there  sold  them  as  slaves, 
thus  executing  his  threat  against  them.  Extermination, 


550  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

because  they  had   the  manly  courage  to  resist  oppression,, 
and  fight  to  the  death  against  merciless  tyrants. 

The  little  remnant  of  Natchez  left,  though  in  the  last 
stage  of  hopeless  despair,  instead  of  yielding,  nobly  and 
bravely  nerved  themselves  to  desperate  deeds  of  revenge, 
for  they  still  could  call  into  the  field  about  three  hundred 
warriors.  But  they  were  at  last  defeated,  then  all  hope  fled, 
and  the  few  scattered  remnants,  in  three  different  bands, 
sought  safety  where  best  they  could  find  it;  one  sought  ref 
uge  among  the  Christian  hearted  Chickasaws,  who  gener 
ously  gave  them  a  home  and  protection.  But  even  there  they 
were  not  idle,  for  they  sought  every  opportunity  to  avenge 
the  destruction  of  their  Nation  and  people,  by  attacking  the- 
French  whenever  and  wherever  found. 

In  1733  a  few  still  survived  and  still  fought;  for  Bienville, 
being  at  that  time  reappointed  to  the  governorship  in  the 
place  of  Perier,  said,  in  a  dispatch  written  on  the  15th  of 
May,  1733,  "That  the  Tunicas  had  assured  him  that  the 
Natchez  were  not  destroyed,  but  were  composed  of  three 
bands;  the  smallest  had  fled  north  some  distance  from  their 
ancient  villages;  the  next  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Missis 
sippi  river,  opposite  the  Yazoo  river,  and  the  third  and  larg 
est  had  been  received  among-  the  Chickasaws  who  had  given 
them  land  on  which  to  live."  He  closed  by  saying:  "I  shall 
use  ejvery  effort  to  constantly  harass  them." 

The  two  bands  that  still  clung  near  their  old  homes,  and 
seemed  so  reluctant  to  leave  forever  the  banks  of  that  noble 
river,  the  Mississippi,  became  so  constantly  harassed  by 
the  French  that  they  were  finally  driven  to  seek  a  safer 
place  of  refuge;  therefore,  they  also  retreated  to  the  Chicka 
saws  and  joined  the  band  that  had  preceded  them  and  found 
shelter  and  protection  among  that  magnanimous  people. 

Their  nation  had  perished;  the  remaining  little  remnant 
of  survivors  went  west,  and  were  dispersed  among  the 
various  Indian  tribes  of  that  then  little  known  country  to  the 
white  race,  and  were  lost  as  a  distinct  people.  However,  it 
has  been  stated  through  the  medium  of  the  press  that  a 
small  tribe  of  Indians  have  been  discovered  in  southern 
Arizona  who  are  Idolaters;  that  they  are  in  reality  sun  wor 
shippers,  but  make  small  images  out  of  clay  with  faces  sup 
posed  to  represent  the  sun,  although  bearing  little  if  any 
resemblance  to  it;  that  they  do  not  associate  with  other 
tribes  and  are  very  seldom  seen  by  white  men.  In  this  re 
spect  at  least  they  may  be  regarded  as  being  extremely  for 
tunate.  That  the  idols  have  large,  round  bodies  and  heads, 
with  eyes  and  mouth  and  ears — beams  radiating  from  the 
eyes  over  the  face.  These  Indians  keep  these  idols  in  rude 


HISTORY    OF    THK   INDIANS.  551 

houses  or  wigwams,  and  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  they 
hold  a  sun  dance,  which  is  with  them  a  religious  ceremony. 
They  have  no  other  form  of  worship,  although  a  few  of  them 
were  at  one  time  induced  to  abandon  their  idols  by  the  Jesuit 
priests.  If  the  story  be  true,  there  is  a  good  reason  to  be 
lieve  that  they  are  the  descendants  of  the  few  Natchez  who 
[led  west  in  1733,  at  the  destruction  of  their  nation  by  the 
French. 

But  the  beneficent  God  of  man's  creation  be  praised  that 

''There  is;a  world,  where  souls  are  free, 
Where  tyrants  taint  not  Nature's  bliss; 
If  death  that  world's  bright  opening  be. 
Oh!  who  would  live  a  slave  in  this?" 

Noble  race!  Unaccustomed  to  crouch  under  oppression, 
and  when  the  evils  of  submission  became  greater  than  those 
of  resistance,  how  could  it  but  beget  a  convulsive  burst  of 
indignation  and  courage,  supported  by  the  hope  of  success 
fully  driving  back  the  merciless  invaders  of  their  country 
and  homes! 

But  how  vain  the  struggle  against  the  irresistible 
power  of  superior  intelligence,  crazed  to  become  rich,  and 
the  strength  of  civilization  without  mercy,  honor  or  truth, 
a  power  without  morality,  unscrupulous  and  unprincipled, 
which  came  among  them  to  wring  from  them  their  country, 
upon  which  to  build  its  own  greatness,  though  at  the  cost 
of  the  utter  annihilation  of  its  primitive  inhabitants;  a  powrer 
from  the  Alpha  to  the  Omega,  which  placed  the  administra 
tion  of  justice,  wrhen  dealing  with  the  Indians,  in  the  hands 
of  its  highest  functionary — Avarice,  and  there  left  it;  thus 
it  came  a  war  of  helpless  sheep  against  ravenous  wolves, 
untutored  men  against  demons,  to  whom  dissimulation,  dis 
honesty  and  avarice  were  as  paws  to  the  hungry  tiger. 
Endless  promises,  false  excuses,  elaborate  tissues  of  cir 
cumstantial  falsehoods,  unblushing  chicanery,  and  extermi 
nating  war,  untempered  with  mercy  in  regard  to  age  or 
sex,  innocent  or  guilty,  were  the  weapons  adopted  and 
practiced,  in  the  successful  and  speedy  accomplishment  of 
their  determination  to  destroy  and  exterminate  the  North 
American  Indian  race;  therefore  they  went  implacable  in 
enmity  and  void  of  pity;  and  the  pertinacity  with  which  they 
have  adhered  to  their  purpose  needs  no  further  confirma 
tion. 

The  historic  Indian  is  with  the  past,  and  his  bones  are 
resting  in  the  grave  with  his  pre-historic  ancestry  ;  while 
his  surviving  descendant,  shorn  of  all  his  former  chivalry 
and  independence,  is  left  alone  to  battle  with  the  prejudice 
of  the  exterminators  of  his  race,  who  for  200  years  have 


552  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

toeen  pressing-  it  toward  that  period  of  evolution  we  call  civ 
ilization,  but  in  reality  extermination. 

But  alas,  as  a  falling-  star  tumbling-  from  its  primitive 
place  near  the  g-ates  of  heaven,  bathed  in  primitive  glory,  so 
has  been  the  falling  of  the  North  American  Red  Race,  that 
noble,  brave  and  wonderful  people,  into  the  dark  clouds  of 
misfortune  and  woe,  tracking-  their  lone  and  sorrowful  course 
down  throug-h  the  deep  midnight  of  despair  to  helpless  ex 
termination  and  hopeless  oblivion;  and  though  their  spring 
freshness  and  summer  bloom  have  forever  faded  away,  leav 
ing  no  hope  of  a  returning  morn,  still  their  silent,  yet  digni 
fied  despair,  impresses  an  involuntary  respect  and  admira 
tion — even  as  a  fine  nature  becomes  by  the  sorrows  that 
blight  and  the  misfortunes  that  mildew  and  destroy.  But 
will  that  time  never  come  when  that  spirit  of  love  that  seeks 
the  good  of  the  poor,  unfortunate  Indian  will  be  truly  felt 
and  acted  upon,  and  that  spirit  which  is  wise  in  mercy  and 
has  no  element  of  vengeance,  shall  speak  in  the  actions  of 
our  congress,  sounded  in  sermons. from  our  pulpits  and 
pleaded  in  our  prayers  at  the  throne  of  grace. 

Truly  the  life  of  the  North  American  Indian  of  the 
present  day  is,  and  long  has  been,  a  strange  comedy  to  all 
who  observe,  and  a  fearful  tragedy  to  those  who  reflect. 
But  have  they  not  endured  enough?  Can  they  endure  more 
and  still  exist?  Nay  verily.  Already  have  they  turned  their 
gaze  to  the  skirmishers  that  line  the  other  shore,  as  they 
sadly  and  hopelessly,  yet  silently  and  heroically  move  for 
ward  in  their  uncomplaining  (since  unavailing)  wretched 
ness. 

The  North  Americans  everywhere  were  quick  to  ob 
serve;  prone  to  meditate  on  all  they  observed,  and  possessed 
an  imagination  fertile,  expansive  and  daring;  they  imbibed 
with  eagerness  and  retained  in  a  tenacious  memory;  and  be 
fore  their  prospects,  under  the  sustaining-  and  fostering  care 
of  the  loving  and  loved  white  missionary,  were  destroyed 
and  their  hopes  forever  blighted  by  ruthless  hands,  their 
lives  were  like  an  April  day.  True,  they  had  experienced 
reverses,  but  as  the  sun  of  their  lives  sank  in  the  west  the 
rainbow  of  the  white  man's  promise  awhile  bent  beautifully 
above  them;  but,  alas,  only  to  be  driven  back  from  their 
hopes  by  realizing  the  utter  falsity  of  that  promise.  Ah, 
suspense  and  hope  deferred!  these  are  the  two  emotions 
which  serve  to  kill  the  human  heart,  to  darken  and  blight 
human  existence.  Therefore,  soon  in  their  faces,  where 
never  before  seen,  were  visible  strength  and  weakness,  man 
hood  and  helplessness. 

It   is    attested     by    thousands   of  Christian    witnesses 


HISTORY    OF    THK    INDIANS.  553 

now  living-  who  personally  know,  and  thousands  of  Christian 
witnesses  long-  since  dead,  who  left  their  testimony  behind 
them  in  their  writing's  down  the  revolving-  years  back  to  over 
two  centuries  ag-o,  that  the  North  American  Indians  every 
where  welcomed  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ;  that  they  ad 
mired  the  civilization  of  the  White  Race,  and  delig-hted  to  be 
taught  in  the  useful  arts  and  sciences,  while  they  abhorred 
and  dreaded  the  accompanying  vices  attending-  that  civiliza 
tion,  as  exhibited  before  them  by  the  lawless,  who  ever  fol 
lowed  close  on  the  heels  of  the  servants  of  God. 

It  is  a  truth,  though  known  to  few,  that  the  problems 
which  the  North  American  Indians  have  presented,  ever 
since  their  first  introduction  to  the  White  Race,  and  still 
present  to  this  g-eneration  in  the  little  remnant,  still  sur 
viving-,  are  worthy  the  consideration  and  study  of  even  the 
most  learned;  and  that  the  events  which  have  formed  their 
known  history  during  the  last  two  centuries  are  worthy 
to  take  rank  among-  the  marvels  of  history.  Nor  do  multi 
plied  thousands  have  the  least  conception  of  the  changes 
which  that  peculiar,  but  none  the  less  worthy,  people  have 
experienced  and  the  effect  they  have  had  upon  them.  Truly 
the  one  stands  to  the  other  in  the  relation  of  cause  to  effect. 
But  what  the  future  has  in  store  for  them  may  closely  be 
guessed  by  their  present  condition  in  their  transition  from 
the  old  to  the  new  order  of  things  under  the  weight  of  the 
hand  of  merciless  coercion;  yet  what  many  tribes  have  been 
enabled  to  accomplish  for  the  intellectual,  moral  and  ma 
terial  improvement,  amid  all  their  vicissitudes,  wrongs  and 
sufferings,  few,  very  few,  also  know;  therefore,  millions, 
without  any  investigation  whatever,  but  upon  vague  rumor 
alone,  believe  that  no  Indian  is  or  can  be  fittted  to  enjoy  the 
blessings  of  Christianity,  though  the  belief  is  as  faulty  as 
its  premises  are  absolutely  false. 

May  a  just  and  merciful  God  grant  that  others  shall  rise 
up  in  the  defense  of  this  part  of  His  fearfully  perse 
cuted  race  of  mankind,  whose  pens  more  efficient  than 
mine  shall  relate  to  future  generations  it's  wrongs  and  suf 
ferings;  its  love  of  country  and  freedom;  its  heroic  defense 
of  both;  its  patience  and  silence  in  misfortunes  unparalleled 
in  the  history  of  mankind  ;  its  calm  resignation  in  humilia 
tion,  after  prodigies  of  justifiable  resistance  against  over 
whelming  numbers,  while  laboring  under  the  most  adverse 
surroundings  ever  known  in  the  history  of  man  fighting 
for  country,  freedom,  justice  and  truth. 

And  though  here,  as  in  the  middle  watches  of  the  night,  I 
close  my  labors,  yet  I  must  leave  the  reader  in  great  doubt 
of  a  fairer  morn  ever  dawning  upon  the  Red  Race  of  the 


554  HIST  OK  Y    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

United  States,  as  such  a  morn  can  scarcel}''  be  expected,  or 
even  hoped  for,  in  an  age  abounding-  more  with  vice  than  vir 
tue,  as  this  hitherto  has  abounded  and  still  abounds,  with 
fair  prospects  of  indefinite  continuance;  since  the  manifes 
ted  desire  and  unyielding  determination  of  the  government 
and  people  of  the  whole  country  have  long  been,  still  are  and 
will  ever  be,  to  exterminate  their  Indian  wards — forever  blot 
out  their  institutions  and  every  vestige  of  their  entire  race; 
but  hoping  and  believing  that  in  its  oblivion  would  also  be 
forgotten  the  means  adopted  for  the  accomplishment  of  the 
result;  therefore,  thousands  still  mock  at  and  deride  this 
people,  while  others  oppress,  persecute  and  slander. 

But  in  this  account  of  the  true  Native  Americans,  this 
peculiar  and,  in  many  respects,  wonderful  part  of  God's 
created. races  of  man,  I  regret  not  that  I  have  wandered  far 
from  the  old  and  beaten  track  in  which  former  writers  have 
walked  in  their  accounts  given  of  that  people  known  as  the 
Red  Race  of  North  America;  and  truly  believe  that  I  have 
thereby  escaped  many  of  the  ruts  into  which  they  have, 
with  here  and  there  an  exception,  alike  and  invariably  fallen; 
though  in  passing  through  the  shadowy  lands  of  legend 
and  myth,  where  many  of  the  pen  pictures  are,  to  an  un 
justifiable  and  inexcusable  extent,  imaginary,  I  deny  not 
but  here  and  there  a  slender  web  of  fiction,  but,  free  of  in 
tended  or  known  falsehood,  may  be  found  upon  its  pages; 
as  I  have  sought  from  many  sources,  whatever  hues  and 
colors  which  were  considered  best  adapted  to  and  interest 
and  variety  to  its  pages;  and  if  it  only  tends  to  bring  others 
into  sympathy  for  the  Indian  race  of  this  continent,  one  of 
its  principal  missions  will  be  accomplished. 

True,  I  have  rejected  much  which  might  have  been 
written,  for  which,  perhaps,  many  may  think  that  fact  de 
serves  more  praise  than  to  be  pardoned  for  that  which  has 
been  published.  Be  it  as  it  may;  I  murmur  not  at  the  verdict 
of  the  reader;  nor  make  any  appeal  to  posterity.  I  sought 
not  for  human  adulation,  that  ephemeral  thing  so  difficult  to 
obtain  and  so  worthless  when  obtained ;  therefore,  if  it 
quickly  dies,  amen!  as,  in  so  doing,  it  will  save  trouble  for 
those  who  are  inclined  to  injure  from  any  attempt  to  kill 
that  which  will  inevitably  soon  perish  of  its  own  self. 

But  let  this  be  added,  the  subject  matter  of  this  narra 
tive  was  begun  and  ended  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  task 
that  lay  before  me:  and  so  involved  was  it  in  uncertainty, 
and  so  tinged  with  romance  and  fiction,  that  had  not  the  in 
terest  of  and  justice  to  the  North  American  Indians,  de 
manded,  at  least,  that  an  attempt  should  be  made  to  shed  a 
ray  of  true  light  upon  their  history,  I  would  not  indeed  have 


HISTORY    OF    THIS    INDIANS.  OOO 

ventured  to  attempt  to  lift  the  veil  and  bid  a  thoughtless 
world  look  in  again  upon  that  mystic  people,  and  thereby  ex 
pose  them  once  more  to  its  idle  and  heartless  gaze,  chilled 
with  the  frosts  of  incredulity. 

I  have  endeavored  to  draw  a  true  picture  of  the  repre 
sentative  type  of  southern  Indians  and  their  wrongs,  as 
found  in  the  Choctaw,  Chickasaw,  Cherokee,  Muscogee  Cnow 
Creek)  and  Seminole,  as  they  appeared  in  the  four  epochs  of 
their  known  history;  from  the  time  of  De  Solo's  .invasion 
into  their  territories;  during  the  period  of  the  establishment 
of  the  French  colonies  among  them;  during  the  transition 
period  following  the  advent  of  the  Protestant  missionaries 
to  them,  and  their  final  banishment  to  the  then  inhospitable 
and  little  known  '"Wild  West,"  and  as  they  appear,  and  are 
to-day,  as  a  civilized  and  Christian  people. 

Hoping  my  labors  will  not  be  viewed  in  a  wrong  light, 
yet  ready  at  all  times  to  defend  my  position  as  the  abiding 
friend  of  the  true  native  North  American  race,  I  here  bid 
the  reader  a  kind  adieu,  as  my  narrative  is  finished;  my  man 
hood's  years  far  behind,  with  life's  declining  sun  lingering 
upon  its  western  sky;  the  years  of  the  past  hold  the  native 
Americans'  wrongs,  and  time  will  tell  the  rest  in  the  years 
to  come. 

Noble  race!  I  honor  you  and  I  love  you.  We've  been 
friends  together  through  the  years  of  the  Long  Ago,  enough 
for  us  to  know.  We'll  be  so  still  in  all  our  years  to  come; 
nor  time  nor  distance,  though  our  paths  of  life  diverge, 
shall  ever  efface  from  our  memory's  page  those  words, 
of  truth. 


NORTH  AMERICA'S  MOUNDS  AND  MOUND 

BUILDERS— THEIR    ORIGIN 

AND   DESIGN. 

What  a  sad  record  is  the  history  of  the  human  race 
from  the  creation  of  Adam  down  along-  the  long  flight  of 
ages  to  the  closing  scenes  of  this  the  19th  century!  How 
replete  in  strife  and  confusion!  each  nation  seemingly  in 
turn,  to  entail  upon  itself  the  just  retributions  of  a  merciful 
God,  whose  long  forbearance  could  no  long-er  endure  its  de 
grading  idolatry  and  presumptuous  wickedness.  Yet,  who 
can  but  admire  with  emotions  of  astonishment  as  he  gazes 
upon  or  reads  of  those  ancient  temples  and  mighty  struc- 
ures  of  human  skill  that  stand  as  living  mementos  to  the 
present  age,  of  pre-historic  man,  but  whose  purposes  of 
erection  are,  with  him,  forever  buried  amid  the  mists  of 
ages  past. 

The  Sphinx  and  the  great  pyramid  Cheops,  with  heads 
towering  high,  still  look  down  in  mournful  silence  upon  the 
surrounding  desolation  as  dumb  historians  of  remote  ages 
past.  While,  equally  sad  and  mournful  are  the  still  visible 
wrecks  of  fallen  cities,  some  having  been  lost  to  the  world 
for  many  hundred  years  after  their  destruction;  all  alike 
have  passed  away,  to  be  remembered  but  in  tradition,  fable 
and  song,  leaving,  here  and  there  a  few  moss-covered  walls 
and  towers  crumbling  in  turn  to  dust,  with  their  undeciph- 
€red  hieroglyphics — all  as  mementos  of  the  desolating 
power  of  long  succeeding  years,  still  frowning  on  the  mys 
teries  of  a  people  who  bequeathed  to  posterity  only  such 
monuments  as  future  testimonials  of  their  history. 

But  respect  for  the  dead  and  a  just  regard  for  their  dis 
position  by  burial  have  been  distinctive  characteristics  in 
man  in  all  ag-es  and  countries  of  both  the  civilized  and  unciv 
ilized  world.  There  are  two  classes  of  primitive  tombs, 
both  of  the  highest  antiquity,  the  tumulus  or  mound  of  earth 
heaped  over  the  dead  and  the  subterranean  or  excavated;  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  557 

former  Is  the  most  ancient  form  of  sepulture  and  has  been 
the  universal  mode  among-  all  primitive  nations.  But  what 
awakens  sadder  emotions  than  the  contemplation  of  the  cem 
etery  of  a  nation  or  a  race!  Still  as  those  cities  of  hoary  an 
tiquity  on  the  Eastern  Continent,  with  all  their  great  inheri 
tance  of  centuries  past,  their  Pyramids,  walls  and  other  dif 
ferent  and  wonderful  structures  of  architectural  skill,  have 
ever  been  of  the  deepest  interest  to  the  modern  student,  so 
too,  the  mounds,  stone  implements  of  every  description, 
hieroglyphics,  pottery,  etc.,  shreds  and  patches  of  succeed 
ing1  generations,  present  many  things  of  interest,  though 
like  the  detached  fragments  of  some  beautiful  mosaic,  which 
demand  the  skill  of  the  expert  to  replace  them,  or  like  geolo 
gical  strata,  upheaved  by  a  series  of  convulsions  which  with 
out  some  knowledge  of  their  history,  cannot  be  reduced  to 
order.  In  gazing  upon  these  silent  relics  of  the  long  past, 
these  charnel  houses  of  departed  ages,  their  still  calm  lulls 
the  soul  to  a  melancholy,  yet  pleasing,  repose,  as  the  imagi 
native  mind  goes  back  and  contemplates  the  various  phases 
in  the  stream  of  life  which  they  have  witnessed  during  the 
slowly  revolving  centuries  of  their  existence,  and  seem  to 
respond  to  the  inquiry,  "What  of  year  record? — that  long 
panorama  of  history  that  has  been  enrolled  before  you  by 
passing  ages  is  but  a  part  of  what  lies  before." 

Behind  the  white  race  now  in  possession  and  far  behind 
the  Indian,  whom  the  whites  have  dispossessed,  is  that  un 
known  people  whose  receding  memory  the  archaeologist  still 
seeks  to  save,  since  it  is  the  most  convenient  race  to  be 
brought  in  for  all  the  riddles,  myths  and  mysteries  of  the 
continent  in  all  future  to  come.  Many  of  the  mounds,  'tis 
true,  are  of  such  ancient  date  that  they  seem  almost  parts 
of  the  original  land  surface;  yet  have  a  history  which,  if 
only  known,  would  far  surpass  all  the  fairy  tales  of  romance 
and  fiction  that  were  ever  written  or  imagined;  standing  in 
their  original  strength  disdainful  of  all  assistance. 

Each  continent  has  memorials  of  its  long  lost  and  forgot 
ten  races;  and  America's  mounds,  fortification's,  pottery, 
metal  remains,  all  interest  us  in  the  question,  who  were 
they?  One  responds  "The  Ten  Tribes  of  Israel."  An 
other  shouts,  "The  Tartans."  Each  savant  having  a  theory 
of  his  own  and,  in  attestation  of  its  truth,  unhesitatingly 
sacrificing  his  bottle  of  ink  at  the  shrine  of  his  deity;  but, 
after  all,  they  are  still  lost  races;  and  though  I  have  not  be 
come  a  convert  to  the  sundry  theories  accounting- for  their 
origin  and  disappearance,  yet  have  only  been  enabled  to  sat 
isfactorily  prove  for  myself,  each  in  its  turn,  about  as  clearly 
as  our  modern  exegesists  demonstrate  the  meaning-  of 


.558  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

baptize;  for  many  and  diversified  are  the  opinions  advanced 
by  those  who  have  attempted  to  solve  the  mystery  of  their 
origin,  their  builders  and  their  purposes.  And,  though 
time,  which  antiquates  antiquities,  has  spared  these  minor 
monuments;  yet,  who  were  proprietaries  of  the'se  bones,  or 
what  bodies  those  ashes  made  up,  is  a  question  above  anti- 
quarianism — not  to  be  determined  by  man.  But  where  is 
the  antidote  against  the  power  of  time?  Our  fatbers  find 
their  graves  in  our  short  memories  and  sadly  tell  us  how  we 
may  be  buried  in  our  survivors. 

By  many  these  mounds,  walls  and  fortifications,  found  in 
various  portions  of  the  North  American  continent,  are  pro 
nounced  as  the  work  of  an  extinct  race  of  the  human  family, 
.anterior  to  the  occupancy  of  the  country  by  the  Indians — a 
feeble  remnant  of  whose  descendants,  through  the  plenti- 
tude  of  our  great  mercy,  are  still  with  us;  while  others  as 
strenuously  contend  that  they  were  constructed  by  the  an 
cestors  of  our  present  Indians.  The  former,  among  whom 
are  many  learned  antiquaries/  base  their  opinion  upon  the 
belief  that  the  Indians,  "being  few  in  number'  and  unskilled 
in  the  arts,  were  wholly  unable  to  have  erected  such  works." 
All,  however,  would  perhaps  concede  that  if  the  ancient 
cities,  pyramids  of  stone,  rock  walls,  artificial  lakes  walled 
in  with  immense  pieces  of  stone,  said  to  be  lately  discovered 
in  Mexico  and  various  other  portions  of  the  North  American 
continent,  and  so  published  in  the  journals  of  the  present 
day,  were  true,  there  are  strong  grounds  upon  which  to 
predicate  a  belief  that  a  race  of  people  prehistoric  to  the  an 
cestors  of  our  Indians'  ancestry,  once  inhabited  the  Western 
Continent  and  were  the  builders  of  these  massive  structures, 
some  of  which  excelling  in  grandeur  the  great  pyramid  of 
Egypt — the  mighty  Cheops. 

The  following  published,  in   a  Texas  journal,  of  1883,  is 
sufficient  as  one  example. 

A  RECENTLY  Disco YEKED  LOST  CITY  OF  MEXICO.— 
Ancient  ruins  have  recently  been  discovered  in  Sonora, 
which  if  reports  are  true,  surpass  anything  of  the  kind  ever 
found  on  this  continent.  With  equal  truth  the  writer 
might  have  added,  or  on  any  other  continent.  "The  ruins 
are  said  to  be  about  four  leagues  southeast  of  Magdalena. 
There  is  one  pyramid  which  has  a  base  of  4350  feet  and 
rises  to  a  height  of  750  feet;  there  is  a  winding  roadway 
from  the  bottom  leading  up  an  easy  grade  to  the  top,  wide 
enough  for  carriages  to  pass  over,  which  is  said  to  be  twen 
ty-three  miles  in  length;  the  outer  walls  of  the  road-way  are 
laid  in  solid  masonry  from  huge  blocks  of  granite  in  rubble, 
and  the  circles  are  as  uniform  and  the  grade  as  regular  as 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  559 

could  be  made  at  this  date  by  our  best  engineers.  The  wall 
however,  is  only  occasionally"  exposed,  being-  covered  over 
with  debris  and  earth,  and  in  many  places  various  kinds  of 
indigenous  plants  and  trees  have  grown  up,  giving-  the  pyra 
mid  the  appearance  of  a  mountain.  To  the  east  of  the  py 
ramid  a  short  distance,  is  a  small  mountain  about  the  same 
size,  and  rises  to  about  the  same  height;  and,  if  reports  are 
true,  will  prove  more  interesting  to  the  archaeologist  than 
the  pyramid. 

"There  seems  to  be  a  heavy  layer  of  a  species  of  gypsum 
about  half  way  up  the  mountain,  which  is  as  white  as  snow, 
and  may  be  cut  into  any  conceivable  shape,  but  sufficiently 
hard  to  retain  its  shape  after  being  cut.  In  this  layer  of 
stone  a  people  of  an  unknown  age  have  cut  hundreds  upon 
hundreds  of  rooms,  from  five  by  ten  to  sixteen  or  eighteen 
feet  square.  • 

"These  rooms  are  cut  out  of  solid  stone,  and  so  even 
and  true  are  the  walls,  floor  and  ceiling,  so  plumb  and  level, 
as  to  defy  variation.  There  are  no  windows  to  the  rooms, 
and  but  one  entrance,  which  is  always  from  the  top.  The 
rooms  are  but  eight  feet  high  from  floor  to  ceiling.  The 
stone  is  so  white  that  it  seems  almost  transparent,  and  the 
rooms  are  not  at  all  dark.  On  the  walls  of  the  rooms  are 
numerous  hieroglyphics  and  representations  of  human 
forms,  with  feet  and  hands  of  human  beings  cut  in  the  stone 
in  different  places.  But,  strange  to  say,  the  hands  all  have 
five  fingers  and  one  thumb,  and  the  feet  have  six  toes. 
Charcoal  is  found  on  the  floors  of  many  of  the  rooms,  which 
would  indicate  that  they  built  fires  in  their  houses. 

"Stone  implements  of  every  description  are  to  be  found 
In  great  numbers  in  and  about  the  rooms.  The  houses  or 
rooms  are  one  above  the  other,  three  or  four  stories  high  ; 
but  between  each  story  there  is  a  jag  or  recess  the  full 
width  of  the  room  below,  so  that  they  present  the  appear 
ance  of  large  steps  leading  up  the  mountain."  The  writer 
closes  the  account  of  this  wonderful  discovery  with  the  fol 
lowing  grave  soliloquy:  "Who  these  people  were,  and  in 
what  age  they  lived,  must  be  answered,  if  answered  at  all, 
by  the  wise  men  of  the  east."  To  which  all  will  respond  a 
hearty  amen! 

Another  writer,  with  equal  assurance  of  not  being  ac 
credited  with  too  much  love  for  truth,  states  through  the 
medium  of  the  press  to  the  credulous  portion  of  the  world 
that  there  is  to-day  a  "Walled  Lake"  in  Wright  County, 
Iowa,  160  miles  from  Dubuque,  evidently  the  work  of  man. 
He  thus  writes:  "Here  is  a  prehistoric  reservoir — an  arti 
ficial  lake — a  body  of  water  covering  nearly  300  acres,  with 


560  HISTORY    OF   THE   INDIANS. 

a  wall  built  up  all  around  it,  not  a  stone  in  which  can  be  less 
than  100  pounds  weight,  and  some  as  heavy  as  three  tons, 
and  yet  there  is  not  a  stone  to  be  found  within  ten  miles  of 
the  lake.  The  wall  is  ten  feet  high.  The  country  is  prairie 
land  for  miles  around,  except  a  heavy  belt  of  timber  that  en 
circles  the  lake.  This  timber  is  oak,  and  it  is  plain  that  the 
trees  were  planted.  The  water  in  the  lake  is  twenty-five 
feet  deep."  And  the  writer  thus  closes  his  story  with  the 
healthy  questions  as  follows:  "Who  built  that  wall?  How 
were  those  immense  stones  moved?"  And  last,  though  not 
least,  "And  how  did  they  keep  the  water  back  when  building 
the  wall?" 

But  if  such  a  "Sonora  Pyramid"  and  "Iowa  Lake"  act 
ually  exist  to-day  on  this  continent,  as  they  seem  to  exist  in 
the  prolific  brains  of  these  sensational  writers,  it  could  not 
be  reconciled  with  the  theory  of  being  the  work  of  our  In 
dians  or  of  their  ancestors  ages  ag-o.  But.  as  an  imaginative 
pre-historic  race  evidently  built  the  two  lately  discovered 
wonders  of  pre-historic  antiquity,  it  is  evident,  it  has  contrib 
uted  enough  to  the  history  of  the  Western  Continent  for  the 
study  of  the  antiquarian  in  that  line;  therefore,  let  the  build 
ing  of  the  other  curious  mounds  scattered  over  the  various 
portions  of  the  North  American  continent  be  ascribed  to  the 
Indians,  to  whom  it  justly  belongs,  as  there  is  ample  evidence 
that  they  were  built  at  different  ages  of  the  world  by  differ 
ent  tribes  of  the  American  Indians — not  controlled  by 
science,  but  directed  to  a  certain  purpose  then  necessary. 
Some  of  them  were  erected  as  symbols  of  some  particular 
virtue  or  deity  taught  by  that  religion  for  whose  service  they 
were  built  and  to  whose  mysteries  they  were  consecrated". 
Some,  as  memorials  of  great  national  events,  as  Nunih  Wai- 
yah  of  the  ancient  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws,  erected  in 
commemoration  of  their  arrival  from  the  "Far  West"  (Mex 
ico)  to  the  now  State  of  Mississippi  in  the  periods  of  the  long 
forgotten  past.  But  there  they  once  stood  in  their  primitive 
beauty  like  a  marvelous,  beautiful  dream;  the  expression  of 
the  religious  faith  and  hope  of  their  builders,  the  North 
American  Indians  of  past  years,  and  there  they  would  have 
remained,  as  far  as  human  fore-sight  could  predict,  until  the 
trumpet  of  the  mighty  arch  angel  should  end  their  mission 
or  etheral  fires  restore  their  materials  to  their  original  ele 
ments,  but  for  their  destroyers  whose  imagination  had  filled 
them  with  silver  and  gold. 

But  that  the  mounds  found  scattered  over  different 
states  were  erected  by  the  ancestors  of  the  present  Indian 
people,  some,  ages  before  tfye  advent  of  the  White  Race  to 
this  continent,  and  others  since,  there  is  abundant  evidence,. 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  561 

even  to  satisfy  (if  such  a  thing-  is  within  the  range  of  a  pos 
sibility)  the  Infatuated  lovers  of  the  marvelous;  and  that 
they  were  thrown  up  by  different  tribes  and  for  different 
purposes,  some  as  cemeteries;  some  as  sacrificial  altars; 
some  as  memorials  of  great  events  (as  the  famous  Nunih 
Waiyah);  some  as  the  honored  places  for  the  erection  of  the 
houses  of  the  chiefs;  and  some  for  signaling  by  fire  from 
their  tops,  (an  ancient  custom  as  well  as  modern  to  some 
extent)  of  carrying-  intelligence,  successfully  practiced  by  the 
North  American  Indians.  The  Indians  inhabiting  the 
prairie  regions  of  the  "Far  West"  resorted  principally  to 
smoke  signals,  .in  connection  with  fire  signals  on  the  top  of 
mounds;  to  give  warning  of  danger  to  their  scattered  bands, 
especially  when  on  a  raid  in  an  enemy's  country.  The 
signals  were  made  to  ascend  in  detached  columns,  or  puffs, 
by  firing  a  dry  bunch  of  grass  and  partially  smothering  it 
with  a  blanket,  shawl  or  other  suitable  article,  until  a  consid 
erable  quantity  of  smoke  had  accumulated  thereunder,  then 
quickly  slipping  the  shawl  to  one  side,  then  back  again  at 
short  intervals,  which  caused  the  smoke  to  ascend  in  puffs 
similar  to  that  often  seen  ascending  from  the  smoke-stack 
of  a  locomotive.  The  warning  signal  never  failed  to  be  seen 
by  the  ever  watchful  eyes  of  the  Indian  warrior,  who  was 
ever  on  the  alert,  whether  anticipating  danger  or  not.  As 
soon  as  a  few  puffs  of  smoke  had  ascended,  the  burning1 
grass  was  extinguished;  then  each  one  of  the  raiding  party 
from  his  point  of  the  prairie  acknowledged  the  warning  by 
doing  the  same;  and  though  scattered  miles  apart  on  the 
broad  prairie,  each  one  was  made  aware  of  the  impending 
danger,  and  gave  proper  heed  thereto  by  retreating  at  once 
to  a  pre-arranged  point  of  rendevouz  50  or  60  miles  to 
the  rear. 

The  mounds  in  the  densely  timbered  regions  east  of  the 
Mississippi  river  were  mostly  found  to  be  erected  on  the 
hills  and  bluffs  of  the  river  valleys,  from  which,  as  a  centre, 
they  extended  to  other  more  distant  points.  Upon  these 
mounds  signal  fires  were  made,  which  were  fully  understood 
in  all  their  significations  by  all  Indians;  and  thus  a  commu 
nication  was  established  between  different  parts  of  their 
country,  and  important  information  communicated  to  their 
wide-extended  towns  and  villages,  since  the  lighten  a  mound 
thirty,  forty  and  even  sixty  feet  high,  erected  on  the  high 
bluffs  and  points,  some  of  which  a  hundred  «or  more  feet 
high  themselves,  could  be  seen  up  and  down  the  valley  fort}^ 
miles  distant. 

Thus,  from  the  highest  mounds  on  those  great  bluffs, 
which  then  looked  out  upon  as  fair  an  inland  picture  as  it  was 


562  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

possible  to  conceive,  those  signal  mounds  of  the  pre-historic 
North  American  Indians  and  their  descendants,  flashed  their 
fires  in  their  great  signal  system  extending-  all  over  their 
country,  fire  answering  fire  and  wreathes  of  smoke  speaking 
to  -other  wreathes  of  smoke,  all  conveying  messages  from 
the  lakes  of  the  north  to  the  gulf  of  the  south. 

Some  tribes  erected  them  as  sites  for  the  houses  of  their 
chiefs  and  families,  of  which  there  is  abundant  proof;  others 
as  cemeteries  for  the  bones  of  their  dead,  which  is  also  sus 
tained  by  undoubted  evidence,  and  others  again  as  means  of 
defense,  sustained  by  the  best  authority.  Yet  there  are 
many  who  still  endeavor  to  inculcate  the  belief  that  these 
mounds  and  old  fortifications  scattered  here  and  there  over 
the  western  continent,  many  of  which  are  visible  even  to  the 
present  time,  were  the  work  of  a  race  of  people  who  inhabi 
ted  the  continent  long  prior  to  the  Indians;  and  who  were 
far  advanced  beyond  them  in  civilization  and  were  even 
familiar,  to  some  extent,  with  the  arts  and  sciences,  basing 
their  opinions  upon  the  belief  that  the  Indians,  being  "un 
skilled  in  any  of  the  arts,"  and  also  being  "few  in  number, 
were  wholly  unable"  to  erect  such  works. 

But  the  so  often  repeated  assertion  that  the  North  Amer 
ican  Indians,  when  discovered  by  the  Europeans,  were  un 
skilled  in  any  of  the  human  arts,  and  also  few  in  number,  is 
not  sustained  by  the  writings  of  the  early  explorers  of  the 
continent  anywhere.  All  who  are  familiar  with  the  writings 
of  the  earl}'  discoverers  and  explorers,  know  what  a  numer 
ous  population  was  found  everywhere,  from  Maine  to  Cali 
fornia,  and  from  the  Carolinas  to  Oregon,  and  what  ingenuity 
was  displayed  by  the  natives  everywhere  in  the  building  of 
fortifications,  temples,  canoes  and  making  bow£  and  arrows. 
And  when  we  take  into  consideration  that  they  were  not  ex 
clusively  an  agricultural  people,  and  engaged  in  no  pursuit 
principally  but  that  of  war  and  the  chase,  they  had  more 
time  to  engage  in  such  occupations  as  erecting  mounds,  for 
tifications,  etc.,  than  any  other  people  on  the  globe,  especially 
since  time  to  them  was  a  matter  of  no  consideration  what 
ever.  The  writers,  who  accompanied  De  So  to  in  his  advent 
urous  expedition  ^154o)  from  Florida  to  Arkansas,  state  that 
the  mounds  were  thrown  up  for  the  purpose  of  building  on 
their  top-/,  the  bouses  of  their  chiefs,  while  his  subjects 
erected  their  houses  around  the  base;  and  they  even  describe 
the  manner  in  which  the  earth  was  carried  to  the  place. 

On  the  18th  of  may  1838,  a  party  of  literary  and  scien 
tific  gentlemen  from  Natchez,  Mississippi,  examined  two 
square  mounds  three  and  a  half  miles  below  the  city, 
between  the  bluff  and  the  river,  about  a  mile  from  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  563 

river  and  one-eighth  of  a  mile  from  the  bluff,  rising 
.from  11  to  16  feet  above  the  level  upon  which  they  are  based. 
The  two  mounds  stood  about  500  feet  apart,  ranging  north 
and  south  of  each  other,  the  larg-er  being-  66  feet  square,  and 
16  feet  high,  and  the  other  33  feet  square  and  11  feet  high. 
An  excavation  was  made  in  the  latter  clear  to  the  bottom 
and,  as  usual  human  bones  and  numerous  and  various  pieces 
of  Indian  pottery;  and  trinkets  were  found  at  different 
depths;  as  both  structures  were  similar,  no  excavation  was 
made  in  the  larger  one.  On  the  20th  of  May,  1838,  a  party 
•of  25  men  from  Natchez  visited  a  large  mound  standing 
about  10  miles  east  of  that  city.  On  approaching  the  mound 
from  the  west,  states  the  writer,  it  presents  the  appearance 
of  a  long,  straight  battery  of  earth,  with  a' sloping,  regular 
front  and  platform  at  the  top,  with  a  few  moderate  ele 
vations  or  towers  upon  the  terrace,  the  whole  being  over 
looked  by  an  abrupt  tower  at  the  eastern  end  towards 
Natchez;  which  rises  nearly  as  high  above  the  terrace  or 
platform  as  that  does  above  the  circumjacent  plain.  In  ap 
proaching  the  mound  on  the  southern  side,  it  presents  a 
most  imposing  and  martial  character,  and  the  traces  of  de 
sign  are  so  apparent  that  the  observer  cannot  but  ascribe  it 
to  the  work  of  man,  and  involuntarily  feels  that  so  enor 
mous  a  pile  must  have  been  the  creation  of  heads  that 
planned,  and  hands  that  labored  through  long  periods  of 
time.  Its  magnitude  however  did  not  impress  the  beholder 
•at  first  with  its  full  proportions;  but  after  ascending,  its 
steep  face  to  the  broad  terrace,  which  is  itself  the  base  of 
the  great  western  tower  and  also  of  four  other  smaller 
ones,  and  glancing"  at  the  general  outline  of  the  foundation 
mound,  which  has  the  appearance  of  a  parallelogram,  with 
a  regular  southern  side  and  an  irregular  front  on  the  north, 
then  walking  over  the  terrace  which  includes  an  area  of 
nearly  five  acres,  and  looking  up  at  the  western  tower,  it 
self  a  parallelogram  (perhaps  once  a  perfect  one)  of  80  or 
more  feet  in  length  and  50  in  breadth,  the  mind  fully  com 
prehends  the  vastness  of  the  structure,  and  allows  due 
honor  to  the  pre-historic  ancestors  of  the  North  American 
Indian  race,  who  have  left  behind  them  such  a  mysterious 
hieroglyphic  of  power,  speaking  a  language  of  grandeur, 
yet  without  a  relic  of  a  single  word  that  we  rh-ay  translate 
into  the  elements  of  history.  The  height  of  the  great  ter 
race,  from  its  base,  was,  in  1838,  45  feet  by  measurement, 
and  of  the  great  tower  above  the  terrace,  38  feet,  making 
83  feet  in  all  above  the  plain. 

The   human  skeletons,   from   the   great  length  of  time 
they  had  been  immured,  prevented  the  examining  party  from 


564  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

obtaining- but  few  perfect  specimens  ^of  craniology.  At  the 
depth  of  about  two  feet  from  the  surface  they  found  the 
skeleton  of  a  full  sized  man  from  which,  no  doubt,  much 
earth  must  have  washed  away  during-  the  long-  years  that  had 
passed  since  there  entombed.  The  skull  was  indisputably  a 
compressed  one  of  a  Flat  Head  Indian,  or  one  whose  head  in 
infancy  had  undergone  the  compressing-  process,  a  custom, 
it  is  said  by  the  early  writers,  practiced  by  the  ancient  an 
cestors  of  the  present  Choctaws. 

The  sides  of  the  larg-er  mounds  are  nearly  wholly  en 
cased  about  one  foot  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth  with  a 
kind  of  rubbish  resembling-  slack  baked  bricks,  regardless 
of  regularity  of  form,  as  if  laid  upon  the  original  steep  faces 
of  the  mound  to^  prevent  the  washing  away  of  the  soil. 
This  rude  roofing,  formed  of  a  clay  base,  mixed  with  hair  or 
moss,  like  modern  mortar,  may  once  have  been  continuous, 
or  it  may  not  have  been  otherwise  than  it  was  when  discov 
ered;  in  either  case  it  was  a  sufficient  security  against  the 
action  of  rain  water.  .The  soil  above  the  rubbish  was  filled 
with  fragments  of  pottery,  pieces  of  human  and  animal 
bones,  charcoal  and  the  debris  of  the  top  of  the  mound  and 
of  the  smaller  towers  which  seem  to  have  been  almost  en 
tirely  washed  away.  The  pottery  found  was  made  of  differ 
ent  colors;  some  pieces  were  brick  colored;  others  slate  color 
ed;  others  white.  The  pieces  were  large  enough  to  show  the 
shape  and  curve  of  the  circumference  of  the  vessels  of 
which  the  pieces  were  a  part.  Some  of  the  pieces  proved 
the  original  to/have  been  of  beautiful  structure. 

In  visiting  the  "Castine  Mounds,"  near  the  Cahokia 
creek,  in  Illinois,  a  writer  says:  "After  a  drive  of  an  hour 
and  a  half  the  second  group  of  eminences,  known  as  the 
Castine  Mounds,  appeared  upon  the  prairie  at  a  distance  of 
three  or  four  miles;  the  celebrated  Monk  Hill,  the  largest 
monument  of  the  kind  yet  discovered  in  North  America, 
heaving  up  its  giant  form,  forest  clothed  from  in  the  midst; 
as  it  is  first  beheld,  surrounded  by  the  lesser  heaps,  it  is 
mistaken  by  the  traveler  for  an  elevation  of  natural  origin; 
as  he  draws  nig;h,  and  at  length  stands  at  the  base,  its  stu 
pendous  magnitude,  its  lofty  summit,  towering  above  his 
head  and  throwing  its  broad  shadow  far  across  the  meadow; 
its  slopes  plowed  with  yawning  ravines  by  the  torrents  of 
centuries,  descending  to  the  plane  ;  its  surface  and  declivi 
ties  perforated  by  the  habitations  of  burrowing  animals,  and 
carpeted  with  tangled  thickets;  the  vast  size  of  the  aged 
oaks  rearing  themselves  from  its  soil,  all  confirm  his  impres 
sion  that  no  hand  but  that  of  the  mightiest  could  have  reared 
the  enormous  mass.  At  that  moment,  should  he  be  assured 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  565 

that  his  vast  earth-heap  was  of  origin  demonstrably  artifi 
cial,  he  would  smile,  but  credulity  the  most  sanguine  would 
fail  to  credit  the  assertion.  But  when,  with  jealous  eye, 
slowly  and  cautiously,  and  with  measured  footsteps  he  has 
circled  its  base;  when  he  has  surveyed  its  slopes  and  decliv 
ities  from  every  position,  and  has  remarked  the  peculiar 
uniformity  of  its  structure,  and  the  mathematical  exactitude 
•of  its  outline;  when  he  has  ascended  to  its  summit,  and 
looked  around  upon  the  piles  of  a  similar  character  by  which 
it  is  surrounded;  when  he  has  taken  into  consideration  its 
situation  upon  a  river  bottom  of  a  nature  decidedly  diluvial, 
and,  of  consequence,  utterly  incompatible  with  the  natural 
origin  of  such  elevations;  when  he  has  examined  the  soil  of 
which  it  is  composed,  and  has  discovered 'it  to  be  uniformly, 
throughout  the  entire  mass,  of  the  same  mellow  and  friable 
species  as  that  of  the  prairies  at  its  base;  and.  when  he  has 
listened  with  scrutiny  to  the  facts  which,  on  examination  of 
its  depths,  has  thrown  to  light  of  its  nature  and  its  contents, 
he  is  compelled,  however  reluctantly,  yet  without  a  doubt,  to 
declare  that  the  gigantic  pile  is  incontestibly  the  workman 
ship  of  man's  hand."  But  when,  by  what  race  of  mankind, 
and  for  what  purpose?  What  changes  they  have  undergone, 
what  vicissitudes  and  resolutions,  like  massive  waves,  have 
rolled  at  their  base  during  the  centuries  that  have  come  and 
gone,  who  can  conjecture?  As  the  gloom}*-  and  silent  pyra 
mids  of  Egypt,  for  ages  unnumbered,  have  looked  down 
upon  generation  after  generation  as  they  came  and  went, 
and  whose  existence  remains  a  mystery,  so  too  do  the 
mounds  of  North  America  point  our  inquiry  back  beyond 
the  grasp  of  human  thought  into  the  shades  and  mists  of 
centuries  past,  and  bid  us  seek  their  origin  and  history 
there.  But  their  design  was  evidently  for  various  purposes 
some  as  cemeteries,  some  as  fortifications,  some  as  watch- 
towers  or  vedettes,  for  religious  ceremonies  and  memorials. 
The  largest  of  the  Castine  group  of  about  fifty  is  Monk 
Mound,  whose  base  is  said  to  be  nearly  six  hundred  yards 
in  circumference  and  in  height  nearly  a  hundred  feet.  Its 
form  is  that  of  a  rectangle,  lying  north  and  south;  and  upon 
the  latter  extremity,  which  commands  the  view  down  the 
bottom,  is  spread  out  a  broad  terrace,  or  rather  a  steppe  to 
the  main  body,  about  twenty  feet  lower  than  the  summit,  ex 
tending  the  whole  length  of  the  side  and  is  said  to  be  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  breadth.  At  the  left  extremity  of 
this  terrace  winds  up  the  sloping  pathway  from  the  prairie 
to  the  summit  of  the  mound.  A  well,  it  is  also  stated,  has 
been  sunk  on  the  western  side  of  the  mound  (Mound  Monk) 
to  the  depth  of  ninety  feet  which  penetrates  the  heart  of  the 


566  ^HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

-mound,  but  cannot  reach,  from  its  depth,  lower  than  the 
level  of  the  surrounding-  plain.  And  it  is  stated,  when  it  was 
excavated,  fragments  of  pottery,  decayed  ears  of  corn  and 
various  other  articles  were  broug-ht  up  from  a  depth. of  sixty 
five  feet;  surely  a  conclusive  proof,  if  true,  that  it  is  of  ar 
tificial  structure.  The  mound  is  supposed  to  have  taken  its 
name  from  a  society  of  ecclesiastics  of  the  La  Trappe  order 
who  dwelt  there  for  many  years  in  the  early  part  of  the  pre 
sent  century. 

Garcellasso  de  la  Vega,  says,  in  laying  off  the  ground  for 
a  town,  the  first  thing  that  the  Indians  did,  was  the  erection 
of  a  mound,  upon  the  top  of  which  the  houses  of  the  chief 
and  his  family  and  attendants  were  built;  and  at  the  base  a 
large  square  was  laid  off,  around  which  the  principal  war 
riors  built  their  houses,  while  the  common  people  placed 
theirs  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  mound  from  the  square. 

All  the  early  explorers  repeatedly  state  that  they  saw 
the  mounds  in  all  parts  of  the  country  through  which  they 
passed.  Here  then  we  learn  of -Mound  Builders  (Indians) 
nearly  three  and  a  half  centuries  ago.  They  were  also 
thrown  up  as  a  means  of  defense.  When  the  French  under 
Bienville  defeated  the  Natchez  Indians  in  1730,  and  drove 
them  from  theii;  country,  where  the  city  of  Natchez,  Mis 
sissippi,  now  stands,  and  for  whom  the  city  was  named, 
they  established  themselves  upon  the  Lower  Washita, 
Louisiana.  Two  years  after  they  were  again  attacked  and 
defeated  by  the  French,  yet  they  had  in  those  two  years- 
constructed  mounds  and  embankments  covering  an  area  of 
400  acres,  which  they  used  as  means  of  defense  against  the 
French  in  their  second  attack  upon  them.  This  is  attested 
by  several  authors,  some  of  whom  were  eye  witnesses. 
This  was  done  nearly  200  years  after  De  Sato's  invasion. 
Some  of  these  mounds  were  very  large,  and  were  still  to  be 
seen  40  years  ago;  and  no  doubt  still  stand  as  monuments 
of  the  thrilling  scenes  wrhich  once  were  enacted  there,  dur 
ing  which  a  once  proud,  prosperous,  and  happy  people  were 
blotted  out  as  a  nation.  Truly  what  sad  emotions  must 
awaken  in  the  heart  of  the  Christian  when  he  contemplates 
and  ponders  upon  such  dramas  acted  in/nature's  vast  theatre! 
Who  can  mistake  them?  Verily,,  life  is  a  storm,  and  war 
and  bloodshed  are  its  gloomy  clouds. 

McCulloh,  in  his.  "Researches,"  p.  516,  says,  when 
speaking  of  the  larger  mounds:  "They  were  sites  for  the 
dwellings  of  the  chiefs,  for  council  houses,  temples  and  cem 
eteries,  which-  fancy  and  conceit  have  constructed  into  va 
rious  shapes  and  variously  situated,  one  to  the  other."  All 
know,  who  have  any  knowledge  of  the  early  history  of  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  567 

) 

western  continent,  that  these  mounds  and  fortifications  have 
been  found  scattered  all  over  the  continent,  and  whenever 
or  wherever  a  mound  has  been  excavated,  human  bones, 
together  with  various  ornaments,  wampum,  pottery,  arrow 
heads,  all  of  rude  manufacture,  have  been  found,  clearly 
indicating"  their  Indian  origin.  On  the  land  of  Judge  Mes 
sier,  21  miles  from  Fort  Gaines,  Ala.^  were,  years  ago,  a 
very  remarkable  group  of  mounds.  The  largest  was  70  feet 
in  height  and  600  in  circumference,  and  was  covered  with 
large  forest  trees,  estimated  to  be,  from  appearance,  from 
400  to  500  years  old.  A  shaft  has  been  sunk  in  the  centre 
to  the  depth  of  "60  feet,  and  at  its  lower  portion  a  bed  of  hu 
man  bones,  five  feet  in  thickness,  and  in  a  perfectly  decom 
posed  state,  was  discovered.  Two  in  this  group  of  mounds 
are  thirty  feet  in  height,  having  hearth-stones  on  the  top 
similar  to  the  largest,  with  charred  wood  around  them,  evi 
dently  showing  that  they  were  used  for  sacrificial  purposes. 
A  wall  of  earth  encloses  the  three  largest,  outside  of  which 
are  four,  twenty  feet  high  (Picket!,.  Vol.  1,  p.  168;. 

The  Choctaws,  who  lived  in  large  villages  before  their 
exodus  from  Mississippi  to  the  west,  first  placed  their  dead 
upon  scaffolds,  near  the  villages;  and  those  living  in  the 
country  near  their  homes,  where  they  were  carefully 
guarded  from  the  beasts  and  birds  of  prey,  until  decomposi 
tion  had  thoroughly  accomplished  its  work.  Afterwards  on 
a  previously  appointed  day,  the  remaining  flesh  was  picked 
from  the  bones  by  officials  called  Bone-Pickers  many  of 
whom  I  have  seen  in  the  days  of  my  boyhood.  When  their 
duty  had  been  performed,  the  bones  were  depositedlna  box 
and  carried  away  and  placed  in  the  common  bone-house,  an~d 
there  sacredly  kept  until  the  appointed  day  rolled  around 
for  a  general  bone-burying;  which  was  once  a  year.  Then 
all  from  neighboring  villages  and  country  brought,  in 
solemn  and  imposing  ceremony,  the  boxes  containing  the 
bones  of  their  dead  to  the  place  of  interment  where  they 
were  laid  away  in  one  common  grave,  into  which  were  cast 
as  memorial  tokens  various  articles,  such  as  earthen  pots, 
bows  and  arrows,  tomahawks,  ornaments,  etc.;  all  of  which 
were  first  covered  with  ashes  and  charred  coals,  then  filled 
up  with  earth;  then  over  all  was  erected  a  mound.  The 
same  cemetery  or  mound  was  used  as  a  place  of  deposit  foj* 
the  bones  of  their  dead  for  a  long  series  of  years,  until  it  be 
came  in  size  and  height  inconvenient,  and  then  another  spot 
was  chosen,  upon  which,  in  like  manner,  another  mound 
gradually  arose.  That  the  custom  of  the  ancient  Choctaws 
in  disposing  of  their  dead  was  also  practiced  by  many  of  the 
North  American  Indian^,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that,  in 


568  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

digging  into  these  mounds,  wherever  found,  after  passing 
through  a  stratum  of  earth  about  two  feet  in  thickness  a  bed 
of  ashes  and  charcoal  is  first  met,  then  a  bed  of  human 
bones  together  with  fragments  of  pottery,  arrow  heads,  and 
Indian  ornaments;  then  follows  another  stratum  of  earth, 
which  is  succeeded  by  a  stratum  of  ashes  and  charcoal,  then 
of  human  bones,  pottery,  ornaments  and  arrow  points,  thus 
on  to  the  bottom.  It  is  a  conceded  fact  that,  in  nearly  every 
mound  that  has  been  excavated,  there  have  been  found 
human  bones,  with  more  or  less  of  various  articles  such  as 
broken  pottery  vessels,  implements  of  stone  and  copper; 
flint  heads  of  spears  and  arrows;  figures  of  various  birds 
and  reptiles,  shells  and  teeth  of /carnivorous  animals;  orna 
ments  of  silver,  tin,  copper  and  beads. 

I  read  the  following  in  the  American  Antiquarian  over 
the  signature  of  H.  F.  Buck-ner: 

"Mr.  Maxwell,  in  a  historical  address,  says:  'My^Vcon- 
viction  is  that  the  high  grade  of  military  skill  displayed  by 
the  Mound  Builders  at  Carthage,  Alabama,  attests  a  know 
ledge  of  the  necessities  of  attack  and  defense  unknown  to 
the  mode  of  warfare  practised  by  the  tribes  found  here  by 
De  Soto." 

Mr.  Maxwell  does  not  state  in  what  respect  the  high 
grade  of  military  engineering  skill  displayed  by  the  Mound 
Builders  at  Carthage,  Alabama,  attests  a  knowledge  of  the 
necessities  of  attack  and  defense  unknown  to  the  mode  of 
warfare  practiced  by  the  tribes  found  here  by  De  Soto. 
However,  I  will  here  state  that  the  old  Shakchih  Humma 
fort,  within  the  enclosure  of  which  was  established  the  mis 
sionary  station  among  the  Choctaws,  called  Hebron,  of  which 
I  have  already  spoken,  and  where  I  spent  many  years  of  my 
life,  displayed  as  "high  grade  of  military  engineering  skill" 
and  attested  a  "knowledge  of  the  necessities  of  attack  and 
defense"  equal  to  our  high  grade  of  military  engineering 
skill  displayed  in  the  military  forts  erected  throughout  the 
present  Indian  Territory,  of  which  I  have  had  an  occular 
demonstration. 

"Who  the  Mound  Builders  were  it  is  impossible  to  de 
termine,"  continues  Mr.  Maxwell.  "They  were  not  built  by 
the  ancestors  of  the  tribes  found  here  by  De  Soto,  as  they 
pretended  no  knowledge  of  their  construction,  traditional  or 
otherwise." 

Truly,  a  poor  basis  upon  which  to  predicate  the  above 
broad  assertion;  since  De  Soto's  expedition  was  made  alone 
for  the  purpose  of  finding  gold,  while  to  learn  the  history  of 
the  Indians,  whom  he  regarded  as  a  species  of  the, human 
race  scarcely  above  the  brute  creation,  was  not  in  all  his 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  569 

thoughts;  nor  did  the  Indians,  unasked,  ever  mention  the 
subject  of  their  history  to  the  white  man — never. 

"The  only  tradition  they  had  or  have  is,  that  their  fore 
fathers  found  the  mounds  when  they  emigrated  from  the 
Mexican  Empire  to  the  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  exter 
minated  the  ancient  inhabitants  and  appropriated  the  coun 
try,  so  that  we  are  compelled  to  go' back  to  remote  ages  for 
the  only  reasonable  solution." 

The  above  is  an  egregious  error,  as  far  as  the  Choctaws 
and  Chickasaws  are  concerned,  for  their  traditions  were 
utterly  silent  in  regard  to  the  mounds,  except  that  of  Nunih 
Waiyah  (of  which  I  have  already  spoken),  which  is  one  among 
the  largest,  if  not  the  largest,  ever  found  in  the  now  state  of 
Mississippi. 

Is  it  not  greatly  inconsistent  and  unreasonable  for  Mr. 
Maxwell  to  boldly  assert,  "My  conviction  is  that  the  high 
grade  of  military  engineering  skill  displayed  by  the  Mound 
Builders  at  Carthage,  Alabama,  attests  a  knowledge  of  the 
necessities  of  attack  and  defense  unknown  to  the  mode  of 
warfare  practiced  by  the  tribes  found  here  by  De  Soto,"  and 
then  at  once  assert  that  the  Indians,  ignorant  of  all  know 
ledge  "of  the  necessities  of  attack  and  defense,"  could  ex 
terminate  the  ancient  inhabitants  (Mound  Builders)  and  ap 
propriate  the  country  to  their  own  use? 

Buckner,  quoting  from  Maxwell's  address,  continues: 

"Prescott  says  (vol.  2,  pp  368  and  391)  that  the  ancient 
Aztecs*  long  before  the  days  of  Montezuma,  had  a  tradition 
that  when  they  entered  the  Mexican  valley  they  found  simi 
lar  mounds  containing  just  the  same  kind  of  materials  as  I 
found  in  those  at  Carthage,  Alabama,  and  that  two  of  the 
largest  had  been  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  the  sun  and 
moon  (another  proof  that  they  were  built  by  the  ancestors 
of  our  Indians,  among  whom  the  Natchez  Indians  were  wor 
shippers  of  the  sun  even  after  they  had  settled  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  river),  and  that  two  of  the  largest 
were  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  the  stars,  and  served  as 
sepulchers  for  the  great  men  of  the  Nation  besides." 

Exactly.  They  served  as  sepulchers  for  the  great  men 
of  the  Nation,  for  which  the  ancient  Natchez  of  Mississippi 
erected  the  mounds,  as  well  as  other  North  American  tribes. 
"That  the  plane  on  which  they  stood  was  called  Micoati,  or 
The  Path  of  the  Dead."  Another  proof  that  they  were  the 
ancestors  of  the  North  American  Indians,  for  the  word  Mi 
coati  is  a  corruption  of  the  Choctaw  words.  Miko,  king  or 
chief,  and  aiantah,  to  occupy;  i.  e.,  occupied  by  the  king  or 
chief;  and  "Now,  when  the  laborer  turns  up  the  ground,  he 
still  finds  numerous  arrow-heads  and  blades  of  obsidian." 


570  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

The  same  things  that  are  found  in  all  the  mounds  scattered 
over  the  North  American  continent,  with  the  exception  of 
obsidian,  as  there  were  no  volcanoes  east  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  "which  attest  the  war-like  character  of  its  primitive 
population."  Still  additional  proof  that  they  were  the  ances 
tors  of  the  North  American  Indians. 

Continuing'.  Mr.  Buckner  says:  "I  prefer  to  leave  it  still 
open  for  investigation  until  greater  pains  shall  have  been 
taken  to  explore  the  archaeological  wonders  of  this  country." 
And  which  no  discovery  will  ever  prove  the  mound  builders 
to-be  others  than  the  ancestors  of  the  North  American  In 
dians. 

"Of  one  tiling  we  are  sure,  the  Choctaws  loved  the  bones 
of  their  ancestors  and  of  their  people.  This  unlocks  the 
mystery  of  their  funeral  rites.  They  believed  in  immortal 
ity  and  eternal  life;  and  such  was  their  veneration  for  their 
dead  that  they. picked  the  flesh  from  their  bones.  Knowing 
that  they  could  not  carry  all  their  remains,  and  when  forced 
to  remove  from  one  place  to  another,  it  was  the  business  of 
certain  appointed  persons  to  carry  these  bones  with  them 
until  they  could  be  again  deposited  in  a  place  of  rest  and 
safety."  ... 

The  last  clause  above  is  but  one  of  the  thousand  errors 
published  about  the  Indians.  The  ancient  Choctaws,  it  is 
true,  did  pick  the  bones  of  their  dead,  after  having  been 
placed  upon  a  high  scaffold  and  decomposition  had  com 
pleted  its  work,  but  never  for  the  purpose  Mr.  Buckner  has 
above  stated.  After  the  bone-pickers  (appointed  for  that 
business)  had  picked  all  the  flesh  from  the  bones  which  de 
composition  had  not  wholly  destroyed,  the  bones  were  taken 
down  and  placed  in  a  box,  then  the  box' was  carried  to  the 
bone-house,  and  therein  placed;  and  when  the  bone-house  be 
came  full  of  boxes  all  were  taken  to  the  cemetery-mound 
and  placed  thereon  and  covered  with  earth  to  the  depth  of 
about  three  feet.  When  this  custom  was  abolished,  the 
Choctaws  adopted  the  mode  of  burial  in  a  sitting  posture; 
then  this  mode  was  abolished  and  that  of  the  whites  adopted 
which  is  continued  to  this  day.  The  Choctaws,  as  all  North 
American  Indians  of  whom  I  ever  read,  or  with  whom  I 
was  personally  acquainted,  never  carried  the  bones  of  their 
dead  from  one  place  to  another,  but  buried  them,  and  woe 
to  him  who  desecrated  the  mound  cemetery  by  digging  into 
it,  or  in  any  way  disturbed  its  sacred  contents.  But  to  re 
turn  from  my  digression. 

Bartram,  in  his  "Travels,"  page  516,  positively  asserts 
that  the  Choctaws,  when  the  bone-houses  were  full,  took  the 
bones  and  buried  them  in  a  common  grave  and  erected  a 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  571 

mound  over  them.  And  it  is  evident  that  the  bone-houses  of 
the  ancient  Choctaws,  when  first  known  to  the  Europeans, 
were  but  miniature  temples  of  their  ancestors  who  preceded 
them  centuries  before.  Bartram  also  discovered  many  pecu 
liar  mounds  in  East  Florida,  during  his  early  explorations 
through  the  now  southern  states.  Some  were  square,  sur 
rounded  by  walls  of  earth,  and  others  were  pyramidal  of 
great  height.  "From  the  river  St.  John,  southwardly  to  the 
point  of  the  peninsula  of  Florida,"  he  states,  "are  to  be 
seen  high  pyramidal  mounds,  with  spacious  and  extended 
avenues  leading  from  them  out  of  the  town  to  an  artificial 
lake  or  pond  of  water."  In  another  place  he  says:  "At 
about  50  yards  distance  from  the  landing  place  stands  a  mag 
nificent  Indian  mound.  But  what  greatly  contributed  to  the 
beauty  of  the  scene  was  a  noble  Indian  highway,  which  led 
from  the  great  mound  in  a  straight  line  three-fourths  of  a 
mile  through  a  forest  of  live  oaks  to  the  verge  of  an  oblong 
artificial  lake,  which  was  on  the  edge  of  an  extensive  level 
savannah.  This  grand  highway  was  about  fifty  yards  wide, 
sunk  a  little  below  the  common  level,  and  the  earth  thrown 
on  each  side,  making  a  bank  about  two  feet  high." 

Charlevoix  and  Tantiboth  speak  of  Indians  who  inhabi 
ted  the  region  of  country  around  Lake  Michigan,  who  were 
well  skilled  in  the  art-of  erecting  mounds  and  fortifications, 
Charlevoix  also  states  that  the  Wyandots  and  the  Six  Nations 
disinterred  their  dead  and  took  the  bones  from  their  graves 
where  they  had  lain  for  several  years  and  carried  them  to  a 
large  pit  previously  prepared,  in  which  they  deposited  them, 
with  the  property  of  the  deceased,  filling  up  the  pit  with 
earth  and  erected  a  mound  over  it. 

A  string  of  sleigh-bells  much  corroded,  but  still  capable 
of  tinkling,  is  said  to  have  been  found  among  the  flint  and 
bone  implements  in  excavating  a  mound  in  Tennessee;  while 
in  Mississippi,  at  a  point  where  De  Soto  is  supposed  to  have 
camped,  a  Spanish  coat-of-arms  in  silver,  one  blade  of  a  pair 
of  scissors,  and  other  articles-  of  European  manufacture 
were  found  in  a  mound — evidently  which  had  been  picked  up- 
by  some  Indian  after  the  Spaniards  had  gone,  and  buried 
with  him  at  his  death  as  being  among  his  treasured  posses 
sions  while  living. 

Two  copper  plates  were  found  in  a  Georgia  mound, 
upon  which  were  stamped  figures  resembling  the  sculptures- 
upon  the  Central  American  ruins,  the  workmanship  of  which 
is  said  to  be  far  superior  to  that  displayed  in  the  articles  of 
pottery,  stone  and  bone  found  in  the  mound;  though,  aside 
from  these  plates  nothing  was  found  to  indicate  a  connec 
tion  between  the  mound  builders  and  the  Aztecs  or  the  Pue- 


572  HISTORY    OF    THE  INDIANS. 

bios.  Still  their  origin  is  not  inexplicable;  since  it  is  reason 
able  to  conclude  that  communications  between  the  inhabi 
tants  of  Central  America,  Mexico  and  the  North  American 
Indians,  were  possible  and  even  actually  existed.  But  ad 
mitting-  this  impossible,  yet,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  sup- 
.pose  that  the  two  copper  plates  may  have  found  their  way 
from  Central  America  to  Mexico;  thence  to  Spain  through 
some  one  of  Cortez's  army;  thence  to  Georgia  by  some  one 
in  the  army  of  De  Soto  only  twenty  years  after.  And,  as 
the  string-  of  sleig-h-bells,  Spanish  coat-of-arms  and  scissors 
were  obtained  by  the  Indians  from  De  Soto's  army  so  too  did 
the  Spaniards  obtain  the  copper  plates  from  the  Aztecs;  and 
North  American  Indians,  in  turn,  from  the  Spaniards,  more 
.reasonable  and  easier  to  reconcile  with  truth,  than  to  be 
lieve  that  the  two  copper  plates,  found  in  the  Georg-ia  mound, 
were  the  workmanship  of  a  race  of  people  ages  prior  to 
the  ancestry  of  the  North  American  Indians.  And  though 
several  human  skulls  have  been  found  in  North  America, 
which  upon  examination,  have  led  to  the,  belief  that  they  be 
longed  to  the  human  race  living  before v  the  glacial  period, 
yet  that  is  not  sufficient  to  overturn  the  reasonable  belief 
that  the  races  of  that  ancient  epoch  are  those  of  to-day,  the 
same  cranial  and  facial  forms  being  found,  in  spite  of  the 
lapse  of  years  and  change  of  environment.  Besides  in  re 
gard  to  the  copper  plates  found  in  a  mound  in  Georgia,  it  is 
an  established  fact  that  the  Indians  were  acquainted  with 
copper  three  centuries  ago.  Hudson  in  exploring  the 
north  in  1609,  found  the  Indians  using  copper  pipes  and 
wearing  ornaments  of  the  same  metal.  He  states:  "They 
had  red  copper  tobacco  pipes,  and  other  things  of  copper 
they  did  wear  about  their  necks."  DeSoto<<ilso  found  that 
the  Southern  Indians  used  copper  as  well  as  stone  axes,  of 
which  I  have  seen  many  in  Mississippi. 

It  is  an  admitted  fact  that  the  ancient  fortifications  of  the 
Southern  Indians  corresponded  exactly  with  those  of  the 
Northern;  and  it  has  also  been  conclusively  shown,  by  care 
ful  examination  and  comparison,  that  the  skulls  of  the  so- 
called  "Mound  Builders"  and  the  ancient  people  of  Mexico, 
also  the  Incas  of  Peru,  together  with  the  Southern 
Indians  of  this  continent,  are  so  similar  that  the  conclusion 
is  irresistible  that  they  are  of  the  same  race  of  people. 
Thomas,  in  his  writings  upon  this  subject,  affirms:  "This 
proof  is  conclusive  that  the  Southern  Indians,  when  first 
visited  by  the  Europeans,  were  the  builders  of  the  mounds 
of  that  region,  which  brings  those  works  down  to  a  date  sub 
sequent  to  the  entry  of  the  civilized  tribes  of  MeAico." 
Now,  it  is  certain,  according  to  the  statement  of  the  early 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  573 

missionaries  sent  among-  them,  that  all  the  tribes  of  the  Gulf 
States,  as  well  as  many  others  of  different  localities  upon 
the  continent,  if  not  all,  had  traditions  of  western,  north 
western  and  southwestern  origin.  Many  of  which  I  have 
learned  from  the  lips  of  the  Indians  themselves. 

I  will  here  insert  the  names  of  a  few  of  the  mounds 
found  in  various  localities  upon  the  North  American  conti 
nent: 

Eagle  Effigy,  mound  discovered  in  Georgia  and  measuring 
from  tip  to  tip'of  the  wings,  132  feet;  is  made  of  stones  and 
surrounded  by  a  circle  composed  also  of  stone. 

The  Great  Serpent  mound,  discovered  in  Adams  county, 
Ohio.  Another  effigy  mound,  and  erected  on  a  hill  formed 
by  the  junction  of  a  ravine,  with  the  main  branch  of  a  creek 
known  as  Brush  creek,  which  rises  150  feet  above  the  creek. 
The  hill  is  said  to  be  in  a  wild  region  of  country,  and  affords 
an  extensive  view.  The  form  of  this  mound  is  said  to  be 
irregular,  crescent  shaped,  and  points  to  the  northwest;  thus 
pointing,  seemingly,  to  the  direction  whence  its  builders 
came  to  the  continent,  while  being  erected  as  a  memorial  of 
that  event.  The  traditions  of  all  the  tribes  with  whom  I 
am  personally  acquainted,  and  of  all  of  whom  I  have 
read,  point  to  the  northwest  as  the  direction  of  the 
country  whence  they  came  to  this.  The  entire  length,  ac 
cording  to  MacLion's  measurement  of  the  serpent  part,  is 
116  feet,  and  the  space  of  the  extended  jaws,  100  feet;  the 
oval  figure,  113  feet  long  and  50  feet  wide;  the  head  portion 
is  55  feet.  Mr.  Squier  affirms  that  the  length,  if  extended, 
\vould  reach  1000  feet,  while  Prof.  Putnam,  of  Harvard,  says 
it  would  reach  to  the  distance  of  1415  feet. 

The  Cahokia  Mound,  standing  hear  St.  Louis,  is  said  to 
be  the  largest  artificial  mound  upon  the  continent.  It  is  700 
feet  long  by  500  feet  wide  at-the  base,  and  90  feet  high,  cov 
ering  8  acres  of  land,  with  about  20,000,000  cubic  feet  of  con 
tents — so  it  has  been  declared. 

Many  effigv  mounds  have  been  found  in  Wisconsin. 
Some  are  over  150  feet  long  and  about  15  feet  in  width,  and 
varying  from  1  to  4  feet  high. 

Besides  the  effigy  mounds  there  are  Memorial  Mounds, 
Cemetery  Mounds,  Signal  Mounds,  Mounds  erected  for  the 
houses  of  chiefs,  etc.,  scattered  over  the  various  Southern 
States. 

But  who  has  ever  found  the  line  between  the  so-called 
Mound  Builders  and  the  North  American  Indians?  No  one. 
Nor  will 'it.  ever  be  found.  The  Indians  not  only  erected 
mounds  for  various  specific  purposes,  but  fortified  their  vil- 


574  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

lages  with  walls,  and  ditches  filled  with  water;  also  with  rows 
of  palisades  interwoven  with  branches  of  trees. 

At  Tampa  Bay,  where  De  Soto  is  said  to  have  landed  in 
his  wild  search  for  gold,  his  chroniclers  state  "That  the 
house  of  the  chief  was  erected  near  the  shore  on  a  very  high 
mound  made  by  hand." 

'  And  Garcillasso  says:  "The  town  and  the  house  of  the 
Cazique  (chief)  Ossachile"  (Choctaw  words  corrupted  from 
Ossi,  eagle,  chahlih,  swift)  are  like  those  of  the  other 
caziques." 

Biedman  says:  "The  caziques  of  this  country,  (sup 
posed  to  be  now  Arkansas)  make  a  custom  of  raising,  near 
their  dwellings,  very  high  hills,  on  which  they  sometimes 
build  their  huts. 

La  Harpe,1n  visiting  the  Indians  on  the  lower  Missis 
sippi  in  1820,  says:  "They  are  dispersed  over  the  country 
upon  mounds  of  earth  made  with  their  own  hands." 

The  Natchez,  who  were  exterminated  by  the  French  in 
1739,  were  also  Mound  Builders.  DuPratz,  who  had  lived 
among  them  in  1718,  says  "of  their  customs,  "Their  tem 
ple  was  about  30  feet  square,  and  erected  on  a  mound  8 
feet  high;  that  the  house  of  the  chief  was  built  on  a  mound 
of  the  same  height  and  sixty  feet  over  the  surface.  (Father 
Le  Petit,  Note,  page  142,) 

Charlevoix,    a    Jesuit    priest,     describes    the     mounds 

erected   to   a  considerable  extent   in   his   writings,  he  says: 

"When  a  chief  died,  the  mound  upon  which  his  house  was 

erected,  was  abandoned,  and   a   new  one  thrown  up  for  his 

successor." 

Golden  says  of  the  Iroquois,  "They  make  a  round  hole 
in  which  the  body  is  placed,  then  they  raise  the  earth  in  a 
round  hill  over  it." 

It  was  the  custom  of  the  ancient  Choctaws  to  gather  the 
bones  of  all  who  had  died  during  several  years,  which  had 
been  safely  kept  in  their  bone-houses  in  boxes,  bury  them  all 
together  in  a  common  grave  and  then  erect  a  mound  over 
them.  It  is  also  stated  that  the  ancient  Iroquois,  at  the  ex 
piration  of  every  eight  or  ten  years,  gathered  together  the 
bones  of  their  dead  and  erected  a  mound  over  them. 

Catlin,  in  his  North  American  Indians  (p.  95),  states  that 
when  he  visited  the  pipe-stone  quarry  in  Dakota,  in  1832,  he 
saw  a  conical  mound  10  feet  high  which  had  been  erected 
over  the  buried  body  of  a  young  man  who  was  accidentally 
killed  two  years  before. 

Jefferson,  in  his  "Notes  on  Virginia"  (p.  191),  in  refer 
ence  to  the  mounds,  says  :  "A  party  of  Indians  passing 
about  30  years  ago  through  the  part  of  the  country  where 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  575 

this  mound  is,  went  through  the  woods  directly  to  it  without 
any  instruction  or  inquiry;  and  having-  staid  about  it  some 
time,  with  expressions  of  grief,  they  returned  to  the  high 
road,  which  they  had  left  about  a  half  dozen  miles  to  pay  the 
visit,  and  pursued  their  journey."  They  had  but  visited 
the  grave  of  their  loved  ones  for  the  last  time. 

"The  types  of  the  human  skulls  taken  from  those  ancient 
mounds  said  to  have  been  erected  by  a  pre-historic  race,  and 
now  called  "Mound  Builders" — a  race  claimed  to  be  far  su 
perior  to  our  Indians — are  characteristic,  not  only  of  the 
ancient  Mexicans,  Peruvians  and  other  ancient  tribes  of 
South' America,  but  also  of  the  ancient  Natchez,  Muscog-ees, 
Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  Cherokees,  Seminoles,  Yamases  and 
others  of  the  North  American  continent.  And  it  is  a  con 
ceded  fact  that  all  Indians  ever  found  in  North  and  South 
America  possess  many  common  features.  I  have  seen  the 
native  Indians  of  Mexico,  Arizona  and  California,  and  recog 
nized  them  at  once  to  be  of  the  North  American  Indian  race. 
I  have  seen  them  singly  and  in  groups;  given  special  atten 
tion  to  their  features,  the  expression  of  their  eyes,  their 
walk  and  manner  of  sitting-,  their  manner  of  carrying-  their 
babes  and  heavy  burdens,  and  found  them  all  to  be  exactly 
the  same  as  the  southern  Indians  over  seventy  years  ago. 

The  Indians  of  North  America,  as  well  as  those  of  South 
America,  when  first  known  to  the  whites  down  to  the  years 
they  were  banished  to  the  then  wilderness  west  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  river,  lived  everywhere  in  villages  and  towns  upon 
the  sites  of  which  stand  today  many  of  our  towns  and  cities: 
Natchez,  Mobile,  New  York  and  others.  Carter,  in  1535, 
visited  an  Indian  village  named  Ho-che-la-ga;  De  Soto,  1540, 
and  all  the  early  explorers,  La  Salle  and  others  down  to 
Lewis  and  Clark,  in  1804;  thence  to  the  missionaries,  in 
1815;  and  thence  to  their  banishment  wrest  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  found  the  Indians  everywhere  living  in  towns  and  vil 
lages,  proving-  the  long  reiterated  assertion  that  they  were 
nomadic,  to  be  without  even  the  shadow  of  truth  upon  which 
to  lay  a  foundation.  They  had  fixed  habitations  even  as  the 
whites,  who  move  from  place  to  place  ten  times  as  often  as 
the  Indian. 

All  their  ancient  villages  and  towns  were  fortified. 
Charlevoix,  in  his  "Travels  in  North  America,  says:  "The 
Indian  villages  in  Canada  were  surrounded  with  double, 
and  sometimes  triple,  rows  of  palisades,  interwoven  with 
branches  of  trees.  The  Pequod  villages,  destroyed 'by 
the  English,  in  1631,  were  surrounded  by  palisades. 

Champlain,  who,  in  1615,  invaded,  with  the  Hurons  as 
allies,  the  territory  of  the  Iroquois,  found  their  villages 


576  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

strongly  fortified.  Biedman  says:  "We  journeyed  two 
days,  and  reached  an  Indian  village  in  a  plain,  surrounded 
by"  walls  and  a  ditch  filled  by  water,  which  had  been  made 
by  the  Indians."  Brackenridge,  in  his  "Views  of  Louisi 
ana,"  says:  "The  custom  of  palisading  appears  to  have 
been  general  among  the  Northern  Tribes." 

"Mavilla"  (now  Mobile,  Alabama,)  says  Biedman,  "stood 
on  a  plane  surrounded  by  strong  walls."  The  early  explor 
ers  found  it  the  same  in  Mexico,  Central  and  South  America. 
Yet,  regardless  of  all  the  indisputable  proofs  to  the  contrary, 
the  works  of  the  Indians  have  been  ascribed  to  another,  and 
entirely  different  race  of  people  called  "Mound  Builders," 
.though  their  imagined  works  are  exactly  similar  to  those 
known  to  be  the  work  of  the  Indians,  a  common  design  per 
vading  the  whole  everywhere  with  the  same  stone  implements, 
axes,  flint  pointed  arrowheads  etc.,  also  the  same  kind  of  per 
sonal  ornaments,  silver,  tin,  copper,  etc.,  all  proving  that 
they  are,  and  can  be  no  other,  than  the  works  of  our  Indians' 
ancestors,  if  testimony  is  .any  longer  valid.  Well  and  truth 
fully  has  Brackenridge  said  in  his  "Views  of  Louisiana" 
(p.  182),  "We  are  often  tempted  by  a  fondness  for  the  mar 
velous  to  seek  out  remote  and  impossible  causes  for  that 
which  may  be  explained  by  the  most  obvious."  Not  only 
tempted,  but  yield  to  the  temptation  with  wonderful  alacrity. 
The  mounds  are  evidently  the  work  of  the  Iridians  and  their 
ancestors  back  through  ages  past;  and,  with  equal  truth 
it  may  be  said,  they  also  lived  in  permanent  stockaded  towns 
and  villages,  many  of  which  much  larger  than  many  of  our 
towns  and  villages  that  imagine  themselves  to  be  what  they 
are  not  and  never  will  be,  by  assuming  the  cognomen  of  city; 
equally  as  absurd  and  ridiculous  as  the  Don  Quixote  idea  of 
creating  an  imaginative,  prehistoric  race  of  people,  and  call 
them  "The  Mound  Builders";  since  the  fact  is,  the  more  the 
subject  is  studied  the  more  does  truth  point  to  the  Indians 
and  their  ancestors  as  the  true  Mound  Builders,  whose 
mounds  once  so  beautifully  dotted  various  portions  of  this 
continent;  though  now  defaced  and  destroyed  by  the  level- 
ing  influence  of  ages,  together  with  the  destructive  charac 
teristics  of  the  White  Race;  yet  leaving  the  imagination  of 
these  modern  knights  of  Lamanca  a  wide  field  in  which  to 
indulge  their  sentimental  propensities. 

In  Morgan's  "Ancient  Society,"  page  12,  he  says:  "The 
Ojibway  Indians  were  peculiarly  skilled  in  making  stone 
pipes,  of  which  many  showed  elaborate  skill  in  the  carv 
ing." 

The  Indians  were  also  skilled  in  the  art  of  pottery,  as 
is  fully  proven  by  the  numerous  examples  of  their  work 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  577 

seen  by  the  early  explorers.  DuPratz  spoke  particularly 
of  the  skill  of  the  Natchez  Indians  in  the  art  of  pottery,, 
Catlin  also  of  the  same  thing-  among-  the  Mandan  Indians,, 
He  says:  "I  have  seen  specimens  of  pottery,  which  have 
been  dug-  up  in  Indian  mounds  and  tombs  in  the  Southern 
and  Middle  States,  placed  in  our  Eastern  museums,  and 
looked  upon  as  a  great  wonder,  when  here  this  novelty  is  at 
once  done  away  with,  and  the  whole  mystery,  where  wo 
men  can  be  seen  handling-  and  using-  them  by  hundreds,  and 
they  can  be  seen  every  day  in  the  summer,  also,  molding 
into  many  fanciful  forms  and  passing-  them  through  the 
kilns,  where  they  are  hardened.  Others,  after  careful  ex 
amination  of  the  contents  and  remains  of  the  mounds  exca 
vated  in  different  and  various  states,  claimed  to  be  the  work 
of  a  pre-historic  race  wholly  different  from  our  Indian  Race, 
whom  they  named  "The  Mound  Builders,"  have  found  them 
to  be,  in  all  respects,  exactly  like  those  found  in  the  mounds, 
known  to  have  been  built  by  the  Indians,  and  also  in  and 
around  old  Indian  villages.  The  Southern  Indians  had 
spades  and  shovels  made  of  cedar,  picks,  axes  and  hoes  of 
stone,  and  spoons  of  horn;  tog-ether  with  the  mortar  and 
pestle,  with  which  they  prepared  their  corn  for  bread,  and 
the  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  use  them  to  this  day. 

It  has  been  reiterated  time  and  again  that  the  Indians 
had  no  traditions  concerning  the  origin  and  design  of  the 
mounds,  and  for  this  reason  it  had  been  asserted  that  the 
mounds  are  the  work  of  an  extinct  race  of  such  antiquity  as 
to  precede  the  ancient  traditions  of  the  Indians.  But  in  this, 
as  in  the  majority  that  has  been  written  about  that  people, 
uzeal  without  knowledge"  is  more  manifest  than  truth.  The 
traditions  of  the  Indians,  until  within  the  past  ten  years, 
have  always  and  everywhere,  been  pronounced  as  myths, 
absurdities  unworthy  of  credence,  though  in  every  instance 
where  they  have  been  put  to  the  test  by  discovery,  they  have 
invariably  been  confirmed  by  truth.  Besides  the  Indians 
everywhere  were  utterly  silent  before  the  whites  in  regard 
to  the  manners,  customs  and  traditions  of  their  tribes,  and 
would  only  converse  upon  these  subjects  with  those  whites 
in  whom  they  had  the  most  implicit  confidence,  such  as  the 
missionaries  and  other  intimate  white  friends  who  had  won 
their  love  and  confidence  ;  and  the  great  wonder  is  that  so 
much  of  their  traditional  history  has  been  handed  down  to 
us.  And  it  may  be  truthfully  asserted  that,  through  Ithe 
old  missionaries  of  seventy-five  and  a  hundred  years  ago, 
the  only  true  history,  national  and  traditional,  of  the  North 
American  Indians,  has  been  preserved  and  handed  down  to 
the  present  day;  for  they  alone,  of  the  white  race,  from  first 


4 

578  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

tO'last,  seemed  to  be  the  Indians'  true  friend,  and  proved  it 
to  the  Indians'  entire  satisfaction  by  their  deeds  and  daily 
walk  among-  them,  many  of  them  for  over  a  half  century, 
while  all  others  seemed  to  delight  only  in  killing-,  plundering 
and  defaming  them;  therefore,  though  they  possessed  many 
traditions  in  regard  to  the  memorial  mounds,  effigy ''mounds 
and  others,  they  have  been  silent,  ever  silent,  upon  the  sub 
ject;  and  thus  have  we  forever  closed  the  doors  of  knowl 
edge  against  ourselves  in  regard  to  the  history  of  that  past, 
and  which  we  now  would  gladly  read;  but  "too  late"  only 
.  ;hoes  from  those  scenes  of  that  mysterious  unknown. 

As  late  as  when  Lewis  and  Clark,  in  1804,  explored  Ore- 

;;  >n,  they  saw  the  Western  Indians  throw  up   embankments 

H'ound  their  towns,  and  saw  a  newly  erected  mound  six  feet 

i.igh  and  twelve  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base  which  the  Maho 

Indians  had  erected  over  the  bodv  of  a  chief. 

De  Soto,  also  the  explorers  who  followed  him  two  cen 
turies  afterwards,  discovered  towns  strongly  fortified  with 
breast-works  of  timber,  around  which  were  cut  large  ditches. 
And  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  \ery  kind  of  implements 
used  in  erecting  the  mounds  by  the  ancient  Indians  were  the 
same  used  in  cutting  those  old  intrenchments.  And  the 
most  reasonable  conclusion  that  can  be  arrived  at  is  that 
these  ancient  relics  of  the  prehistoric  past,  scattered  here 
and  there  over  the  different  States  of  the  South  and  West, 
are  the  work  of  the  ancient  Indians,  and  the  probabilities  are 
so  evident  that  I  am  naturally  and  reasonably  confident;  yet, 
if  driven  back  upon  positive  proof,  I  frankly  acknowledge- 
that  I  am. not  able  to  support  it,  even  as  he  of  opposite  opin 
ion  is  also  unable  to  support  his  theory  by  positive  proof. 

The  mounds— those  silent  memorials   of  North   Ameri 
can  antiquity — now   mutilated,   desecrated,    misinterpreted, 
have  lost  all   meaning.     Once,   those   signs    and   symbols  in 
-.heaped      up      earth       might     have     been     read,      had    the 
..champions  of  liberty   and  the   equality   of  the   entire  human 
race,  only  extended  their  professed  noble   characteristics  to 
the  descendants  of  the  builders  of   those   memorials,    so  in 
stinct  with  the  characteristics  of  a   people  over  whom   they 
had  just  begun  to  extend  their  power.     Then  they  were  tan 
gible  symbols  and  signs   expressing   truths   known   only   to 
Indians,  in  which  they  would   have  instructed  the  white  race 
had  it  proved  itself   their  friend   and   protector,    instead   of 
their  foe  and  destroyer.     Therefore  they  were   ever   reserv 
ed  towards  the  whites  in   general,  and  never  revealed    their 
most  sacred  signs  and   symbols   of  the  present   or  past    con 
cerning  their  race  to   any  white  man,    except   to   those  who 
-,by  long  acquaintance,   had   completely  won   their  confidence; 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  579 

and  it  may  be  truthfully  affirmed  that,  few  ever  reached 
that  hig-h  place  in  the  Indian's  heart  except  the  faithful  and 
loving-  missionaries;  they,  and  they  only,  ever  penetrated  be 
neath  the  surface  into  the  inner  life  and  secrets  of  the  North 
American  Indians. 

But  they,  being-  more  intent  upon  the  moral  and  intel 
lectual  improvement  of  the  living  Indians,  gave  little  care 
concerning-  the  dead.  And  those  sentimental  writers  of  the 
present  day  who  claim  the  Mound  Builders  to  be  a-  race  of 
people  far  antecedent  to  the  Red,  from  the  fact  that  the  In 
dians  gave  a  negative  reply  to  all  interrogatories  made  to 
them  concerning  the  mounds,  therefore  were  utterly  ignor 
ant  in  all  things  concerning  them,  are  but  the  willing-  dupes 
of  the  -Indians  who  keep,  as  much  as  possible,  from  the 
Whites  all  things  relating  to  their  past.  I  speak  from  75 
years  experience.  In  1884  I  was  in  the  Choctaw  Nation  and, 
upon  being  introduced  to  an  aged  Choctaw,  born  in  his  na 
tive  domains,  east  of  the  Mississippi  river.  I  commenced  in 
terrogating  him  in  his  own  language  when,  after  replying  to 
a  few  questions,  he  suddenly  fixed  his  keen,  black  eyes  upon 
me  and  said:  "For  what  purpose  do  you  ask  me  such  ques 
tions?''  The  Choctaw  friend  who  had  introduced  me  to  the 
old  veteran  came  to  my  relief  most  fortunately  by  telling 
him  who  I  was;  that  I  was  the  true  friend  of  all  Indians  and 
could  be  trusted.  The  old  man  again  turned  his  eyes  upon 
me,  but  with  a  confiding-  smile  which  I  fully  comprehended, 
and  I  found  no  trouble  in  obtaining  a 'cheerful  reply  to  any 
and  all  my  questions. 

Again  Colonel  Cleiborne,  of  Natchez.  Mississippi,  who 
was  then  writing  a  history  of  the  States  of  Florida,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  Mississippi  and  Louisiana,  but  died  before  com 
pleting  it,  and  in  which  necessarily  came  the  five  tribes  who 
formerly  lived  in  said  States,  viz:  Choctaws,  Chickasaws, 
Cherokees,  Muscogees  (Creeks)  and  Seminoles,  stated  to  me 
in  a  letter  that  he  had  written  several  different  letters  of  in 
quiry  to  prominent  Choctaws  whose  names  had  been  given 
him,  but  never  received  a  single  reply,  and  asked  me  if  I 
could  tell  him  the  reason.  I  at  once  "wrote  to  him  and  gave 
him  the  desired  information.  In  my  travels  in  the  Choctaw 
and  Chickasaw  Nations,  during  the  last  ten  years,  I  have  fre 
quently  met  aged  persons  of  both  tribes  with  whom  I  had 
the  pleasure  and  honor  (yes,  honor,  and  of  which  I  am  not 
ashamed  even  in  these  my  declining  years)  of  being  school 
mates,  whose  confidence  in  me  is  still  as  firm  and  unshaken 
as  mine  in  them,  and  whose  assistance  in  gathering  material 
for  this  book  has  been  great,  for  which  I  here  acknowledge 


580  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

my  deep  and  sincere  gratitude.  God  bless  my  Indian  .friends 
everywhere! 

Yes,  the  mounds  were  tangible  signs  used  to  express 
truths  known  only  to  their  builders — the  Indians;  symbols 
thrown  together  in  that  peculiar  connection  which  the  white 
man 'is  left  to  interpret  the  best  he  can,  all  to  end  only  in 
wild  conjecture  and  romantic  speculation ;  while  the  build 
ers,  now  deprived  of  all  originality  and  of  nearly  all  remem 
brance  of  their  former  selves,  still  survive.  But,  alas,  it  is 
the  hour  when  the  last  day  of  their  liberty  perished  with  no 
hope  of  another's  dawn;  while  their  future  is  still  darkened 
with  a  cloud  that  hangs  motionless  above  them,  as  they 
slowly  drift  before  the  monsoon  of  continued  oppression  as 
it  rises  higher  and  higher;  while  the  echoes  that  seem  whirl 
ing  on  its  wings  grow  louder  and  louder  as  if  to  greet  their 
approaching"  doom  ;  and  slow  chords  of  deep-toned  woe 
swell  in  waves  of  bitter  grief  which  seem  to  give  voice  to  all 
kindred  spirits  in  hopeless  despair,  as  they  mingle  with  the 
wind  that  rushes  hither  and  thither  in  wild  and  fitful 
gusts.  Verily,  what  but  a  sensational,  rhetorical  nourish  is 
our  cry:  "Liberty,  freedom  and  independence  to  all  nations 
of  mankind?"  since  we  have  denied  the  Red  Race  the  right 
of  a  nation  to  be  a  nation,  and  made  their  lives  a  joyless  jour 
ney  to  a  premature  and  unjust  extermination,  that  we  might 
establish  thereon  our  own  freedom  whose  motto  is,  "Might 
is  right,"  and  will  be  as  long-  as  a  weaker  nation  exists  over 
whom  we  are  able  to  ride  with  impunity;  and,  as  proof  of 
which,  the  little  remnant  of  that  once  numerous  and  happy 
people  are  still  a  living1  monument. 

North  America  may  be  truly  regarded  as  an  olden  land 
with  a  modern  history.  That  ages  ago  it  was  peopled 
by  a  numerous  race,  the  ancient  ruins  left  by  their  former 
occupants  and  scattered  from  .the  great  northern  lakes  to 
the  Pacific  ocean,  afford  ample  proof.  But  the  origin  and 
history  of  the  pre-historic  Indians,  evidently  as  far  as  now 
known,  the  ancestors  of  our  North  American  Indians,  are 
lost  in  the  mists  of  antiquity;  and  the  lengthening  shadows 
of  time  afford  to  us  only  a  dim  conjecture  as  to  who  they 
were,  whence  and  how  and  at  what  period,  amid  the  cycles  of 
ages  past,  they  came  to  this  continent. 

Some  presume  to  trace  the  Indians  back  to  the  Neo 
lithic  age;  while  others  affirm  that  the  Eskemo  Indians  were 
preceded  by  the  Cave-men,  and  that  they  are  of  Ameri 
can  origin.  While  Abbott,  in  his  "Primitive  Industry,"  page 
520,  says:  "The  Eskimo  appear  to  have  been  the  last  wave 
of  an  aboriginal  American  race,  which  has  spread  over  the 
continent,  following  principally  the  rivers  and  water  courses 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  581 

and  at  last  peopled  the  sea-coasts,  and  must  once  have  lived 
much  further  south."  And  seemingly,  in  proof  of  which,  Brin- 
ton,  in  his  "Myths  of  the  New  World,"  says:  "The  tradition's 
of  the  Tuscarawa  Indians  that  place  their  own  arrival  on  the 
Atlantic  coast  in  the  year  1300,  also  refer  to  a  tribe  of  people 
that  were,  at  least,  much  like  the  Eskimos." 

An  educated  Tuscarora  Indian,  named  Cusick,  and 
whose  tribe,  when  driven  from  now  the  state  of  North  Caro 
lina  by  the  whites  in  1712  moved  north  and  united  them 
selves  with  the  five  confederate  tribes,  making-  the  sixth, 
affirms  in  his  writings  that  an  ancient  tradition  of  the  Iro- 
quois  states  that  their  ancestors  lived  in  Canada  along  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  river;  that  the  Mohawks,  then 
inhabiting  the  now  state  of  New  York,  were  the  oldest-tribe 
of  Indians  then  known  in  that  region  of  country;  that  four 
other  northern  tribes  united  with  the  Mohawks  and  formed 
a  confederacy  consisting  of  the  Mohawks,  Onondagas,  Onei- 
das,  Senecas  and  Cayugas,  and  held  their  great  national 
councils  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence;  that  far  distant 
south  there  was  also  another  great  nation,  to  which  the  five 
confederates,  in  council  assembled,  sent  a  chief,  as  embas- 
sador  to  said  nation,  with  whom  a  treaty  of  peace  was  made; 
that  in  the  course  of  many  years,  the  warriors  of  the  great 
southern  nation  (which,  no  doubt,  were  the  ancestors  of  the 
present  Cherokees,  whose  ancient  traditions  affirm -that  they 
once  lived  farther  north,  and  were  ultimately  driven  south 
by  their  "allied  enemies,")  trespassed  in  tbeir  hunting  ex 
cursions  upon  the  territories  of  the  confederate  tribes,  as 
suming' the  right  of  erecting  forts  here  and  there.  That  this 
considered  encroachment,  and  also  violation  of  the  treaty, 
resulted  in  a  protracted  war  that  finally  terminated  in  the 
utter  defeat  of  the  intruders,  who  hastened  to  return  to  their 
own  country.  (But  the  lovers  of  sensation  and  the  marvel 
ous  have  pronounced  these  old  antiquated  forts  and  ruins  to 
be  the  work  of  their  much-loved  "Mound  Builders"  of  pre 
historic  ages  past.)  .That  the«ancient  Lenni  Lenapes  (now 
known  as  the  Delaware  Indians)  were  the  uncompromising 
enemies  of  the  Iroqtiois,  and  in  a  protracted  war  with  the 
Iroquois  they  were  defeated;  that  then  the  Lenni  Lenape  tribe 
migrated  south  and  settled  near  the  Hurons  (a  traditional 
off-shoot  of  the  Iroquois)  with  whom  they  formed  an  alliance; 
that,  at  that  time,  a  strong  and  powerful  tribe  inhabited  a 
large  territory  south  of  them,  and  were  called  the  Allegewi; 
that,  in  the  course  of  time  the  two  allied  tribes  (the  Hurons 
and  Lenni  Lenapes)  were  involved  in  a  war  with  the  Allegewi, 
who,  being  defeated,  migrated,  in  turn,  southward.  Hecke- 


582  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.   . 

weilder,  that  noted  and  pious  missionary  among-  the  L/enni 
Lenapes,  confirms  the  traditions  related  by  Cusick. 

It  is  well  known  that  Canada  was  first  colonized  by  the 
French  in  1641  and  remained  in  their  possession  until  the 
capture  of  Quebec  by  General  Wolfe  in  1759.  But  during 
the  intervening-  time  between  their  possession  of  the  coun 
try  and  its  loss,  they  learned  tha't  the  territory  lying-  east  of 
the  western  end  of  Lake  Erie,  and  from  the  great  northern 
lakes  to  the  Chesapeake  bay  on  the  south,  was  owned  and  in 
habited  by  a  confederacy  of  five  Indian  tribes,  then  known 
as  the  Senecas,  Mohawks,  Onondag-as,  Oneidas  and  Cayugas; 
but  to  whom  the  French  applied  the  general  name  Iroquois, 
meaning  "The  Long  House,"  and  the  English,  "The  Five 
Nations."  In  1712  the  Tuscaroras  joined  the  confederacy, 
then  they  were  known  as  "The  Six  Nations,'"  and  bear  that 
name  to  this  day. 

'  j  Here  was  indeed  a-confederation — a  true  republic  in  all 
respects — whose  ties  of  unity  were  made  long  before  the  ex 
istence  of  the  western  continent  was  even  dreamed  of  by  the 
White  Race,  and  whose  bonds  of  ratification  were  never  vio 
lated  and  stand  as  firm  today  as  when  first  made,  and  are 
held  as  sacred  by  the  remaining  few  of  the  descendants,  as 
are  held,  by  the  whites,  the  principles  of  the  Christian  re 
ligion. 

The  Indians,  having  no  written  language,  preserved  and 
handed  down  their  history  to  future  generations  through 
tradition,  much  of  which  could  have  been  obtained  a  century 
and  a  half  ago,  and  even  a  century  ago,  which  was  authen 
tic  and  would  have  added  much  to  the  interest  of  the  history 
of  the  continent  of  which  we  boast  as  our  inheritance, 
though  obtained  by  the  extermination  of  a  race  of  people 
whose  wonderful  history,  had  it  been  obtained  as  it  once 
could  have  been,  would  have  been  very  interesting  and  bene 
ficial  to  future  generations,  throwing  its  light  back  o'er  ages 
unknown,  connecting  the  present  with  the  past.  The  tradi 
tions  of  all  Indians  had  been  preserved  for  ages  back  by  car 
rying  them  from  one  generation  to  another  by  the  means  of 
careful  and  constant  repetition.  The  ancient  Choctaws  se 
lected  about  twenty  young  men  in  the  jurisdiction  of  each 
chief,  who  were  taught  the  traditions  of  the  tribe,  and  were 
required  to  rehearse  them  three  or  four  times  a  year  before 
the  aged  men  of  the  nation,  who  were  thoroughly  posted, 
that  nothing  might  be  added  to  or  taken  from  the  original 
as  given  to  them.  Besides,  it  is  well  known  to.  all  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  known  history  of  the  North  American 
Indians,  that  before  the  whites  had  commenced  the  war  of 
extermination  upon  them  they  all  aided  the  memories  of 


HISTORY    OF    THB    INDIANS.  583 

those  to  whom  were  entrusted  the  preservation  of  their  tra 
ditions  by  symbols,  called  by  the  whites  wampum,  and  which 
they  regarded,  judging-  from  their  own  standpoint,  as  the 
Indians''  money.  The  Indians  had  no  money,  but  they  held 
their  wampum  in  as  sacred  veneration  as  the  true  Christian 
holds  his  Bible,  of  which  the  Indians  had  never  heard.  The 
wampum  was  their  true  and  veritable  history — more  reliable 
than  many  histories  of  the  present  day. 

The  wampum,  or  belt  rather,  was  made  of  strong-, 
broad  pieces  of  dressed  buckskin  beautifully  adorned  with 
beads  of  various  colors,  to  which  were  attached  innumerable 
skins  of  dressed  buckskin,  at  the  end  of  wrhich  were  also  at 
tached  the  symbols,  composed  of  various  thing's,  such  as 
different  kinds  of  shells,  stones,  bones,  quills,  carved  pieces 
of  wood,  teeth  of  bears  and  panthers,  points  of  buck  horns, 
rattlesnake  rattles,  and  other  thing's  too  numerous  to 
mention.  But  each  article  attached  had  its  meaning  even  as 
the  printed  letters  or  words  in  a  book  have  a  meaning",  yet 
read  and  understood  alone -by  the  Indians.  Those  young 
men  were  also  yearly  required  to  interpret  these  symbols  as 
well  as  to  rehearse  the  traditions  entrusted  to  their  memory; 
and  so  faithfully  and  correctly  were  they  required  to  inter 
pret  the  signification  of  each  symbol,  and  rehearse  each  tra-r 
dition  that  generations  would  pass,  and  yet  the  wampuns 
and  tradition  keepers  of  every  tribe  could  read  the  wampum 
as  easily  and  correctly  as  an  educated  white  man  could 
read  a  book;  and  tell  the  story  of  the  tradition  in  their  ex 
treme  old  age  as  fluently  and  correctly  as  when  they  ha<? 
first  been  entrusted  with  it  in  the  bright  days  of  their  man 
hood. 

Several  of  those  ancient  wampums  are  said  to  still  exist 
among  theJeeble  remnants  of  the  once  powerful  confederacy 
of  the  six  tribes,  who.  when  in  their  palmy  days,  together 
with  all  their  race,  had  no  memories  of  yesterday  to  annoy 
them  nor  cares  for  the  morrow  to  perplex.  One,  it  is  said, 
contains  upwards  of  7000  strings  of  symbols  relative  to  their 
war  with  the  Hurons  assisted  by  Champlain  and  a  few  of 
his  companions,  to  whom  they  attributed  their  defeat  by 
the  Hurons,  and  for  which  they  never  forgave  the  French, 
and  ever  remained  the  inveterate  ?_nd  uncompromising  ene 
mies  of  all  Frenchmen.  One  of  the  wampums  still  pos 
sessed  by  the  confederacy  is  said  to  date  back  to  the  year 
1540,  and  contains  much  concerning  the  treaties  and  the  wars 
with  the  whites.  But  who,  among  the  whites  could  read 
those  ancient  wampums,  even  if  they  possessed  them?  And 
even  if  any  one  of  the  forlorn  remnant  of  that  confederacy 
who  could  read  them,  was  requested  so  to  do.  would  he 


584  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

comply  to  that  request?  Never.  Broil  him  on  a  bed  of 
burning-  coals,  yet  he  would  refuse  to  gratify  the  idle  curi 
osity  of  any  one.  Could. the  ancient  wampums  of  the  North 
American  Indians  speak  to-day,  what  a  thrilling  history 
would  they  narrate.  But  our  ancestors  were  too  deeply  in 
terested  in  other  pursuits  to  pay  any  attention  to  their  civ 
ilization  and  Christianizing-,  and  to  the  collection  and  preser 
vation,  which  would  have  contributed  so  largely  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  past  history  of  this  continent. 

Many  of  late  have  tried  to  ascertain  the  exact  date  of 
the -organization  of  the  confederacy  of  the  five  tribes,  but 
only  to  end  in  foolish  conjecture  and  wild  speculation.  One 
of  their  traditions,  it  is  said,  places  it  in  the  year  1539,  but 
this  is  declared  by  others  to  be  too  recent  a  date  by  nearly 
a  century;  while  Cornplanter,  a  noted  Seneca  chief,  who  died 
in  1836  at  the  advanced  age  of  105,  stated  that  his  tribe,  the 
Senecas,  once  had  a  wampum  that  contained  the  date  of  the 
organization  of  the  confederacy;  that  he  had  been  taught  to 
read  the  wampum  in  early  manhood;  that  he  had  often 
readmit  in  his  peoples'  counsels,  and  also  in  the  yearly  coun 
sels  of  his  tribe,  and  had  also  heard  it  read  by  others  fre 
quently;  that  it  was  destroyed  in  the  burning  of  their  vil 
lages  by  Sullivan  and  his  soldiers  in  1799;  that  he.  and  the 
chiefs,  Blacksnake,  Red  jacket,  and  a  few  old  men  of  his 
tribe,  partly  restored  it  a  few  years  after.  But  it  too  has 
forever  vanished. 

Cornplanter,  it  is  said,  often  repeated  many  portions  of 
different  wampums,  incidents  and  events  that  were  known  to 
have  taken  place  between  1530  and  1540  and  recorded  in  the 
wampum — the  true  symbolic  history  of  the  Indians,  read  by 
them  alone.  But  far  back  through  the  decades  beyond  the 
above  mentioned  years  of  the  past,  Cornplanter  stated  there 
was  a  wampum  in  which  was  recorded  the  true  history  of 
the  organization  of  this  wonderful  republic,  which  took  place 
at  the  occasion  of  an  eclipse  of  the  sun.  He  says:  UA  dark 
ening  of  the  big  light  of  the  Great  Spirit,  which  occurred 
during  one  of  the  months  when  corn  was  being  hoed,  and 
before  the  year  1540.  I  do  not  know  when  this  occurred, 
but  remember  the  statement  I  read  in  the  wampum,  which 
said  it  was  an  entire  darkening  of  the  big  light  of  the  Great 
Spirit  many  years  ago  in  the  long  past."  The  scene  of  the 
formation  of  the  confederacy  was  in  central  New  York.  It 
is  stated  that  there  was  a  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  on  the  29th 
of  July,  1478.  which,  however,  was  too  late  in  the  season  to 
fulfill  the  statements  recorded  amid  the  strings  of  the 
wampum.  But  it  is  also  known  that  there  was  a  total  eclipse 
of  the  sun,  visible  in  central  New  York,  on  the  28th  of  June, 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  585 

1451,  which  must  be  the  date  of  the  formation  of  the  confed 
eration  of  the  live  tribes,  afterwards  named  Iroquois  by  the 
French. 

Cornplanter  stated  that  the  Indians  regarded  the  event 
as  one  long  to  be-remembered,  and  gave  it  great  prominence 
among  the  records  of  their  historical  wampum,  on  account 
of  the  strange  and  peculiar  circumstances  of  its  occurrence. 
He  stated  that  a  party  of  young  Seneca  warriors,  then  on  a 
hunting  expedition,  entered  the  territories  of  the  Mohawks 
and  recklessly  made  prisoners  of  several  children — boys  and 
girls — with  whom  they  at  once  retreated  to  their  own  coun 
try.  A  large  party  of  enraged  Mohawk  warriors  hastened 
in  pursuit,  accompanied  by  a  strong  band  of  Onondaga  war 
riors.  When  the  Mohawks  and  Onondagas  had  arrived  near 
the  territories  of  the  Senecas,  the  Mohawks  sent  a  small 
delegation  of  their  warriors  to  the  Seneca  villages,  with  in 
structions  to  try  to  settle  the  matter  amicably,  and  thus 
avoid  the  death  of  their  captive  children.  But  the  haughty 
Senecas  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  embassadors  of  peace  and 
bade  them  return  to  their  own;  then  placed  the  captive 
children,  under  a  strong  guard  on  a  hill  near  their  village, 
that  the  Mohawk  and  Onondaga  warriors  might  see  them 
slain  as  they  made  their  expected  attack  upon  the  village; 
but  as  the  Mohawks  and  Onondagas  were  considering  what 
best  to  do,  and  the  Senecas  standing  ready  to  slay  their  cap 
tives  at  the  first  demonstration  made  to  rescue  them,  the 
attention  of  one  of  the  little  captive  g-irls  was  drawn  to  the 
peculiar  appearance  of  things  around,  and  looking  up  at  the 
sun  saw  the  great  black  shadow  that  seemed  to  be  spreading 
itself  over  its  disk.  With  a  loud  shriek  she  pointed  to  the 
sun,  to  which  every  eye  was  instantly  turned,  and  at  once 
the  whole  scene  was  chang'ed  from  a  spirit  of  war  and  re 
venge  to  that  of  superstitious  horror  and  fear  that  cannot 
be  described,  nor  scarcely  imagined. 

I  have  witnessed  the  effects  of  an  eclipse  upon  the  Choc- 
taws  before  they  had  been  taught  by  the  missionaries  its 
true  cause.  But  at  this  auspicious  moment,  when  no 
thought  occupied  the  mind  of  either  captives  or  warriors  but 
that  of  astonishment  and  dread,  *an  aged  chief,  who  wrell 
knew  the  desolating  effects  of  war,  solemnly  arose  and,  with 
eyes  resting  upon  the  fading  sun  and  linger  pointing  upward, 
called  out  in  a  loud  tone  of  voice,  "See!  The  Great  Spirit 
is  spreading  his  hand  over  the  face  of  his  great  light  as  a 
manifestation  of  his  displeasure  at  our  proceedings  this  day, 
and  thus  commands  us  to  make  peace  at  once  lest  he  hide 
his  great  light  from  us  forever;  and  never  again  to  make  war 
upon  the  Mohawks  and  Onondagas  but  to  ever  regard  them 


586  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

as  brothers;  and  to  which  if  you  will  comply  he  will  remove 
his  hand  from  over  his  great  light,  and  it  shall  continue,  as 
it  ever  has  before,  to  give  us  light."  At  once  all  gladly  and 
cheerfully  agreed  to  the  proposition;  and  soon  the  eclipse 
began  to  'pass  off,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  tribe;  and  as  soon 
as  the  sun  shone  out  in  its  usual  brightness  and  splendor, 
all  were  wholly  convinced  of  the  anger  of  the  Great  Spirit  in 
their  prospective  war,  and  equally  so,  in  the  assurance 
given  of  his  pleasure  in  their  promise  to  live  in  peace  with 
the  Mohawks  and  Onondagas.  At  once  a  deputation,  with 
the  captives,  was  sent  to  the  waiting  but  still  confused  and 
bewildered  Mohawks  and  Onondagas,  who  were  told  what 
the  Great  Spirit  had  said,  and  what  the  Senecas  had  resolved 
and  desired  to  do.  To  all  of  which  they  readily  acquiesced 
and  all  returned  to  the  Seneca  village. 

A  council  was  called,  a  treaty  was  made  and  ratified  by 
the  three  tribes,  and  they  became  as  one  nation.  The  news 
of  the  established  confederacy,  with  the  strange  particulars 
of  its  conception  and  birth,  soon  reached  the  neighboring 
tribes— the  Oneidas  and  Cayugas — who,  in  compliance  to 
the  commands  of  the  Great  Spirit,  joined  the  confederacy 
without  delay.  And  thus,  if  tradition  be  true,  which  no 
doubt  it  is,  was  formed  a  confederacy  pledged  by  all  the  sol 
emn  and  mysterious  ceremonies  of  that  peculiar  people, 
whose  descendants  still  linger  with  us  as  feeble  shadows  of 
their  once  great  and  happy  people — sparks  still  lingering  in 
the  ashes  of  an  exterminated  race — of  four  centuries  ago, 
never  again  to  war  against  each  other,  nor  refuse  to  assist 
each  other  in  war  against  the  common  enemy,  or  in  any  mis 
fortune  or  distress.  From  that  day  to  this  the  stipulations 
of  that  solemn  treaty  have  never  been  violated,  according  to 
their  latest  traditions,  and  they  have  ever  lived  as  a  mighty 
.brotherhood,  though  four  hundred  and  forty-eight  years 
have  passed  since  the  formation  of  that  mighty  league  of 
friendship  and  love,  the  most  wonderful  ever  known  to  man, 
and  with  a  history  never  to  be  duplicated  upon  earth. 

As  the  Pyramids  of  ancient  Egypt — those  miracles  of 
stone  that  have  defied  the  ravages  of  ages — must  be  ascrib 
ed  to  the  era  of  some  greal,  dominant  people,  whose  history 
is  hidden  in  the  silent  mysteries  of  the  past,  and  from  whom 
the  nations  of  the  east  have  descended;  so  too  may  these 
ancient  mounds  and  fortifications  (and  also  those  ruins  of 
ancient  cities  and  large  reservoirs  of  water,  if  true)  be  as 
justly  ascribed  to  a  pre-historic  race  that  is  lost  in  the  mists 
of  the  past,  but  from  whom  the  North  American  Indians 
have  also  descended. 

And  though  the  advent  of  man  upon   earth  is   lost  in  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  587 

gloom  of  pre-historic  years,  and  the  long  dark  night  of  igno 
rance  and  superstition  that  succeeded,  yet  these  silent  mon 
uments  of  the  long  ago  display  to  our  wondering  vision, 
great  nations  and  races  of  people,  inhabiting  widely  remote 
portions  of  the  globe,  possessing  various  types  and  phases 
of  civilization  and  different  characteristics  of  mind,  which 
distinguish  their  descendants  of  today.  But  whence  the 
different  races  of  mankind  had  their  birth,  and  through 
what  cycles  of  time  they  have  been  developing  their  growth; 
where,  when  and  how  they  lived,  are  questions  which  receive 
no  response  from  the  annals  of  history,  the  voices  of  tradition 
or  even  the  revelations  of  inspired  prophesy.  Difficult,  in 
deed,  is  it  to  wander  through  the  mazes  of  discussion,  and 
the  no  less  intricate  mazes  of  diversified  opinions,  which  but 
bewilder  the  investigator;  and  though  fascinating  as  the 
field  of  research  has  been,  still  nothing  offers  so  wide  a 
scope  of  conjecture  as  that  which  the  antiquarian  finds  in 
studying  the  ruins  and  relics  of  that  people  who  centuries 
ago  inhabited  the  North  American  continent. 

But  \vhile  these  researches  and  discoveries  throw  but 
little  light  upon  the  origin  or  the  character  of  its  early  in 
habitants,  yet  reveal  enough  to  conclusively  pi'ove  that  a 
race  existed  upon^this  continent  ages  ago,  who  possessed  a 
knowledge  of  many  of  the  arts  unpractised  and  seemingly 
unknown  by  the  natives  when  discovered  by  the  Europeans. 
With  many  it  has  been  a  cherished  theory  that  the  inhabi 
tants,  who  first  p'eopled  the  Western  continent,  came  by 
land  at  a  period  when  it  was  united  by  a  bond  of  union  with 
the  Eastern  continent,  afterwards  ruptured  by  internal 
commotions  and  upheavals,  was  severed  from  and  into  a  dis 
tinct  continent.  But  from  what  part  of  the  world,  at  what 
period,  or  by  what  means  they  reached  this  country,  can 
only  be  conjecture;  but  that  the  emigrants  were  a  partially 
civilized  people,  and  to  a  large  extent  an  agricultural  people 
there  are  good  reasons  to  believe,  nor  can  it  be  successfully 
disproven.  The  art  of  the  North  American  Indians  of  the 
last  two  or  three  centuries  is  said  to  be  the  exact  equivolent, 
in  point  of  advancement  to  that  of  Europe  and  the  Orient  of 
the  stone  age.  The  amount  of  material  is  limitless  and  cor 
responds  remarkably  with  that  found  in  the  very  substrat 
um  of  those  localities  where  man  seems  to  have  first  begun 
his  ascent  towards  civilization.  Many  of  the  scientists  of 
the  present  day  seem  inspired  to  activity  by  the  knowledge 
of  the  fact  that  the  North  American  continent  affords  the 
best  opportunity  the  world  has  ever  known  to  study  the  be 
ginning  of  those  things  which  constitute  human  progress — 


588  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

an  opportunity  which  by  the  encroachment  of  ^civilization  is 
rapidly  passing-  away. 

It'is  said  that,  already  upwards  of  15000  specimens  of 
the  handiwork  of  the  "Mound  Builders,"  the  study  of  which, 
in  connection  with  the  survey  of  the  mounds  themselves  and 
their  surroundings,  is  gradually  leading  to  a  solution  of  cer 
tain  archaeologic  riddles,  which  but  a  few  years  since  ap 
peared  insolvable.  Under  the  new  light  the  mysteries 
which  have  attached  to  the  mounds  and  to  their  unknown 
builders  are  thought  to  be  disappearing  to  a  great  extent, 
but  only  by  exchanging  conjecture  for  truth. 

Be  "that  as  it  may;  this  truth,  that  the  present  North 
American  Indians  and  their  ancestors  have  inhabited  this 
continent  during  a  period  embracing  ages  of  the  past,  none 
will  deny  who  have  studied  and  made  themselves  acquainted 
with  the  many  existing  facts;  and  that,  from  all  that  has 
been  gathered,  it  is  much  more  conclusive  that  the  mounds 
were  erected  by  them,  than  that  they  are  the  works  of  some 
long  extinct  race  of  people  entirely  different  from  that  of 
the  Indians.  Therefore,  let  "Requiescat  in  pace"  be  the 
epitaph  of  the  mound  question  for  ail  future  to  come;  and 
also,  let  this, age  of  sentimentality,  sensation,  and  the  love  of 
the  marvelous  come  to  an  end,  at  least,  upon  that  subject, 
that  it  may  seek  other  fields  for  the  gratification  of  its  seem 
ingly  incomprehensible  thirst  for  a  knowledge  of  that  which 
never  existed.  All  Nations,  b;>th  civilized  and  uncivilized, 
have  long  lost  the  memory  of  their  barbaric  state;  and  only 
traditions,  here  and  there,  speak  of  the  ancient  past.  All 
mankind,  in  every  age  of  the  world  have  been  mound  builders; 
and  the  same  principle  that  leads  to  the  erection  of  mounds 
still  exists  in  human  nature.  The  various  modern  monu 
ments  of  to-day  are' but  ways  of  memorizing  events  which  in 
ages  past  would  have  led  to  the  erection  of  mounds. 

Yet  mournful  to  the  contemplative  mind  are  the  records 
of  departed  greatness.  These  few  still  existing  mounds  of 
other  ages,  these  dumb  oracles  of  the  pre-historic  past, 
standing  as  monuments  on  the  pedestal  of  years,  point  also 
to  the  ruins  of  earth's  other  empires,  and  call  to  her  most 
potent  nations  with  a  voice  more  impressive  to  the  heart  than 
the  tongue  of  a  Tully  ;  more  symphonious  than  the  harp  of 
Homer;  more  picturesque  than  the  pencil  of  Appelles,  sav 
ing:  "In  us,  behold  thine  own  destiny,  and  the  doom  of  thy 
noblest  achievements,  the  mutability  of  all  human  greatness 
and  all  human  grandeur;"  and  around  and  before  us,  whose 
wild  and  huried  life  precipitates  the  hour  of  our  own  disso 
lution,  are  strewed  the  crumbling  fragments  of  an  empire, 
equally  as  extended  as  those  of  the  east ;  but  the  setting  sun 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  589 

sheds  its  last  ray  upon  their  tumbling-  temples  once  hallowed 
by  the  footsteps  of  worshipping1  thousands,  and  the  mellow 
moonbeams  glimmer  through  the  moss-covered  walls  and 
gloomy  galleries,  now  nearly  gone  to  decay;  their  sanctuary 
is  broken  down,  their  glory  is  departed  forever,  and  the  gen 
erations  hence,  in  viewing  the  mounds  of  their  sepulture, 
will  inquire  with  wondering  thoughts  what  manner  of  beings 
they  were. 

How  must  the  hearts  of  the  remaining  fe\v  Indians  throb 
with  anguish  as  they  contemplate  the  destruction  of  their 
race  and  the  gloomy  destiny  of  their  own  children.  With 
what  swelling  hearts  must  they  survey  the  once  extended 
boundaries  of  their  empire!  Alas!  the  grief  of  years  en 
shrouds  their  souls,  as  they  bow  the  knee  of  meek  submis 
sion  to  the  Great  Spirit.  Unhappy  people!  Who  can  but 
weep  over  the  ruined  hopes  of  your  declining  race  !  It  is  a 
truthful  saying,  that,  human  happiness  has  no  perfect 
security  but  in  freedom;  freedom,  none  but  in  virtue;  virtue, 
none  but  in  knowledge;  and  neither  freedom,  virtue 
nor  knowledge  has  any  vigor  or  immortal  hope,  except  in  the 
principles  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  in  the  sanctions  of  the 
Christian  religion.  The  birds  that  droop  their  plumage  in 
the  cage,  pine  for  the  open  field  and  flowery  grove,  where 
they  may  sing  their  songs  of  joy  and  lave  their  pinions  in 
the  free  light  of  heaven.  The  vilest  reptile  that  crawls  upon 
the  earth,  the  noblest  beast  that  roams  the  forest  flies  in  ter 
ror  from  its  tyrant  or  repels  the  oppression  that  would  de 
prive  it  of  its  freedom.  So  man  naturally  sighs  to  be  free. 
Still  tyranny,  that  demon  of  desolation,  has  stalked  over  the 
world  for  ages  and  bound  in  cruel  bondage  the  noblest  of  the 
earth,  and  still  in  this  19th  century  of  boasted  freedom  seems 
to  be  again  emerging,  like  the  phoenix,  from  the  dust  of  ages. 
Alas!  what  is  man,  or  a  race  of  men,  whose  neck  is  beneath 
the  foot  of  the  despot? 

Bishop  Whipple  of  Minnesota  says:  "Some  years  ago 
an  Indian  stood  at  my  door,  and  as  I  opened  it  he  knelt  at  my 
feet.  Of  course  I  bade  him  not  to  kneel.  He  said  :  'My 
father,  I  knelt  only  because  my  heart  is  warm  to  a  man  who 
pitied  the  Red  man.  I  am  a  wild  man.  My  home  is  500  miles 
from  here.  I  know  that  all  the  Indians  east  of  the  Missis 
sippi  river  had  perished  and  I  never  looked  into  the  faces  of 
my  children  that  my  face  was  not  sad.  My  father  had  told 
me  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  I  have  often  gone  out  into  the 
woods  and  tried  to  talk  with  him.'  "  Reader,  here  was  a  hu 
man  being  traveling  500  miles  to  learn  of  God;  yearning  and 
striving  for  a  knowledge  of  the  world's  Redeemer,  but  to 
whom  and  his  race  we  have  given  powder  and  lead  instead  of 


590  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

the  bread  of  life  with  our  war-cry  'No  good  Indian  but  a 
dead  Indian.'" 

Alas!  that  it  should  be  a  principle  of  mankind  to  hate 
those  they  have  wronged — even  as  dogs  rush  upon  one  of 
their  number  that  has  been  shot  and  not  instantly  killed  and, 
rendered  ferocious  by  his  cries,  tare  him  to  pieces.  Un 
happy  race!  Amid  the  protracted  woes  of  thy  present  life 
how  can  you  forget  the  fearful  history  of  thy  past — the  hun 
ger  and  thirst  of  the  heart  and  the  fire  and  frenzy  of  the 
brain ! 

Ah,  when  I  look  around  over  the  wretched  lives  of  the 
present  feeble  remnant  of  the  Red  Race  of  this  continent, 
and  then  contemplate  them  as  I  knew  them  seventy-five 
years  ago,  I  can  but  say:  Each  life  is  a  woe!  Truly,  fear 
ful  and  rugged  has  been  their  path  of  life  from  freedom  and 
bliss  to  slavery  and  woe — so  replete  in  strife,  confusion  and 
death!  uttering  their  last  groan  in  the  wail  of  final  despair; 
while  the  quality  of  confidence  is  now  an  utter  stronger  to 
their  hearts;  for  they  have  experienced  enough  to  harden 
them  against  the  White  Race  of  the  entire  world.  They 
now  realize  that  they  are  beyond  the  regions  of  all  hope; 
vet  they  seem  to  yield  to  a  certain  exterior  resignation  to 
their  fate.  The  world  has  lost  its  poignant  interest  in  them; 
it  is  now  a  pageant  upon  which  they  are  looking  for  the  last 
time  while  indifferent  to  lift  a  hand  to  stay  it  in  its  course, 
even  had  it  been  within  their  power.  Though,  at  times, 
they  rebelled  at  their  fate,  and  a  wave  of  resistance  swept 
over  them,  as  with  one  hand  they  carried  the  woes  of  the 
present  and,  with  the  other,  held  up  the  glowing  lamp  of 
the  romantic  past;  but  a  sense  of  its  unreality  told  them 
that  they  grasped  at  a  substance  to  find  a  shadow.  The 
coming  of  one  event  changed  even  the  atmosph'ere;  at  one 
moment  their  breath  is  a  new  and  invigorating  hope,  the 
next,  parched  and  dead.  They  see  a  covetous  eye,  a  hated 
face.  Their  lips  are  apart;  their  teeth  are  set  and  their 
brows  knit  with  the  force  that  they  summon  to  their  souls 
to  endure,  as  all  now  are  but  memories  far  off  amid  the 
shadowy  past. 

And  now,  as  to  the  odium  and  even  defamation  that  may 
be  attached  to  or  hurled  against  me  on  account  of  my  mani 
fested  love  for  and  adpliration  of  the  North  American  Indian 
Race,  I  here  submit  to  it  all  without  a  murmur  or  complaint. 
And  those  who  wash  may  search  the  world  over  to  find  terms 
or  ideas  to  express  their  contempt  of  me,  or  any  other  friend 
of  that  noble  but  unfortunate  race,  and  I  will  remain  silent 
and  passive,  while  their  anathemas  enter  one  ear  and,  meet 
ing  no  obstruction,  pass  harmlessly  out  at  the  other,  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  591 

still  continue  to  oe  their  devoted,  admiring  and  loving-  friend 
all  the  same;  while  I  continue  through  life  to  rehearse  to 
myself  the  words  of  the  noble  Catlin,  that  true  friend  of  the 
North  American  Indians  in  toto  because  he  knew  them  as 
they  ought  to  be'  known, 

"Have  I  any  apology  to  make  for  loving  the  Indians? 

The  Indians  have  always  loved  me,  and  why  should  I  not  love  the  Indians. 

I  love  the  people  who  have  always  made  me  weicome  to  the  best  they  had. 

I  love  the  people  who  are  honest  without  law,  who  have  110  jails  and  no  poor-houses. 

I  love  the  people  who  keep  the  commandments  without  ever  having  read  them  or  heard 

them  preached  from  the  pulpit. 

I  love  a  people  who  never  swear;  who  never  take  the  name  of  God  in  vain. 
I  love  a  people  who  love  their  neighbors  as  themselves. 

I  love  a  people  who  worship  God  without  a  Bible,  for  I  believe  that  God  loves  them  too. 
I  love  a  people  whose  religion  is  all  the  same,  and  who  are  free  from  religious  raus. 
I  love  a  people  who  have  never  raised  a  hand  against  me  or  stolen  my  property,  where 

there  was  no  law  to  punish  for.  either. 
I  love  a  people  who  never  have  fought  a  battle  with  white  men  except  on  their  own 

ground. 

I  love  and  don't  fear  mankind  where  God  has  made  and  left  them,  .  .  they  are  children. 
I  love  a  people  who  live  and  keep  what  is  their  own  without  locks  and  keys. 
I  love  all  people  who  do  the  best  they  can,  and,  Oh!  how  I  love  a  people  who  don't  live 

for  the  love  of  money. ' ' 

I  can  and  do  here  attest  that  there  is  not  a  single  virtue 
in  the  above  tribute  that  did  not  justly  belong  to  the  North 
American  Indians;  and  with  that  true  philanthropist — the 
noble  Catlin — who  could  and  did  discern  and  appreciate 
merit  wherever  found,  even  in  deformity.  I  do  accede  heart 
ily  to  all  his  "loves '?  above  manifested,  and  can  and  do  also 
add: 

I  love  the  same  people  who  also  never  first  betrayed  or 
deserted  a  known  friend  under  any  circumstances  whatever. 

I  love  the  same  people  who  never  spoke  evil  of  any  one 
behind  his  back,  not  even  of  a  known  enemy. 

I  love  the  same  people  whose  pledged  words  to  any  one 
were  as  sacred  as  their  lives. 

I  love  "'all  people,"  too,  of  whom  I  can  affirm,  possess  in 
like  quality  and  quantity,  the  known  virtues  of  the  North 
American  Indians  uncontaminated  with  the  blood  of  the  Cau- 
cassian  or  Anglo  Saxon  race. 


NORTH  AMERICAN  INDIAN   NAMES. 

The  Indians  all  over  this  continent  had  names,  tradi 
tions,  religions,  ceremonies,  feasts,  prayers,  songs,  dances — 
all,  more  or  less,  with  symbolism  and  allegory,  adapted  to 
circumstances,  just  as  all  other  races  of  mankind. 

But  the  world  has  become  so  familiar  with  the  continued 
and  ridiculous  publications  in  regard  to  everything'  touching 
upon  that  race  of  people  that  a  universal  doubt  has  long  since 
been  created  and  established  as  to  the  possibility  of  refine 
ment  of  thought  and  nobleness  of  action  ever  having  existed 
among  the  North  American  Indian  race,  ancient  or  modern; 
and  so  little  of  truth  has  also  been  learned  regarding  the 
real  and  true  inner  life  of  that  peculiar  and  seemingly  isola 
ted  race  of  mankind,  that  to-day  only  here  and  there  can  one 
be  found  who,  from  a  lifetime  association  and  intimate  ac 
quaintance,  is  well  versed  in  Indian  thought,  feeling  and 
character,  and  able  to  unfold  and  record  the  solution  of  that 
imagined  mystery  known  as  "The  'Indian  Problem,"  since 
they  learned  it  from  the  Indians  themselves.  From  the  In 
dians'  own  lips  thev  were  taught  its  elucidation,  and  only  as 
it  could  be  taught  and  learned,  but  never  again  can  be  taught 
and  learned. 

Even  as  various  nations  of  antiquity  of  ,the  eastern  con 
tinent  have  left  the  evidences  of  their  former  occupation  by 
the  geographical  names  that  still  exist,  so  to  have  the  North 
American  Indians  left  their  evidences  upon  the  western  (in 
dependent  of  all  written  history)  that  they  have  likewise 
possessed  this  continent  during  unknown  ages  of  the  past. 
The  artificial  mounds,  fortifications,  lakes  and  ponds  with 
their  original  names  and  those  of  rivers,  creeks,  moun 
tains,  bluffs  and  hills,  remain  to  this  day;  and  here  thev 
will  remain  long  after  the  lips  that  spoke  the  language 
are  hushed  in  death,  even  continuing  to  repeat  the  voices  of 
that  prematurely  and  mercilessly  exterminated  people. 

But  alas,  how  mutilated  the  orthography  and  how  er 
roneous  the  translation  of  the  original  Indian  namesi  What 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  S9S 

a  manifestation  of  the  utter  want  of  even  the  most  remote 
idea  of  anything  constituting-  their  language! 

As  an  illustration  I  will  here  insert  a  few  examples, 
taken  from  a  publication  bearing  date  February  2nd,  1898,. 
and  to  which  is  the  signature,  "John  Hawkins  rn<  Phila 
delphia  Times,"  with  the  caption  "Names  from  Indians"1 
and  ajso  the  important  announcement,  "Some  Inte res-ting; 
Information  Concerning  Their  Origin.  They  Contain  Curi 
ous  Bits  of  Nature,  Thought  or  Fancy,  History  or  Tra 
dition." 

From  among  the  names  mentioned  I  have  selected  a  few 
which  Mr.  Hawkins  says  are  "Choctaw  names,"  giving  also- 
HIS  orthography  and  translation: 

First. — "Chitimacha  (La.) — They  possess  cooking  ves-' 
sels."  Original,  Chi-im-ai-ya-chih,  Thine  to  conquer.  But 
the  Choctaw  words  for  "They  possess  cooking  vessels"  are--. 
Original,  Ah-la-bush-li  ha-lul-li  in,  Cooking  vessels  possess 
they. 

Second. — "Owatomy,  Straight."  Original,  Owa-to-my, 
Hunting  in  the  sunshine. 

Third.— "Oklahoma  (Beautiful  land)."  Original,,  Qkrla- 
hum-ma,  Red  people. 

It  is  published  in  our  school  histories  of  the  United 
States  that  Oklahoma  is  a  Chickasaw  word  meaning  "Beauti 
ful  Country."  The  Chickasaw  words  for  beautiful  country 
are  yakiii  iukli. 

Fourth. — "Chicola,  The  place  of  foxes."  Original^ 
Chu-la  ai-aii-tah;  Fox  there. 

Fifth. — "Arkansas  (Bow  on  the  smoky  water)."  In  the 
Choctaw  language,  Sho-bo-ta  oka  chas-sa-la,  means  smoking 
water  bow,  i.  e.  Bow  on  a  foggy  lake. 

Sixth. — "Tennessee,  River  of  the  great  bend."  The- 
name  given  by  the  ancient  Choctaws  is  Ta-nak-bi  chi-tofo 
bok,  Big  Bend  river. 

Seventh. — "Missouri,  Great  muddy  river."  But  the  Choc 
taw  words  for  great  muddy  river  are,  Huch-cha  hla-chi-ko< 
chitoh.  Missouri,  if  a  Choctaw  word,  is  a  corruption  of 
Mish-o-hof-fih,  Continually  rubbing  off. 

Eighth.— "Alabama,  "here  we  rest."  Original.  Ul-la< 
ba-noh  hosh,  The  only  child.  The  Choctaw  words  for: 
"Here  we  rest"  are  Fohah  hup-ish-no  yak. 

Ninth. — "Mississippi  river, .the  great  river."  Original.. 
Mish-a-si-pok-ni,  Aged  beyond.  The  Choctaw  words  for 
great  river  are  bok  chi-toh,  or  Huch-cha  chit-oh.  Original, 
Misha-sipokni  Huchcha. — A  river  whose  age  is  beyond  com 
putation. 

Tenth. — Mr.  Hawkins  says  :     "A   South   Carolina  river 


594  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

which  now  bears  the  prosaic  name  of  Broad,  was  known  to 
the  Indians  (Choctaws)  as  Eswawpuddenah,  the  dividing- 
river,  after  a  bloody  battle  between  the  Catawbas  and  Chero- 
kees.  The  name  Piscataway  has  much  the  same  meaning." 
But  the  Choctaw  words  for  "the  dividing-  river"  are,  Hush- 
koli  bok,  and  Piscataway  is  a  corruption  of  the  Choctaw 
words,  Pus-ka  ta-hah,  Bread  all  gone,  or  Without  bread. 

In  the  Fort  Smith,  (Arkansas)  Elevator,  February   4th, 
1887,  the  following  appeared: 

"AMONG    THE    CHOCTAWS — An  interesting-  article   from 
the  Cincinnati  Graphic,  by   John  R.  Music: 

The  Choctaw  tradition  states  that  they  traveled  east, 
until  from  the  summit  of  a  mountain  range  they  beheld  a 
well  watered  and  beautiful  land.  In  rapture  they  exclaim 
ed:  Tsi-g-ar-ma-kee  (Chickamauga)  g-ood."  But  the  Choc 
taw  word  for  good  is  A-chuk-ma,  and  Chickamaug-a  is  a  cor- 
corruption  of  the  Choctaw  words  Chik-emai-ah,  (may,  can,  or 
must,  shall  or  will  go  in).  Thef-e  is  no  such  word  as  Tsigar- 
makee  in  their  language,  and,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe,  in  no 
other  Indian  language.  Mr.  Music  thus  continues:  "The 
largest  town  in  this  region  shows  the  contact  of  the  Choc- 
taws  with  the  Cherokees,  Tsatak  (Choctaw)  and  nu-ger 
(t? ken  out  of  the  water).  Here  they  drew  a  dead  Choctaw 
out  of  the  water."  Truly  the  "Choctaws"  of  Mr.  Music 
must  be  a  tribe  of  Indians  known  only  to  himself.  The 
words  of  the  North  American  Choctaw  "Indians  for  "dead 
Choctaw  taken  out  of  the  water"  are  (in  our  phraseology) 
Il-li  (dead)  Chah-tah  (Choctaw)  shu-e-kuch-ih  (pulled  out) 
hosh  (the)  o-ka  (water).  He  also  asserts  that  one  of  the 
ancient  clans  of  the  Choctaws  was  named  "Hottah  Inholata" 
signifying  "beloved  of  the  people."  But  the  Choctaw  words 
for  "beloved  of  the  people,"  are  Ih-o-lih-to-pah  (beloved)  okla 
(people)  ho  (the),  the  Prep,  of  is  understood  before  okla,  Be 
loved  of  the  peoplp. 

Another,  undbr  the  signature  of  Henry  Inman,  asserts, 
through  the  columns  of  the  Greenville  (Texas)  Banner,  Oc 
tober  9th,  1«89,  that  the  signification  of  Apushamataha,  the 
name  of  th  renowned  Choctaw  Chief,  is  "The  Warrior's 
Seat  is  Finished." 

But  the  Choctaw  words  for  "the  warior's  seat  is  fin 
ished,"  are  Tush-ka  ai-ome-bin-i-li  ak-okc-ta-hah.  Apusha 
mataha  is  a  corruption  of  the  noted  chiefs  true.  name. 
Original,  A-num-pa-ish-ta-ya-u-bi,  a  messenger  who  kills. 

Literally,  a  messeng-er  of  death,  i.  e.,  one  whose  rifle, 
bow  or  tomahawk,  was  alike  fatal  on  the  war  path  or  in  the 
chase. 

By   request   of  friends  I  have  here  giren  a  few  Choctaw 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  595 

and  Chickasaw  ancient  names  of  places,  towns,  villages, 
rivers,  creeks,  lakes,  mounds,  bluffs,  etc.,  in  the  now  States 
of  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Florida,  Louisiana,  and 
others,  with  the  derivations,  corruptions,  originals,  ortho 
graphy  and  significations.  I  first  give  the  corruption,  fol 
lowed  by  the  original  and  signification  : 

Appalachee.  Original,  Ap-ah-li-chih,  (an  ancient  Choc- 
taw  clan),  To  whoop  at. 

Apalachicola,  a  town  and  river  in  Florida.  Original,  Ap- 
e-lu-chih  kolih,  Help  to  break. 

Apookta.  Original,  A-yuk-pa  (an  ancient  Choctaw  vil 
lage  in  Mississippi).  A  place  of  happiness. 

In  a  late  publication  it  is  stated  that  Alabama  is  a  corrup 
tion  of  the  Choctaw  words,  "Alba,  vegetation,"  and  "amo, 
gather." 

But  the  Choctaw  words  for  "vegetation  gather"  are 
Hush-uk  (herbage,  grass,  etc.,)  It-tun-a-hah  (gathered).  I 
know  of  no  such  word  as  "Alba"  in  the  Choctaw  language. 
It  has  the  word  "amba,"  signifying  However,  and  the  word 
"amo,"  signifying  The. 

Alabama  is  a  corruption  of  the  Choctaw  words  Ul-la-ba- 
noh  hosh,  The  only  child,  and  was  the  name  of  a  noted  Choc 
taw  chief  who  figured  in  1746,  contemporary  with  Shulush 
Hum  ma,  another  noted  Choctaw  chief,  during  the  wars  of 
the  French  against  the  Ohickasaws. 

The  old  interpretdLioii  oT  the  word  Alabama  as  being  a 
Choctaw  word  signifying,  "Here  we  rest,  or  rested,"  is  a 
myth.  The  Choctaw  words  for  "Here  we  rest,  or  rested," 
are  yak  (here)  hup-ish-no  (we — all  of  us)  fo-hah  (to  rest,  or 
rested). 

A-bo-ha  kub-lo  humma,  Strong  Red  House.  The  name 
of  an  ancient  and  noted  Choctaw  chief  of  the  Ok-la  hun-na-li 
iksa,  Six  People,  Iksa,  Clan. 

Allamucha.  Original,  A-lum-a-ka,  A  hiding  place.  The 
name  of  an,  ancient  Choctaw  town  situated  near  the  Ala 
bama  line  in  Lauderdale  county,  Mississippi. 

Ai-ik-hun-a,  A  place  of  learning,  a  school.  The  name  of  a 
Choctaw  village  in  which  was  established  a  missionary  sta 
tion  in  1821. 

luka.  Original,  Ai-yu-pi,  A  place  of  bathing.  The  name 
of  a  town  in  north  Mississippi. 

Boguefaliah.  Original,  Bok-fa-lai-yah,  Long  creek,  in 
Mississippi. 

Buckatunnee.  Original,  Bok-it-tun-a-hah,  collected  to 
gether.  A  large  creek  in  Mississippi.  The  junction  of  sev 
eral  creeks  which,  uniting,  formed  BokFttunahah. 


596  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

\ 

Betapinbogue.  Original,  Ni-ta-pm-bok,  One  Bear  creek. 
A  large  creek  in  Mississippi. 

Buttihatche.  Original,  But-ih  huch-cha,  White  Sumac 
river.  The  name  of  a  creek  in  Mississippi. 

Biwier.  Original,  Bai-yi-wai-yah,  Leaning  white  oak.  A 
creek  in  Mississippi. 

Bok-sha-ha,  Pearl  river.  The  ancient  Choctaw  name  of 
Pearl  river. 

Biahela.  Original,  Bai-yi-il-ah,  White  oak  by  itself,  lone 
white  oak.  The  name  of  a  place  in  Mississippi. 

Bulookta.  Original,  Bo-luk-ta,  Square.  A  place  in  Mis 
sissippi. 

Bok-ta-nak-bi  chi-toh,  Big  Bend  river.  The  ancient 
Choctaw  name  of  the  Tennessee  river. 

Boque  Hooma.  Original,  Bok-hum-ma.  Red  creek  in 
Mississippi. 

Conehatta.  Original,  Ko-nih-hut-a,  whitish  pole  cat. 
The  name  of  a  creek  in  Mississippi. 

Caila.  Original,  Co-i-il-li,  dead  panther.  The  name  of 
a  creek  in  Mississippi. 

Chicopah.  Original,  Shik-o-pah,  a  plume.  The  name  of 
a  missionary  society  in  Alabama. 

Culleoka.  Original,  Kul-ih-o-ka,  water  spring,  or  spring 
water.  The  name  of  a  town  in  Tennessee. 

Chickahominy.  Original,  Che-kiho-mai-yih,  to  become 
red  quickly.  A  creek  in  Virginia.  A  stream  of  water 
which,  according  to  an  ancient  Choctaw  tradition,  suddenly 
changed  its  natural  color  to  that  of  a  coffee  color,  or  brown. 

Chuk-fi-lum-a  hih-lah  bok,  Dancing  rabbit  creek.  The 
name  of  a  small  creek  in  Mississippi,  upon  whose  banks  the 
Choctaws,  in  1830,  ceded  the  last  acre  of  their  ancient  pos 
sessions  east  of  the  Mississippi  river  to  the  United  States. 

Chaff elia.  Original,  Sa-fa-la-yah,  I  am  long.  The  name 
of  a  creek  in  Mississippi. 

Copiah.  Original,  Ho-pai-i,  War  Chief.  The  name  of  a 
county  in  Mississippi. 

Chulahoma.  Original,  Chu-la-hum-ma,  Red  Fox.  The 
name  of  a  creek  in  Mississippi. 

Chulatchee.  Original,  Chu-la-huch-cha,  Fox  River. 
Name  of  a  stream  in  Mississippi. 

Chinchehoma.  Original,  Chish-a-hum-ma,  Red  Post  Oak. 
The  name  of  an  aged  Choctaw,  whom  I  personally  knew  in 
my  youth,  and  for  whom  a  little  stream  took  its  name. 

Chattanooga.     Original,  Cha-hah-nu-chi,  Tall  wild  flax. 

Chitimacha.  Original,  Chi-un-ai-ya-chih,  Thine  to  con 
quer.  A  place  in  Louisiana. 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  597 

Calolarchi.  Original,  Koloh-lich-ih,  To  cut  in  many 
pieces.  The  ancient  name  of  a  Choctaw  village. 

Chickasawha.  Original,  Chik-a-sah-si-ah,  I  am  a  Choc- 
taw.  The  name  of  an  ancient  Chickasaw  town  in  which  De 
Soto  and  his  army  wintered  in  1541. 

Chunkey.  Original,  Chuki,  A  martin — the  name  of  a 
small  stream  in  Mississippi. 

Chualley.  Original,  Chu-ah-la  bok,  Cedar  creek. — The 
name  of  a  creek  in  Mississippi. 

Catahoula.  Original,  Ka-wah-chu-la,  barking  fox. — The 
ancient  Choctaw  name  of  a  lake  in  Louisiana,  and  now  the 
name  of  a  Parish  in  Louisiana. 

It  is  published  that  the  word  "Catahoula"  is  a  Choctaw 
word  derived  from  "Okatahulo"  and  meaning  "Beloved 
lake."  But  the  Choctaw  words  for  Beloved  Lake  are  Ok- 
hut-ah  Ho-li-to-pa.  There  is  no  such  word  in  the  Choctaw 
language  as  Okatahulo." 

Chickamauga — A  tributary  of  the  Tennessee  river. 
Original,  Chik-emai-ah,  may,  can  or  must,  shall  or  will, 
go  in. 

Caloosahatchee.  Original,  Chas-su-lah  huch-cha,  crook 
ed  river.  The  ancient  Choctaw  name  of  a  river  in  southwest 
Florida. 

Chauaches.  Original,  Chah-a-chih,  to  ennoble.  The 
name  of  an  ancient  Choctaw  Iksa  (clan),  which  dwelt  a  few 
miles  north  of  New  Orleans  and  consisted  of  only  thirty  war 
riors  with  their  families  whom  Governor  Perier  caused  to  be 
wholly  exterminated,  in  January,  1717,  by  negroes — the 
slaves  of  the  French  colony;  the  particulars  of  which  are 
given  in  "History  of  the  Natchez." 

Coashatta.  Original,  Ko-i-sak-tih,  panther  bluff.  The 
ancient  Choctaw7  name  of  a  bluff  on  the  Bigbee  river  in  Mis 
sissippi. 

Coahoma.  Original,  Co-i  hum  ma,  red  panther.  The 
name  of  a  county  in  Mississippi. 

Coosa.  Original,  Chu-sah,  tapering.  The  name  of  an 
ancient  Choctaw  family  who  were  remarkable  for  their  slen- 
derness. 

Etowah.  Original,  He-to-ka,  ball  ground.  The  ancient 
Choctaw  name  of  a  river  in  Georgia  upon  whose  banks  was  a 
noted  ball  ground. 

Eastabutchie.  Original,  I-ah-ta-ba-shih,  to  go  mourning. 
The  ancient  name  of  a  creek  in  Mississippi,  famous  for  its 
fatal  sickness;  therefore,  whoever  lived  upon  its  banks  would 
have  cause  to  mourn. 

Faket   chee   poonta.       Original,    Fa-kit-chi-pin-ta,    very 


598  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

small  turkey.  The  name  of  an  ancient  Choctaw  village  situ 
ated  on  the  Bigbee  river  in  Mississippi. 

Falukta  bunnee.  Original,  Fa-lak-na-bun-ah,  fox  squir 
rel  doubled  up.  The  name  of  an  ancient  Choctaw  village  on 
the  banks  of  the  Bigbee  river  in  Mississippi.  _... . 

Hatche  camesa.  Original,  Huch-cha.  chu-lo-sah,  quiet 
river.  A  river  with  a  quiet  current. 

Hatchatigbee.  Original,  Ha-cho-tuk-ni,  loggerhead  turtle. 
The  ancient  Choctaw  name  of  a  bluff  on  the  Bigbee  river  in 
Mississippi.  . 

I  read  the  following  in  THE  GLOBE  DEMOCRAT,  July  IS, 
1896:  uHabalo  chitto,  the  name  of  a  river  in  Mississippi, 
which  means  big  fight."  But  the  Choctaw  words  for  "big 
fight"  are  it-tib-ih  chi-toh. 

Habalo  chitto.  Original,  Ha-bo-lih  chi-to-lit,  greatly  di 
minished.  The  ancient  Choctaw  name  of  a  large  stream 
which  had  diminished  in  depth,  owing  to  the  washing  from 
the  hills. 

Hobakin  loopa.  Original,  Ho-ba-chi  yuk-pa,  laughing 
echo.  The  ancient  Choctaw  name  of  a  shoal  in  the  Bigbee 
river  in  Mississippi. 

Hiyoowunnie.  Original,  Hi-oh-lih  un-i,  standing  berries. 
The  name  of  an  ancient  Choctaw  town  situated  on  Chick-a- 
sah-hah  creek,  a  tributary  of  Pearl  river  in  Mississippi. 

Hushookwa.  Original.  Hash-o-kak.  something  su 
perior  which  cannot  be  treated  with  impunity.  The 
name  of  an  ancient  Choctaw  town  in  which  Peter  P.  Pitch- 
lynn  was  born.  Truly  an  appropriate  name  for  the  birth 
place  of  that  renowned  Choctaw  orator  and  fearless  states 
man,  once  known  among  the  whites  in  Washington  City  as 
the  Calhoun  of  the  Choctaw. 

Humecheto.  Original,  Hum-ma-chi-toh,  Big  Red.  The 
ancient  Choctaw  name  of  a  creek  in  Choctaw  county,  Mis 
sissippi. 

Ittibano.  Original,  It-ti-ba-no-wah,  walking  together. 
The  name  of  an  ancient  Choctaw  village  in  Mississippi. 

Issaquena.  Original,  Issiok-hina,  Deer  Branch.  The 
name  of  a  town  in  Mississippi. 

Koonowa.  Original,  Ka-no-wa,  the  walker.  The  name 
of  an  ancient  Choctaw  hunter. 

From  the  "GLOBE  DEMOCRAT,  July  18th,  1896,"  from  the 
New  Orleans  PICAYUNE,  the  following  derivation  and  inter 
pretation  given  by  one  I.  H.  Watkins,  of  the  Chickasaw  word 
Itawamba,  the  name  of  a  county  in  north  Misssisippi.  He 
gives  the  original  as  "Ita-taka-lombi,"  with  the  interpretation 
thereof,  "Go  and  kill."  Now  the  words  in  the  Chickasaw 
language  for  go  and  kill  are,  mi-ah  mich-a-ub-ih.  The  Choc- 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  599 

taws  have  identically  the  same,  words  nor  have  either  any 
other  words  for  "go  and  kill."  The  word  ulta-taka-lombi" 
is  utterly  foreign  to  both  languages. 

ftawamba.  ~  Original,  It-i-ai-o-bin-i-li,  Wooden  seat.  That 
is,  the  seat  occupied  by  the  ancient  Chickasaw  chief  in 
council  assembled.  Sometimes  it  was  called  Ai-o-bin-i-li, 
Bench  or  seat;  fa-lai-a,  (long)  mi-ko  (chief),  i,  e.  Long  Bench 
Chief  ;  or  Chief  of  the  Long  Bench.  In  our  phraseology, 
The  Chair  of  State. 

Loosascoona.  Original,  Lusa-ko-nih,  black  pole  cat, 
the  name  of  a  creek  in  Mississippi.  The  ancient  Choctaws 
had  four  different  names  for  that  odoriferous  little  animal. 

Ko-nih,  the  general  name. 

Ko-nih  chuk-cho,  a  large  striped  species. 

Ko-nih  lu-sa,  small,  black  species. 

Ko-nih  shup-ik,  a  peculiar  kind  having  snouts  like  pigs, 
and  feeding  by  rooting,  according  to  the  Choctaw  tradition. 
But  had  become  extinct  long  before  the  advent  of  the  mis 
sionaries  in  1818.  Evidently  the  ant-eater  of  Mexico. 

Lobutchy.  Original,  Lah-buch-ih,  to  make  warm.  The 
name  of  a  creek  in  Mississippi. 

Looxapalia.  Original,  Luk-si-oh-pul-a-lih,  Swimming 
terrapin,  a  town  and  creek  in  Lamar  county,  Mississippi. 

Lucarnatchie.     Original,  Lus-sah  lucha,  wet  swamp. 

Lapantie  bogue.  Original,  La-pit-tah  bok,  buck  creek. 
The  ancient  Choctaw  name  of  a  creek  in  Mississippi. 

Meshoba.  Original,  Mi-ah-shoh-bih,  go  in  advance  until 
evening.  The  ancient  Choctaw  name  of  a  place  in  Missis 
sippi. 

Mouma.  Original,  Mo-yum-a,  every  one.  The  name  of 
ah  ancient  Choctaw  Iksa  (clan)  in  Louisiana.  Now  the  name 
of  a  town  in  the  same  State,  but  changed  to  the  name  Homer. 

Mishawaka.  Original,  Mish-a-wa-yah ,  raised  in  abund 
ance  beyond.  The  name  of  a  town  in  Indiana. 

Mokea  lusha.  Original,  Bok-lus-a,  black  creek.  An  an 
cient  Choctaw  village  in  Mississippi. 

Mingo  ho  ma.  Original,  Mi-ko  hum-ma,  red  chief.  A 
place  in  Mississippi. 

The  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws  had  two  traditional 
names  for  the  Mississippi  river,  as  follows: 

Occochappo.  Original,  O-ka-chash-po-hosh,  The  ancient 
waters. 

Father  Allouez,  a  Jesuit  priest,  when  exploring  the 
country  from  Quebec  to  Lake  Superior,  in  1669,  first  heard 
of  a  great  river  (which  proved  to  be  the  Mississippi  river) 
called— 

Mecassheba.     Original,  Mi-ko  Si-ah,  King  I  am. 


*600  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

Neshoba,  '"Original,  Na-sho-ba,  Wolf.  A  county  in  Mis 
sissippi. 

Nittayuma.  Original,  Nit-a-yum-ma,  Bear  yonder.  The 
name  of  a  creek  in  Mississippi. 

Natchez.  Original,  Na-chuf-fih,  to  break  off  from.  A 
town  in  Mississippi  named  after  an  ancient  tribe  of  Indians 
that  formerly  inhabited  the  country  on  the  Mississippi  river; 
exterminated  January  25th,  1733  by  the  French  under  Bien- 
ville. 

Noxubee.  Original,  Nak-sho-bih,  offensive  odor.  The 
name  of  a  creek  and  also  a  county  in  Mississippi.  It  took 
its  name  according  to  Choctaw  tradition,  from  a  great  battle 
fought  upon  its  banks/in  the  remote  past,  between  the  Choc- 
taws  ,and  Muscogees.  The  Muscogees  were  defeated  and 
left  their  slain  upon  the  battle  field  which  were  thrown  into 
the  creek  by  the  Choctaws;  and  such  were  the  number  that 
the  decomposing  mass  polluted  the  air  for  miles  around.  It 
was  fought  in  1790  according  to  Choctaw  tradition,  with 
500  warriors  slain. 

I  read  the  following  in  the  St.  Louis  Globe  Democrat,  of  Ju 
ly  18th,  1896:  "There  isin  the  same  state  (Mississippi)  a  creek 
called  Noxubee.  The  change  from  the  Original  in  this 
word  has  also  been  very  striking.  The  Indian  form  of  the 
word  was  Ok-a-mak-shobi."  There  is  no  such  word  in  the 
Choctaw  or  Chickasaw  languages. 

Nanna  Way  ah.  Original,  Nunih  Waiyah,  leaning 
.mound.  The  name  of  a  mound  in  Mississippi,  previously 
mentioned. 

Ok-la-ta-ba-shih  (the  people's  mourner)  was  the  Noah  of 
the  Choctaws,  in  their  tradition  of  the  flood,  who  made  a 
boat  into  which  he  placed  his  family  and  provisions  and  thus 
saved  them — truly  an  appropriate  name. 

Oska  loosa.  Original,  Os-si  lu-sa,  black  eagle,  A  town 
in  Illinois. 

Opelousas.  Original,  O-pah  lus-sah,  swamp  owl.  The 
name  of  a  place  in  Alabama. 

Oaktoma.  Original,  Ok-toh-bi,  to  be  foggy.  The  name 
•of  a  creek  in  Mississippi. 

Okefinokee.  Original,[O-ka-hi-o-lih,  waters  tanding.  A 
swamp  in  Georgia. 

Ossachile.  Original,  Os-si-chah-li,  swift  eagle.  The 
name  of  an  ancient  Choctaw  chief  whom  De  Soto  visited 
in  1540. 

Omaha.  Original,  O-mi-ha  (if  a  Choctaw  word),  it  must 
be.  Said  to  mean  "To  go  against  the  current." 

Osceola.  Original,  Os-si-o-lachih,  Singing  Eagle.  The 
renowned  Seminole  chief  and  patriot. 


HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS.  601 

Okolona.  Original,  Ok-la-lok-on-lih,  .People  gathered  to 
gether.  A  town  in  Chickasaw  county,  Mississippi. 

Os-ki-fa-kop-lih,  Stripped  Cane.  A  large  and  lengthy 
creek  in  Mississippi  known  as  Trimcane. 

Ocklawaha.  Original,  Ok-la-yan-ha,  People  subject  to  fe 
ver.  The  name  of  a  river  in  Florida. 

Okeion.  Original,  Oka-i-ah,  Moving  water.  The  name 
of  a  little  place  in  Mississippi. 

The  beginning  of  the  creek  Oka  ittibihha  (by  abbrevia 
tion  Oktibihha)  was  known  to  the  Choctaws  as  O-ka-ai-it-tu- 
fa-ma  (The  coming  together  of  the  waters),  and  refers  to 
the  junction  of  the  seven  large  creeks  which  form  it,  viz: 

First. — Catarper.  Original,  Ka-ta-pah ,  checked  or  pushed 
back;  i.  e.,  water  retarded  by  drifts. 

Second. — Os-ki  Fa-kop-lih,  cane  stripped  of  its  leaves; 
so  called  by  the  Choctaws  from  the  abundance  of  switch  cane 
growing  upon  its  banks,  with  which,  when  stripped  of  its 
leaves,  they  made  their  beautiful  baskets — literally  the  place 
where  the  cane  is  trimmed. 

Third. — Bai-yih  (white  oak)  Wai-yih  (leaning  over). 

Fourth. — Bok  (creek)  Fa-lai-ah  (long). 

Fifth.— Hush-ih  (sun)  Bok  (creek). 

Sixth. — Ba-cha-ya  Bok  (line  creek),  which  divided  the 
Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  nations  on  the  north,  when  living 
east  of  the  Mississippi  river. 

Seventh. — Sukatanchi.  Original,  Shuk-ha  Ni-a-chih, 
hogs  fattened.  The  place  where  hogs  are  fattened. 

Okahola.  Original,  O-ka-ho-yah,  Filtered  water.  The 
name  of  a  town  in  Marion  county,  Mississippi. 

Oktibbehaw.  Original,  O-ka-it-tib-ih-ka,  The  water 
fight.  A  county  in  Mississippi.  The  name  given  by  the 
ancient  Choctaws  to  a  large  creek  flowing  into  the  Bigbee 
river  above  the  town  of  Columbus,  Miss.,  now  known  as  Tibi, 
(corruption  of  Ittibih,  having  fought).  It  took  its  name,  ac 
cording  to  Choctaw  tradition,  from  a  great  battle  fought 
between  the  Choctaws  and  Muscogees  years  before  the  ad 
vent  of  the  whites,  in  which  the  Muscogees  occupied  the 
north  side  of  the  creek  and  the  Choctaws  the  south,  shooting 
their  arrows  across  the  creek.  The  Choctaws  were  de 
feated,  but  soon  reinforcements  returned  and  drove  the 
Muscogees  out  of  their  country. 

Opelika.  Original,  Ok-pul-ila-ka,  The  lily  by  itself — the 
lone  lily.  The  name  of  a  missionary  society  in  Alabama. 

^  Oktarkthalapulla.  Original,  Ok-tark-toh-boko-lih,  bluish 
white  prairie.  A  beautiful  prairie  in  the  southwestern  part 
of  Oktibbehaw  county,  Mississippi,  six  miles  southwest  of 
Starkville,  known,  before  brought  into  cultivation,  as  "The 


602  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

Blue  Prairie."  It  was  a  peculiar  looking-  prairie, presenting-  a 
lonely  and  melancholy  appearance,  nearly  round,  perfectly 
level  and  extending-  nearly  two  miles  each  way  without  a  tree 
or  shrub  upon  it.  but  covered  with  a  carpet  of  grass  stand 
ing  (in  the  summer  season)  from  two  to  three  feet  in  height. 
It  was  the  last  prairie  between  Starkville  and  the  Mississippi 
river,  surrounded  by  magnificent  forests  of  oak  and  pine,  in 
which  were  found  wild  game  in  sufficient  quantities  to  glad 
den  the  heart  of  the  most  fastidious  lover  of  the  chase;  in 
which  I,  with  other  congenial  spirits,  fully  shared  and  enjoy 
ed  many  years  ere  progress  blotted  it  out. 

Okahatchee.  Original,  Ok-la-huch-cha,  river  people. 
An  ancient  Choctaw  village  whose  people  used  river  water. 

Oaklehy.  Original,  Ok-la-le-lih,  People  who  plow.  The 
name  of  an  ancient  Choctaw  village  in  which  several  white 
families  lived. 

Otocklawfa.  Original,  Ok-tah-lau-a,  Many  prairies.  A 
town  in  Mississippi. 

Oaktewall}r.  Original,  O-ti-wa-lih,  Exhibiting  chestnuts. 
The  name  of  a  little  town  in  Mississippi. 

Okatomie.  Original,  Ok-a-to-mih,  Sunshine  in  water. 
The  name  of  an  ancient  Choctaw  village  in  Mississippi. 

Okenachitto.  Original,  Ok-hin-a-chi-toh,  Big  stream. 
The  Chocktaw  name  of  a  large  creek  in  Mississippi. 

Okshawali.  Original,  Ok-shau-a-lih,  Light  complexion. 
The  name  of  an  ancient  Choctaw  town,  among  whose  peo 
ple  were  many  of  fair  complexions. 

Osyka.  Original,  Os-si-ka,  The  Eagle.  A  town  in  Pike 
county,  Mississippi. 

Ofahoma.  Original,  O-n-hum-ma,  Red  dog.  Town  in 
Leake  county,  Mississippi. 

Okachickama.  Original,  O-ka-chukma,  Good  water. 
The  capital  of  Yalobusha  county,  Mississippi. 

Yalobusha.  Original,  Ya-lo-ba-ai-a-sha,  Tadpoles 
abound. 

Onalaska.  Original,  O-na-lu-chah,  To  arrive  being  wet. 
A  town  in  Arkansas. 

Okatibbee.  Original,  O-ka-it-tib-ih,  Water  fight,  i.  e.  A 
battle  across  the  water.  A  town  in  Lauderdale  county, 
Mississippi. 

Oktoc.  Original,  Ok-tak,  prairie.  A  town  in  Oktibbeha 
county,  Mississippi. 

Pillahatchee.  Original,  Pil-lah-huch-cha,  far  off  river. 
A  river  in  Rankin  county,  Mississippi. 

"Ponchatoula,  a  Choctaw  word,"  says  the  St.  Louis 
GLOBE  DEMOCRAT  of  July  18,  1896,  "is  a  corruption  of  Pan- 
chagoula,  which,  according  to  the  declaration  of  the  \vell  in- 


HISTORY    OF    THJE   INDIANS.  603- 

formed  superintendent  of  the  Choctaw  schools  in  Mississippi, 
a  gentlemen  who  speaks  the  Choctaw  language  fluently, 
means  pond  lilly."  The  Choctaw  words  for  "pond  lily"  are 
Haiyip  (pond)  Okpul  (lily). 

Pasgagoula,  Original,  Pus-ka-ok-la,  people  having 
bread.  A  town  in  Jackson  county,  Mississippi. 

Solgohachia,  a  town  in  Arkansas.  Original,  Sok-ko- 
huch-cha,  Muscadine  river. 

Panola.  Original,  Po-no-la,  cotton;  the  name  of  a  coun 
ty  in  north  Mississippi. 

Pachuta.  Original,  Pa-sho-hah,  to  handle,  a  town  in 
Perry  county,  Mississippi. 

Piache.  Original,  Pi-e-shih,  to  care  for  us,  the  name 
of  an  ancient  Choctaw  town  which  De  Soto  passed  through 
in  October,  1540. 

Puchcheyanshoba.  Original,  Pu-chi-yo-shu-bah,  pigeon 
to  be  lost — Strayed  Pigeon,  ancient  Choctaw  village. 

Pantofoc.  Original,  Pa-ki-tak-oh-lih,  grapes  hung  up — 
Hanging  Grapes,  the  name  of  a  town  in  north  Mississippi. 

Seneasha.  Original,  Si-nih-ai-an-ta,  sycamore  abound, 
the  name  of  a  little  branch  in  Mississippi, 

Shetimasha.  Original,  Shit-til-e-mab-ai-a-shah,  Habitation 
of  the  disdainful.  The  Shittilemahaiashah  Indians  of  St. 
Mary's  Parish,  Louisiana,  are  evidently  a  remanent  of  an 
ancient  Choctaw  Iksa  (clan),  a  few  feeble  sparks  still  linger 
ing  in  the  ashes  of  their  exterminated  Iksa. 

Senatobia.  Original;  Sin-ih-toh-bih-a,  My  white  syca 
more.  The  name  of  a  town  in  Tate  county,  Mississippi. 

Shubuta.  Original,  Sho-bo-tah,  Smoking.  A  little  town 
in  Clarke  county,  Mississippi. 

Siboglahatcha.  Original,  Is-su-ba-ok-la-hu-cha,  Horse 
river  people  i.  e.  People  living  on  horse  river.  A  creek  and 
town  in  Calhoun  county,  Mississippi. 

Suqualak.  Original,  Shau-wa-lah,  widely  branching.  A 
town  in  Noxubee  county,  Mississippi.  The  name  also  of  a 
small  creek  emptying  into  Noxubee  near  the  great  ball  play 
ground,  upon  which,  in  1790,  was  fought  the  great  battle  be 
fore  mentioned. 

Sukatanche.  Original,  Shuk-ha  ne-a-chih,  fattened  hogs; 
i.  e.,  the  place  where  hogs  fatten.  A  large  creek  in  north 
Mississippi  and  town  in  Kemper  county,  Mississippi. 

Tangipahoa.  Original,  Tun-chi-pa  sho-hah,  corn  hand 
led — where  corn  was  bought  and  sold. 

Tallula.  Original,  Ta-lo-ho  ah,  continually  singing.  The 
name  of  the  falls  of  a  river  in  Georgia,  said  to  be  536  feet. 

Talluhah.  Original,  Tal-lu-hah,  a  bell.  A  town  in  Lou- 
siana. 


604  HISTORY    OF    THE   INDIANS. 

Tuskogee.  Original,  Tush-ka-ko-cha,  weather  warrior, 
i.  e.,  a  warrior  who  foretells  the  weather. 

Tallasha.  Original,  Ta-la-ai-ar-sha,  Palmetto  abound. 
The  place  of  palmettoes. 

Toonisuba.  Original,  To-no-lihis-su-ba,  rolling  horse. 
A  place  in  Mississippi. 

Talletuluck.  Original,  Ta-le-tul-i,  Palmetto  rock,  Pal 
metto  by  a  rock.  A  town  in  Kemper  county  Mississippi. 

Tacaleeche.  Original,  Tak-a-li-chih,  to  put  down, 
town  in  Benton  county  Mississippi.  Town  and  river  in 
Panola  county  Mississippi. 

Tullahoma.  Original,  Tul-i-hum-ma,  red  stone,  rock  or 
iron.  Town  in  Jones  county  Mississippi. 

Wantubbee.  Original,  Ai-an-ta-ub-ih,  To  be  at  and  kill. 
A  little  place  in  Mississippi. 

Winona,  Original,  Wa-ton-la,  A  crane.  A  town  in  Mis 
sissippi. 

Yakanookane.  Original,  Yak-ni-nak-ish-wa-na,  Cat  fish 
land.  A  creek  in  Oktibbehaw  county,  Mississippi. 

Yoconapatawfa.  Original,  Yak-ni-pa-tuf-fih,  Land 
ploughed. 

Waupanuckee.  Original,  Wak-chah-nu-sih,  To  sleep 
wide  a  part.  A  town  in  the  present  Chickasaw  Nation. 

Tallula.  Original,  Til-oh-lih,  to  break  off.  A  town  in 
Issaquena  county,  Mississippi. 

Issaquena.  Original,  Is-si-ok-hena,  deer  branch.  A 
town  in  Mississippi. 

Tillitoba.  Original,  Tul-i-toh-bi,  gray  rock.  A  town  in 
Yalobusha  county,  Mississippi. 

Taloeah.  Original,  Ta  lo  ah-i-ah,  to  go  singing.  A  town 
in  Marion  county,  Mississippi. 

Tamolah.  Original,  Ta  mo-ah,  lost.  A  town  in  Kem 
per  county,  Mississippi. 

Tallase.  Original,  Tul-li-ai-sha,  rocks  abound.  An  an 
cient  Choctaw  village  which  De  Soto  visited  in  1540. 

Toccopola.  Original,  Tosh-bo-ko  li,  mouse  colored.  A 
town  in  LaFayette  county,  Mississippi. 

Toomsuba.  Original,  Ta-is-su-ba,  because  or  in  as 
much  as  a  horse.  A  town  in  Lauderdale  county,  Mississippi. 

Topisaw.  Original,  Tah-pi-sah,  to  see  now.  A  town  in 
Pike  county,  Mississippi 

Talawah.  Original,  Ta-lo  ah,  singing.  A  town  in  Mar 
ion  county,  Mississippi. 

Tubby.  Original,  Ub-ih,  to  kill.  A  town  in  Itawamba 
county,  Mississippi. 

Tooanoowe.  Original,  To-mih-no-wa,  walking  in  the  sun 
shine.  The  nephew  of  Tumoachi. 


I 
HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS.  60S 

Tamoachih.  Original,  Turn  o  a-chi,  you  lost.  Chief  of 
the  Yamacaws,  with  whom  Oglethorpe  established  a  never 
violated  treaty. 

Yamacaw.  Original,  Yum-mak-ka-sha-pah,  That  one 
to  be  a  part.  The  name  of  an  ancient  clan  of  Choctaws  at 
the  time  Oglethorpe  founded  Savannah,  Georgia,  February 
1st,  1733. 

Tuscola.  Original,  Tah-ok-la,  Now  a  people.  A  town 
in  Leake  county,  Mississippi. 

Chickasaw  bogue.  Original,  Chik-a-sah-bok,  Chickasaw 
creek.  Town  in  Mobile  county,  Alabama. 

Choccolocco.  Original,  Chuk-cho-sok-koh,  Thick  maple 
or  maple  grove.  Town  in  Calhoun  county,  Alabama. 

Choctawhatchie.  Original,  Chah-tah-huch-cha,  Choctaw 
river.  Town  in  Henry  county,  Alabama. 

Senauki.  Original,  Kin-nak-li,  Limping.  The  wife  of 
Tumoachi, 

Clayhatchie.  Original,  Chash-ah-huch-cha,  Rattling  or 
rippling  river.  Town  in  Dale  county,  Alabama. 

Enitachopco.  Original,  E-nit-tak  ok  chah,  we  awaken 
at  day.  A  town  in  Clay  county  Alabama. 

Looxapalia.  Original,  Luk-si-ok  pul-a  lih,  swiming  ter 
rapin.  A  town  and  creek  in  Lamar  county  Alabama. 

Loachapoha.  Original,  Lau-a-chih-fo-hah,  making  many 
to  rest.  Town  in  Lee  county  Alabama. 

Talladega.  Original,  Tal-a-ti-hah,  pulled  up  palmetto. 
Town  and  county  in  Alabama. 

Tallahatta.  Original,  Tal-a-hut-a,  standing  palmetto. 
A  town  in  Clark  county,  Alabama. 

Tallassahatchee.  Original,  Tal-a-sa-huch-cha,  I  am  the 
palmetto  river.  A  town  in  Calhoun  county,  Alabama. 

Tallula.  Original,  Tul-u-la,  a  bell.  A  town  in  Fayette 
county,  Alabama. 

Talucah.  Original,  Ta-lo-ah,  singing.  A  town  in  Mor 
gan  county,  Alabama. 

Tallapoosa.  Original,  Tul-i-po-shi,  Iron  dust.  A  county 
in  Alabama. 

Tuscahoma.  Original,  Tush-ka-hum-ma,  red  warrior. 
A  town  in  Choctaw  county  Alabama. 

Tuscaloosa.  Original,  Tush-ka-lu-sa,  black  warrior. 
A  town  and  county  in  Alabama. 

Tuscumbia.  Original,  Tush-ka-um-ba  chi,  rainmaker 
warrior.  A  town  in  Colbert  county,  Alabama.  Name  of  an 
ancient  Chickasaw  chief  renowned  as  a  medicine  war  chief 
and  contemporary  with  the  famous  Chickasaw  chief,  John 
Colbert. 


606  HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

Wauchula.  Original,  Lau-a-chu-la,  many  foxes.  A 
town  in  De  Soto  county,  Florida. 

Chuluota.  Original,  Chu-la-an-tah,  a  fox  stays — where 
foxes  abound.  A  town  in  Orange  county,  Florida. 

Oktahatchee.  Original,  Ok-tak-huch-cha,  Prairie  river. 
A  town  in  Hamilton  county,  Florida. 

Oclawaha.  Original,  O-ka-lau-a-ha,  Many  times  water. 
Town  in  Lake  county,  Florida.  That  is,  in  riding  over  the 
country  your  way  is  obstructed  by  lakes,  lagoons  and  ponds. 

Chattahoochee.  Original,  Chuk-lih-huch-cha,  Rapid 
river.  A  town  in  Fulton  county,  Georgia,  and  river  in 
Georgia. 

Chenubee.  Original,  Chi-a-ub-ih,  You  kill.  Town  in 
Webster  county,. Georgia. 

Ghokee.  Original,  Cho-ki,  A  martin,  Town  in  Lee 
county,  Georgia. 

Ossahutchee.  Original,  Os-si-huch-cha,  Eagle  river.  A 
town  in  Harris  county  Georgia.  A  river  upon  which  eagles 
abound. 

Sallacoa.  Original,  Sa-la-ko-f ah,  I  made  a  notch.  A  town 
in  Cherokee  county,  Georgia.  , 

Chinchuba.  Original,  Chin-is-su-ba,  thy  horse.  Town 
in  St.  Tammany  Parish,  Louisiana. 

Chepola.  Original,  Che-pn-15,  To^v:^  '.•-;  3  .  Helena 
Parish,  Louisiana.  The  name  given  by  ilu  anc.oTi  Choc- 
taws  to  a  favorite  dance,  the  termination  of  a  protracted 
feast  and  general  good  time. 

Chacahoula.  Original,  Chit-oh-hul-wa,  large  soft  shell 
turtle.  A  town  in  Terre  Bonne,  Louisiana. 

Coushatta.  Original,  Kau-ah-shak-ba,  broken  arm.  A 
town  in  Red  River  Parish,  Lousiana. 

Hitchiti .  Original,  Hish-i-it-ih,  hairmouth — whiskers. 
An  ancient  Choctaw  clan.  A  remnant  of  which  are  nov.*  liv 
ing  among  the  Creeks,  Indian  Territory;  they  did  not  move 
in  1832  with  the  Choctaws,  but  remained  east  of  the  Missis 
sippi  river,  until  the  exodus  of  the  Creeks  and  came  with 
them,  and  with  whom  they  have  still  remained. 

Professor  Campbell,  of  the  Presbyterian  College,  Mon 
treal,  believes  that  he  has  found  the  key  to  the  Hittite  (of 
Biblical  fame)  inscriptions,  and  has  sent  the  result  of  his 
investigation  to  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology.  It  is 
said  that  the  most  striking  and  important  feature  of  this 
work  is  the  identity  established  by  Professor  Campbell,  as 
he  believes,  between  the  Aztecs  and  the  Hittites.  He  con 
cludes  a  statement  of  his  discovery  in  the  Montreal  Witness, 
as  follows:  "It  is  interesting  to  know  that  we  have  on  this 
continent  the  remains  of  a  people  who  played  a  great  part  in 


HISTORY    OF    THE    INDIANA.  607 

ancient  history.  It  is  also  gratifying-  to  learn  that  by  the 
establishment  of  the  Hittite  origin  of  the  Aztecs,  evolutions 
in  philology  and  ethnology  will  receive  its  death  blow." 

Now,  if  the  Aztecs  be  of  Hittite  orig-in,  and  the  Choctaws 
and  Chickasaws  of  Aztec  orig-in,  of  which  there  is  more  than 
a  probability — if  their  ancient  leg-ends  and  traditions  are  re 
liable — may  not  the  Choctaw  words  Hishih  itih  (the  name  of 
one  of  their  ancient  Iksasj  be  itself  a  corruption  of.  the 
Hittite,  and  not  only  confirming-  their  eastern  traditional  mi 
gration  in  the  years  of  ag-es  passed,  but  also  pointing-  back 
even  to  a  Hittite  orig-in  ? 


0 


uf  x 

\/    ( 

^\  s 

JLATION  DEPAR 

Aain  Library 

r-4—  A 

/r- 

) 

\  Vr- 

.  \     ! 

r^y      j 

lETURN    CiRCI 

ro—  -^  202  A 

TMENT 

LOAN  PERIOD  1 
HOME  USE 

2                               3 

W        ^ 

4 

5                                6 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 
Renewals  and  Recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  the  due  date. 
Books  may  be  Renewed  by  calling        642-3405 

.&          /.      ' 
&             *j 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 

/ 

\      v   - 

\            rf 

•A 

RECEIVED 

NOV  0  5  1996 

gJgjJgfljgUI 

1 

TP  9  ^  ?nnt 

Otr  6  «)  cUUi 

• 

*W        ^ 

/ 

./       ,. 

JUN  W  7   ^UUj 

\ 


( 


^ 


FORM  NO.  DD6 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


*A 


<fc 


^ 


^ 


